Koke Posted 2 November 2016 Posted 2 November 2016 He looked better as a CAM when Ranieri made that tactical change tonight. In my opinion Mahrez has way too much defensive responsibilities in a 442. And when we get the ball we hoof it 50 yards. It's no wonder games often pass him by. Put Hazard or De Bruyne as wingers in a 442 and you'd see them struggle. I know he scored 17 goals last season in a 442 but atm we're not getting the best out of him. A run of games as an attacking midfielder night suit him.
Foxxed Posted 2 November 2016 Posted 2 November 2016 He could play there. He may play really well. But he'd need service. How would Shinji fit into that situation? Mahrez is hardly the frantic harrying type.
Guest the fox Posted 2 November 2016 Posted 2 November 2016 This. The deference between a mid-table/relegation team and top 5 team is the ability to have that one "caviar" player. That the only thing that he does is create and attack. City has de bruyne. Arsenal has özil. Chelsea has hazard. Pool has coutinho. United has mata. If we are treating him as a "Marc". We should expect a "Marc" kind of numbers
AKCJ Posted 2 November 2016 Posted 2 November 2016 I thought he was hopeless in the middle but looked to affect the game from wide positions. He's 100% a winger.
MattCan Posted 2 November 2016 Posted 2 November 2016 He is practically playing second fullback in a team playing the long balls. I have been expecting Ranieri to find a solution for that and I am still waiting.
MattCan Posted 2 November 2016 Posted 2 November 2016 With a quality attacking midfielder (to be recruited) in a 4-3-3 formation, he would be better supported, I think.
FireFox Posted 2 November 2016 Posted 2 November 2016 He can't play in the hole without decent options ahead of him. Vardy can't be alone ahead of him with 2 CBs marking him. It has never worked. If Claudio were to try it, I wouldn't mind a fluid 3 of Okazaki, Slimani, and Mahrez. Maybe Musa for Okazaki when a front 3. 343, 3421, or 3412 433, 4321, or 4312 / 442 diamond, whatever
Guest Sharpe's Fox Posted 2 November 2016 Posted 2 November 2016 17 goals and 11 assists as a wide player last year but yeah ok we'll take your word for it
Miquel The Work Geordie Posted 2 November 2016 Posted 2 November 2016 I'd rather have shinji there than riyad. Hes a winger.
Koke Posted 2 November 2016 Author Posted 2 November 2016 4 minutes ago, Sharpe's Fox said: 17 goals and 11 assists as a wide player last year but yeah ok we'll take your word for it I already menfioned that. What's your take on why he's currently playing below par then? It's just an opinion mate.
EnglishOxide Posted 2 November 2016 Posted 2 November 2016 There's no sense playing him in the hole behind a lone striker if we keep playing direct because the game would still pass him by. I think that now Okazaki is back in the team we will see more from him because there will be more movement upfront. He needs to focus on through balls. His passing is really underrated but he is constantly trying to carry the ball to create something, but he's not effective at that this season because he is outnumbered. I don't want to see him running 12km per match (against shit opposition), I want him attacking in bursts, retaining the ball and dictating play.
ChownLC Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 It's not his position, it's our playstyle. Look how good he was against Palace when we actually got the ball down and started passing it around, instead of hoofing it constantly.
Vardinio'sCat Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 Hard to get in a game of head tennis and long balls, he looked more involved in the second half. I'm not watching first halves any more, too stressful.
sm1 Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 Mahrez is so heavily marked by multiple players, he needs options. Both shinji and king provide this, as both are good at linking play and retaining possession, hence the improvement once shinji came on. When one or neither play, he has no options and runs into traffic. Admittedly today he was very slow and dithered on the ball way too much. It's almost like he's thinking too much and not playing his instinctive natural game.
Loves2spooge Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 He needs to unleash his potential and go super saiyan just like neymar and messi
Aidan Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 3 hours ago, EnglishOxide said: There's no sense playing him in the hole behind a lone striker if we keep playing direct because the game would still pass him by. I think that now Okazaki is back in the team we will see more from him because there will be more movement upfront. He needs to focus on through balls. His passing is really underrated but he is constantly trying to carry the ball to create something, but he's not effective at that this season because he is outnumbered. I don't want to see him running 12km per match (against shit opposition), I want him attacking in bursts, retaining the ball and dictating play. My thoughts exactly!
LexicalChoice Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 Don't blame mahrez, blame Hernandez. I really want to like him but the guy is hopeless.. puts in a tackle in - fair enough - gives the ball straight back to the opposition; can't pass for his life; positionally unaware.
Heart-Shaped Fox Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 Just anonymous last night. Even when he had lots of space on the counter he went down blind alleys. Vardy and him did generally suffer from no service though
weller54 Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 8 hours ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said: I'd rather have shinji there than riyad. Hes a winger. And Pearl's a singer.
foxfan92 Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 Riyad had a poor game last night (helped Hernandez a lot but then gave the ball away and couldn't link up with Vardy to find that final killer ball) but he's seemed much better when Shinj (and King) have been on the pitch. We've looked stronger in midfield and Riyad has been able to get forward more and link up our attack. Dont forget we've got Mendy to come back who I'm hoping will strengthen our midfield further. It maybe in some matches if Mendy can play well with Drinkwater we see Andy play in the whole when we give Shinji a rest. I think Amartey will keep improving too. This season (while possibly a once in a lifetime Champions League experience) is a huge learning curve for Leicester. We've always been underdogs in the Premier League then suddenly we're League Champions. It's a whole new kind of pressure to deal with and we're no longer underestimated by opposition. Every game we play this season is (in theory) harder than last season as a result. We've then got the extra European fixtures to deal with. As a result Riyad's role has had to naturally evolve as our wingers have to help the fullbacks even more as we face tougher opponents. This in turn will lessen his effectiveness from last season (and the fact he gets marked so heavily too makes his life even harder). I suspect no one is more frustrated by this than Riyad himself but it's the situation we're in right now. We've looked much better with Shinj in the whole linking the midfield and attack, but Ranieri has said Shinji needs a break throughout the week to be effective come the weekend which is why I think he didn't start yesterday. We've been linked with a number of attacking midfielders lately and I suspect this is to give us a backup for Shinji. Until Mendy is fit Claudio will play either two of either Vardy or Musa or Slim to give Shinji a rest when we have more than one game a week. Trouble is we always look overrun in midfield as a result and changing when Riyad plays won't solve that problem. He won't get service and isn't a replacement for Shinji in that role.
GaelicFox Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 Since Kante left it took away the massive defensive protection he offered basically the work of two defensive midfielders that now means we can't press as much or play through the middle so much (fear of loosing possession) and our forward players are expected to work so much harder defensively now Claudio is struggling to come to terms with making a system that offers some respite for loosing Kante, its plainly obvious we Need to be adopting and playing a 4-5-1 , especially away from home Claudio is a god now and rightly so but Gods are not beyond the law of the universe , to survive you must win ... He is doing a fair job managing a difficult situation and of course he will survive but we are massively under performing in some games we are 6 points short of where we would be with Kante and I'm convinced a change in formation would have gotten us 3 or 4 of those points the players are trying , their work rate and stats are still huge , no one is lazy and no one is not trying , they are actually trying too hard because the formation is requiring them to use up positive energy negating the shortfalls in the 4-4-2 lay off the lads we are all in this together and let's work as a unit all of us to get things improving and more consistent we are mid table , 10 champions league points from 4 games and we went out of the league cup in a rip roaring game , all in all we are doing well but of course on last years form we could be doing much better in Claudio I trust
lgfualol Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 1 hour ago, LexicalChoice said: Don't blame mahrez, blame Hernandez. I really want to like him but the guy is hopeless.. puts in a tackle in - fair enough - gives the ball straight back to the opposition; can't pass for his life; positionally unaware. Mahrez has been off all season though, not Hernandez's fault. I like Hernandez and I think he can actually pass, but we seem to be forced to smash it forward and lose the ball - Copenhagen gave us no time to pass it nicely. Hernandez isn't even a RB anyway, so that probably explains his positioning - excelled in Spain at CB but stuck at RB for his long throws I imagine.
Freeman's Wharfer Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 Mahrez in the middle should work when you look at the kind of player he is and the attributes he has but whenever it's been tried it's just never worked. A lot of the good work he does is from drifting in so he almost needs that wide starting position.
Guest Col city fan Posted 3 November 2016 Posted 3 November 2016 Whatever theory is postulated regarding the demise of Mahrez, the player we are watching this season is miles off the player we applauded time over, last season. He's pretty ineffectual if truth be told. He's rarely beating players, his passing has gone right off and of course, he's not scoring many. I think losing Kante has possibly been the single most important reason. Kante was applauded for his defensive work and rightly so. But his ability to make twenty yard bursts FORWARD and to give it quickly to Mahrez was as important last season. Mahrez was then given one on one situations to exploit, which he did to great effect. We've lost that midfield 'burst' such that when Mahrez gets the ball, the opposition have had the time to double up on him. And he's no Messi...generally when Mahrez is doubled up on, he hasn't the ability to beat two or three players.
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