Manchester United post match 4-1

[RastaDog]

re Vardy, does Dean have to report it or include it in his report for punishment to be considered? Or can the FA simply act on the TV footage?

 

'cause if so, Vardy is in trouble. He has form.

 

When I saw the incident, I did think 'chill man, you've not learned your lesson have you?' Another reason for CR to sub him praps?

[Almo-Fox]

Ranieri always sure of himself. Morgan and DD playing 120 min and he  think that it's  ok , he knew that amartey  cannot stand in that  role and making Albrighton starting in bathe XI and leaving gray , I  was  expecting such result by watching the match against Liverpool that Leicester midfield will be out  of service by Liverpool short passes,

 

The only positive pont for ranieri that he was sure of losing the three points and look forward to Porto match and rest mahrez and  vardy and protecting them  from an humiliation which MU seems to  show  respect by stopping scoring 

 

Lecister have  to  resist til January  and prepare good signing for MD CB 

[Keith Wellers Tights]

1 minute ago, Almo-Fox said:

Ranieri always sure of himself. Morgan and DD playing 120 min and he  think that it's  ok , he knew that amartey  cannot stand in that  role and making Albrighton starting in bathe XI and leaving gray , I  was  expecting such result by watching the match against Liverpool that Leicester midfield will be out  of service by Liverpool short passes,

 

The only positive pont for ranieri that he was sure of losing the three points and look forward to Porto match and rest mahrez and  vardy and protecting them  from an humiliation which MU seems to  show  respect by stopping scoring 

 

Lecister have  to  resist til January  and prepare good signing for MD CB 

I hope English is your second language Sir

[RastaDog]

3 minutes ago, GaelicFox said:

the new rules regarding holding mean that huth and Morgan are now  exposed as too slow to react at corners 

Post match interview, CR was asked about this (willy puller question I thought btw) but he didn't rise to the bait

 

Btw2: whichever Neville it was doing the co-commentating was getting on my wick with his Man U groupy stuff

[MattCan]

5 minutes ago, Keith Wellers Tights said:

I hope English is your second language Sir

.. but I still can understand each of the points he is making. Very good points if you ask me.

[Keith Wellers Tights]

Just now, MattCan said:

.. but I still can understand each of the points he is making. Very good points if you ask me.

Agreed on the points I can understand but what is a bathe X1?

[suffolk fox]

A lot of our players need a kick up the backside because their performance levels have dropped off considerably since we won the league.

 

Main culprits seem to be Vardy, what the hell has happened to him since he was picked for England and we won the league not the same player.  Seems lazy, disinterested I am not going to bother to run for that, anymore etc, etc.  Mahrez again, not interested, not bothered.  Others, include Albrighton.

 

Defence is a shambles.  To concede three goals from corners is shocking at any level of football let alone the premier league.

 

Ranieri tightened it up formation wise second half good job he did because at half time I thought it was going to be a cricket score.  We need to change formation often away from home we can't keep conceding four goals.

 

We need a central defensive midfielder urgently it's a pity we will have to wait until January let's hope we get one.

 

let's hope we don't set another record this season of being the first team in premier league history of winning the bloody thing one year relegated the next.

 

We need to improve and quick let's go back to what we are good at press from the front and players like Vardy putting a bloody shift in like he use too.

[Almo-Fox]

11 minutes ago, Keith Wellers Tights said:

I hope English is your second language Sir

- leicester  will suffer  agsinst teams with possession

- albrighton dosent have a  chance  to be in the  starting XI 

- amartey (21) is  learnng  but costing lecester  chances

- ranieri lost it  again

- hope Leicester win or  draw if  not lecester will be  in  trouble 

 

- keyboard not helping on the ipad  so n bathe read in  the starting XI sorry for any confusion 

[JamesWelshFox]

Corners were a problem last season, and whilst things did improve corners were always a little bit heart in mouth. I don't know what the problem is, but I do know that at this level you expect to defend them better than we do. Today was a shame because we were in the game and then we just went into meltdown at corners. Some work to be done on the training ground this week.

 

What does bother me is that, that is two hidings going in to a CL game - are we a little distracted ? You would hope not, but these are big games that for many may not come around again, especially when you consider the age of our back four.

 

Stiil, onwards and upwards !

[Blackpool Fox 69]

The fans(12th man) were great, was so disappointed at half time, but they picked me up, to see the Utd fans sitting on their hands at 4-0 up while we sang and chanted away, made me proud to be one of the 3000, proud when we win, loyal when we lose!

[roblcfc84]

Can I suggest everyone chills out - no-one likes losing but let's get a grip here. I'm not sure what people expected this season - the ambition here has to be to establish ourselves as a top ten club - last season was immense and there were a host of reasons why we won the league - but that doesn't change that our squad is not a top squad - that's not understating their achievement - but they arnt top players and we are deluded if we think they - Zlatan is a different class and looking at the Chelsea team from mid-week and indeed Liverpool - we need a bit of realism.

 

i agree mistakes are being made but can you even imagine the effort and emotion involved in last season, to accomplish that feat and then need to do it all again with circus that was pre season going on around you - it'll take a few months to get back to our best. Patience is needed and a reality check, whatever has happened of late it doesn't change the fact that this success was only ever temporary so let's just enjoy our time in the sun whatever happens. 

[Keith Wellers Tights]

I agree regarding the kick up the backside for Vardy, his game is all about workrate, if he loses that he's not even half the player. As for Mahrez, he's been poor but Mahrez type players tend to have runs of good games and bad games and often lack consistency. Personally I would leave Riyad on the bench for Porto and hope that it gleans a positive response from him. Unfortunately, last season his standard was so high it was always likely to drop. On the whole not a very positive start to the season but I agree with the poster who said that the Hull game was the only totally unexpected loss.

[Pete Campbell]

The criticism of Amartey is way over the top, I'm more concerned about our formtion. We can't play Slimani and Vardy in a 4-4-2 away to United. We looked so much better once King made it a midfield 3 and so did Amartey who grew into the game.

I hate to say it but Morgan's efforts over the last few seasons seem to be catching up to him. 3 Tournaments in the last 2 summers and playing nearly every minute for 4 years or so now. Mahrez was disapointing but he never really had a chance.

Zieler's communication isn't quite what Kaspers is (yet) and I think that negatively affected us tonight.

[MattCan]

Trying to find players to blame shows how clueless some people are.

It is very clear that the midfield is the big hole. It doesn't provide enough defensive protection nor creative football going forward. A decent midfielder in January is a must if the team still wants to fight for the 4th position or do OK in CL.

[Fox92]

Only just got in so only going to keep it short atm .... Embarrassing.... We were shocking. Gray stood out and that's about it.... Capitulated at 1-0 and it looked like they were going to score every time they attacked. I don't know what Claudio has learnt from our previous defeats because he has showed no signs we have improved. Set pieces yet again. Shite.

[Keith Wellers Tights]

7 minutes ago, Almo-Fox said:

- leicester  will suffer  agsinst teams with possession

- albrighton dosent have a  chance  to be in the  starting XI 

- amartey (21) is  learnng  but costing lecester  chances

- ranieri lost it  again

- hope Leicester win or  draw if  not lecester will be  in  trouble 

 

- keyboard not helping on the ipad  so n bathe read in  the starting XI sorry for any confusion 

I understand Almo and, as poster mattcan said, the points you are making are pretty spot on. The language crack by me was only supposed to be light hearted banter so I apologise if you or anyone else was offended by that. I only joined the forum today and don't want to be upsetting any fellow foxes on what's already been a pretty disappointing day.

Most of the team have underperformed and it's especially disappointing from Albrighton as he was so consistant last season and a relatively unsung hero at times. To finish on a brighter note, I've liked Gray on the occasions he come on since he signed and today was no exception. Hopefully he can keep improving and by doing so, give Riyad the poke in the ribs he seems to need.

[Fox92]

Our shit defence was covered last season thanks to a World Class player. We have now lost that player and our defence is exposed. It needed looking at in the summer, and oh, something else we didn't achieve. 

[dbtcity]

Haven't read through the 7 pages but I imagine I'll be repeating what others have said, we seem to lack one of the main things that made us champions and that was our work rate, we used to chase every ball starting from the front which is something vardy doesn't look like he fancies doing anymore....

 

442 won't work for us against any teams with a bit of movement in the middle as Amartey seems to have been drinking the same water as schlupp and it's effected his footballing brain!!

 

Finally I could go on all day about our woeful defending from set pieces but how has Albrighton (a player that's been a winger his whole footballing career) be unable to use his left foot?? It's getting to the point where teams are showing him down the line as they know he hasn't got a left footed cross in his locker!

 

only positives today are Man U went in to coast mode and didn't really get out of 1st gear saving us a mauling, Gray looked really positive when he came on and Drinkwater was his usual boss like self

[Guest ttfn]

We need to talk about Vardy.

 

From February 2014 to November 2015 he was the heartbeat of this team. No ball was too long, no cause was too lost, no challenge too great. He inspired his teammates and the fans. It was his team - he set the tempo with his work and pace, he set the standard for the rest of the team to follow in terms of work ethic and pressing, and he gave the fans somebody to really invest in.

 

He was, in short, a player whose goals were secondary to the overall importance he provided to the team. He was the man who, as well as turning half chances into goals, was actually more about turning harried hacks or hoofs into what appeared to be cultured through balls. He was the man whose off-the-ball movement was creating space for the likes of Mahrez to operate in.

 

What we see now is, in my view, a pale imitation of Jamie Vardy. This Vardy 2.0 is all about end product - goals and assists. He hangs on the shoulder of the last man, waiting to poach chances whilst the tempo is now set by others in the team. Perhaps these are Ranieri's tactics (I really hope they're not) but the focus on Vardy exclusively as goalscorer above the role he plays in the team's ethos has blunted us as a collective (and this is particularly obvious in games in which Okazaki isn't playing).

 

The Bruges game is a case in point. He drew fouls for 2 goals basically from scaring the defenders shitless when they had the ball. But on many occasions in that game we struggled to get the ball out due to Vardy's static position and when we did get it out he struggled to retain it. The match ratings threads were full of positive reviews for the key part he played in the two goals (and rightly so) but I've always felt Vardy was at his best doing stuff which is less headline-grabbing and more under the radar.

 

Today though he was absolutely useless. I know lots of them were but this is not the first time this season, or if we're being honest, in the last 6 months, that he's turned up and barely made a run worthy of the name. Today he offered absolutely nothing in terms of an out-ball from the defence and was a key factor in us repeatedly surrendering possession.

 

When Arsenal came in for him this summer people were devastated. There's plenty of reasons for this - he's a very good player, he scored a lot of goals last season, he has a great back story. But above all, people were devastated because he was the life and soul of this team. 

 

But it this isn't his team any more. It's Drinkwater's. He's the one dictating the tempo of games and of the team, the one the opposition manager will be focusing on, the one whose name is sung most loudly and long by the fans. At times last season and in the Great Escape you couldn't go 10 minutes without hearing "Jamie Vardy's Having a Party". Now it's an afterthought, one of the later songs to come out of the songbook. Perhaps it's because there's more other stuff to sing about these days but there's increasingly few of the "classic Vardy" moments which get the crowd up - the type where he hares after a hoof from Danny Simpson and wins a throw or thunders into a challenge on a full back as he looks to clear the ball. That's not to say they don't happen, but they're definitely fewer and farther between.

 

As I said before, perhaps this is not Vardy's doing and rather it is Ranieri's. But either way I think in "refining" Vardy we've lost something of the edge which helped define us in 2015. Vardy might be (well, obviously is) in a better goalscorer now but I wonder if it's come at the expense of the team.

 

TL;DR I miss the old Vardy.

[Fox96]

The second half today proved we can't go to the big teams like United/Liverpool/Chelsea etc and play 442. First half was an utter shambles.

[Fox92]

@ttfn Vardy wasn't in the game today. How many touches did he have all 45 mins, 6? 

[Guest ttfn]

Just now, Fox92 said:

@ttfn Vardy wasn't in the game today. How many touches did he have all 45 mins, 6? 

He's only got himself to blame if he stands still on the halfway line.

[Pete Campbell]

Just now, Fox96 said:

The second half today proved we can't go to the big teams like United/Liverpool/Chelsea etc and play 442. First half was an utter shambles.

Agreed completely. 3 in the middle with Amartey, Drinkwater and King/Mendy is what those games need

[Keith Wellers Tights]

9 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Only just got in so only going to keep it short atm .... Embarrassing.... We were shocking. Gray stood out and that's about it.... Capitulated at 1-0 and it looked like they were going to score every time they attacked. I don't know what Claudio has learnt from our previous defeats because he has showed no signs we have improved. Set pieces yet again. Shite.

Can't imagine being there was much fun but I thought we started well and should have been ahead and then 23 minutes of madness ensued. Thought we shaded the 2nd half though that may have been my relief at not conceding more kicking in. Hopefully the 4-4-2 away from home to the big teams will now be consigned to the bin.

[inckley fox]

I wouldn't single out anyone, Gray aside, for either praise or criticism. You could write an essay on why any given individual shouldn't be in the side after that performance. I agree that 4-4-2 wasn't responsible for three goals being conceded from corners. We played well for 15 or so minutes with a 4-4-2 and, like Ranieri said, we switched off.

 

That said, it seems daft for a manager to assume that we will be able to play the same system without Kante, and without making sure that we replicated last season's fitness levels. Morgan, Simpson and - until recently - Albrighton have all looked visibly out of shape. Ranieri also publicly voiced concerns about Mahrez' fitness levels back in August.

 

To go forward, we need to acknowledge that mistakes have been made and things have to change if we're going to fix them. I'm not expert enough to know exactly what those errors were: Downplaying our chances so much pre-season that we've gone into the campaign with less of a sense of purpose might be one. Failing to replace Kante with even a 'poor man's Kante' is surely another. The pre-season schedule - high on travelling, low on training - was eerily reminiscent of the pre-season programmes which Mourinho and Ferguson have warned against in the past. Maybe Walsh shouldn't have been let go to a rival without a replacement in the wings, and when we could have quite easily offered him the same 'promotion' that Everton offered him.

 

Some might even argue that allowing Shakespeare to take on an England role was unwise; Huth and Simpson will be among those who don't have international duty, and it might be handy for our coaches to get some serious work done on both their fitness and their organisation at set pieces. We know, from the Taylor era, how juggling roles with club and country can have adverse effects, which was probably the reason why Bayern said no to England's advances.

 

Whatever, we need to show - in the way we set up against bigger sides away from home, in our fitness levels, in our application, in the business we do in January and the way we prepare for the next league season - that we've learned a few lessons.