Club Brugge - 1st Champions League Game - Post Match Thread 0 - 3

[daddylonglegs]

Coming into St Pancras 24 hours after going the other way and what a brilliant (but expensive) use of 24 hours. 

 

The City is brilliant. Great beer and great culture with friendly people. 

 

The football at times from Bruges was reminiscent of our times in League 1 but who cares. We were very good and made them look turd. Drinkwater somehow will continue to not be in the Entlish team, regardless of now bossing 3 man midfields on his own in the Premier League and now the Champions League I'm sure.

 

Only negative was the mental route the police took us on to get to the ground. Must have walked 4 miles when it should've been about 2, followed by the airport level of security outside the ground.

 

other than that - amazing experience and can't wait for the next one! 

[CosbehFox]

My feet hurt - that walk to and back from the ground is an absolute killer 

[ozvaldo]

I mean they were shît, but we looked good last night.
Slimani looks like he can link up with Mahrez and Vardy more effectively than Shinji / Leo.  He also looks like an aggressive bastard, which is what we need sometimes.  
Albrighton did very well - I like how he's getting stuck in and doing some of that "Kante role".
I could do with Amartey tracking back with his man much quicker though.  In the league he'll get found out - i.e. Liverpool.

[foxy boxing]

a great performance by the foxes, clean sheet a win away from home, yes the opposition were piss poor but it was a great night for our first time in the champions league the club and the fans are a credit to the city.the partnership between vardy and slimani looks a promising one and mahrez showed in glimpses what a footballer he is and why it was important to keep him

[narboroughblue]

Sore head this morning but what a great experience. The fans were excellent but helped by having a team to be proud of on the field. Roll on Copenhagen away now. 

 

As mentioned a few bad points being the trek to the ground and the ridiculous policing outside the stadium. Not nice for a mate who got arrested for walking down the wrong street and spent 4 hours in a cell handcuffed with about 20 other Leicester supporters. The ground being empty was shocking, shame we couldn't get a bigger allocation. 

[Number 6]

56 minutes ago, Babylon said:

A brilliant result, but a not totally convincing performance for me. We did what we had to do, but they were awful in defence and attack and that helped us no end.

 

The defensive positioning was all over the place at times again, the back line that barely budged last year kept going walk about. Whether it's Morgan to close to Huth, or Hernandez to wide, or Morgan and Huth stepping out when they didn't have to or someone not keeping up with the defensive line and playing people on side. A better side would have picked us off.

 

Amartey has a lot of potential, Ranieri just needs to work on him to get his head up and look about for danger, to drop back a few yards deeper sometimes, he just leaves holes because he's not close enough to the defense or focuses on the ball in front of him rather than the man he was meant to be keeping on eye on, it will come with time... he's 4 years younger than Kante, get him playing regularly and he could be a real asset.

 

I wasn't sold on Slimani at all, his control was all over the place. He was blowing out of his arse after about 15 minutes and he passed the ball straight out of play a couple of time. Having said that.... it was only when Ulloa came on it became apparent how so much more involved he was than Leo, much more mobile, better pressing. Looking forward to seeing him after he's had time to settle in.

 

Attack wise, not out free flowing best and needed three goals from set pieces, but we did look dangerous whenever we came forward. If we hadn't gone into "see the game out" mode, I think we could have picked them off a few more times.

 

A work in progress... fingers crossed we can get back to back wins.

Agree with all of this. Was surprised by some of the rave reviews. Would describe us as professional and clinical but not at our best by any stretch.

[WigstonWanderer]

Brilliant result, but probably flattered us a bit given that we had a couple of let-offs that they failed to capitalise on. Having said that we might have scored a few more as well.

 

The free kick goal that Mahrez scored was almost identical to one he scored for Algeria during the international break. He looked noticeably more confident after that.

 

Much better, but still more shaky defensively than last season, so still work to be done.

[Simoken]

I thought Slimani was brilliant last night! Not much on goal opportunities but his aggressive positioning on the pitch and link up play with Vardy looks very promising. I think he will be settle into squad much quicker than Musa as a first team striker, can really tell he has done his homework on lcfc before he came here. The link up play between Mahrez / Slimani / Vardy / Drinkwater could be a winning formula this season.

[leicesterlad1989]

1 hour ago, what? said:

Spent the afternoon baking a cake for my girlfriend to make up for her missing the great British bake off. Spent the evening stuffing my face with it, guzzling beer and laughing at the wonderful ridiculousness of a world where Leicester city are top of their group in the flipping champions league. Bloody brilliant stuff.  

WHAT?

[ceredigion]

Hercule Poirot, Jean-Claude van Damme, Rene Magritte, Herge, Audrey Hepburn, Eddy Merckxx, can you hear me, can you hear me.

 

Your boys took one hell of a beating, your boys took one hell of a beating.

[midland_red]

Another fantastic match report from Martin Samuel at the Mail, who wrote beautifully about us last year.

The Mail's foul politics notwithstanding, they don't reach down to the sports desk, and the sport editor obviously encourages his reporters to really write. Other papers please watch and take note

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3789621/Club-Bruges-0-3-Leicester-City-Foxes-perfect-start-Champions-League-debut.html

 

[Guest]

I hate that I have to say this but Demarai Gray looked a better candidate that Mahrez. yes he scored 2 goals and we can rely on him to do that sort of thing, but he was not as scary as gray going forward.

[tyfox]

Mahrez seemed calmer and wasn't trying to take too many players on last night he seemed to get his head up more and pick a pass or cross. 

[Max Power]

Slimani is a bit uncultured but is excellent in the air and his work rate was top drawer. Potential to combine the best attributes of Okazaki and Ulloa.

[Babylon]

11 minutes ago, Max Power said:

Slimani is a bit uncultured but is excellent in the air and his work rate was top drawer. Potential to combine the best attributes of Okazaki and Ulloa.

I can barely remember him winning a header, what he seemed to do was mistime* the header, but also distract the defender and the ball would sale past both of them straight to Vardy.

 

*Speaking of which, I don't think I've ever seen a game with so many mistimed headers, lost count of how many times people all over the pitch managed to jump under the ball, jump too early etc. Made me wonder if there was something odd with the flood lights there, that made it hard to see.

[RUDZY]

WELL DONE LEICESTER.
Good disciplined performance,rest up and get ready for the Burnley game.

[Max Power]

I can remeber two perfect flick ons to Vardy. One lead to that chance at the end of the first half. They couldn't deal with him.

[foxfanazer]

Back in England........ shithole! 

[MC Prussian]

From the Daily Mail:

"10 - English teams have participated in the Champions League - Leicester are the only one to win their first ever away game in the group stage."

 

STAT LEADERS!

[Richmondfox]

1 hour ago, ozvaldo said:

I mean they were shît, but we looked good last night.
Slimani looks like he can link up with Mahrez and Vardy more effectively than Shinji / Leo.  He also looks like an aggressive bastard, which is what we need sometimes.  
Albrighton did very well - I like how he's getting stuck in and doing some of that "Kante role".
I could do with Amartey tracking back with his man much quicker though.  In the league he'll get found out - i.e. Liverpool.

I like the look of Slimani, can't wait for him and Musa to start scoring.  It's good to know we have a forward that won't be bullied off the ball when we can't get it over the top and beat them with pace.  He'll have to get his fitness up to a new level to match the intensity of our squad.

 

I noticed Amartey playing a lot deeper in the second half.  In the first he was further up and most passes he had ihs back to goal so had to turn with the ball or ended up passing backwards.  In the second half he was deeper and made a few blocks and tackles which then he could run with the ball and start positive play off, much like the Vardy goal at Swansea.

 

 

[Ric Flair]

2 hours ago, Babylon said:

A brilliant result, but a not totally convincing performance for me. We did what we had to do, but they were awful in defence and attack and that helped us no end.

 

The defensive positioning was all over the place at times again, the back line that barely budged last year kept going walk about. Whether it's Morgan too close to Huth, or Hernandez to wide, or Morgan and Huth stepping out when they didn't have to or someone not keeping up with the defensive line and playing people on side. A better side would have picked us off.

 

Amartey has a lot of potential, Ranieri just needs to work on him to get his head up and look about for danger, to drop back a few yards deeper sometimes, he just leaves holes because he's not close enough to the defense or focuses on the ball in front of him rather than the man he was meant to be keeping on eye on, it will come with time... he's 4 years younger than Kante, get him playing regularly and he could be a real asset.

 

I wasn't sold on Slimani at all, his control was all over the place. He was blowing out of his arse after about 15 minutes and he passed the ball straight out of play a couple of time. Having said that.... it was only when Ulloa came on it became apparent how so much more involved he was than Leo, much more mobile, better pressing. Looking forward to seeing him after he's had time to settle in.

 

Attack wise, not out free flowing best and needed three goals from set pieces, but we did look dangerous whenever we came forward. If we hadn't gone into "see the game out" mode, I think we could have picked them off a few more times.

 

A work in progress... fingers crossed we can get back to back wins.

The high line our defence seem to be playing this season is horrendous, surely we didn't do this last season? Kante is good but he couldn't bail out those sorts of positions our defenders have found themselves in at times this season. I actually thought Amartey's positioning was class, but he can still improve as he grows in to his understanding with the maestro Drinkwater. He certainly can hold off any challenger when they come steaming in at him, I just want to see one of his blistering runs up pitch now and a ripper.

 

Slimani's mobility and aggression could be as important to this team as Kante was last year. I think going back to being more direct is possibly our only way of competing against teams who sit back against us now. He seems to unsettle defenders as much as Vardy and although he looks a bit ungainly he's deceptively quick and I think he's going to be a hero. Fitness looks suspect right now, but we've options to replace him after 50-60 mins until he gets up to speed. I think Gravel Throat is going to be on the end of a hiding from him on Saturday.

[AKCJ]

Celtic have only ever won away in the champions league once. (Champions League proper).

 

They've had 28 tries.

[VLC86]

2 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

My feet hurt - that walk to and back from the ground is an absolute killer 

Just your feet? I somehow walked 17 miles yesterday on 3 hours sleep powered by beer  Great day though.

[Babylon]

40 minutes ago, Richmondfox said:

I noticed Amartey playing a lot deeper in the second half.  In the first he was further up and most passes he had ihs back to goal so had to turn with the ball or ended up passing backwards.  In the second half he was deeper and made a few blocks and tackles which then he could run with the ball and start positive play off, much like the Vardy goal at Swansea.

Yeah I noticed that, he was much improved second half I thought.

[MrSpaM]

Think Slimani looked excellent last night considering it was his debut. Him and Vardy starting is the way forward