Midfield is the problem.

[GloverFox]

57 minutes ago, justfoxes said:

The problem is a lot more than the Midfield!

... I agree, the problem is the loss of that togetherness ... and not just the team, but the fans as well! 

If you watched Klopp at Anfield yesterday he was so fired up to get the crowd making some noise (it was noticeably flat in the background) ... it really does make that much difference to the players confidence and with negativity from the crowd comes a sinking spirit from the players on the ball!

 

[Guest CityFan 06]

26 minutes ago, foxes21 said:

Remember Pre-Season? Liam Moore played in the 4-4-1-1, as a holding central midfielder. Protecting the back four and linking the play. That was going to be Mendy's role and it would of allowed Drinkwater more creative freedom.

 

I don't think we should write off the 4-4-1-1, until we've seen Mendy in this role & how well he protects the defence & links with Drinkwater.

 

Pre-Season interview with Claudio: 'We can still play 4-4-2 without Kante, but we must play it a different way'. The idea is to have one CDM (Mendy), and one attacking CM (Drinkwater) instead of two box to box CM's (Drinkwater, Kante). Unfortunately the personel (Amartey, King) aren't good enough at CDM so Drinkwater's having to do both roles.

 

But Mendy could be the answer.

I think you're exactly right about the original plan to have Mendy protecting the back four. I think when fit, him and Drinkwater could be an excellent pairing. 

 

Not only that, when Mendy returns Amartey will then have a quality CDM teammate to learn off, which I feel will really benefit him. Mendy's return will give us more options in the middle of the park, I reckon.

[ithuriel]

We have to start tailoring the formation to the players available, not squeezing in players to fill the roles of missing players from the 4-4-2.

Two quality midfield players as soon as possible and a new centre half at the end of the season or in January are a must in my opinion.

 

[Crinklyfox]

Midfield is a problem but it's not the only problem and I can't see a magic solution of getting one more midfielder which will suddenly restore us to the glories of last season.  I agree with most posters that we need a class midfielder but that has to be part of the solution, not the only solution.

 

We have looked lightweight in attack this year with JV being out of form.  All strikers go through lean spells so this shouldn't be a shock.  We also look weaker in defence, not only because of the midfield issues but because of the form of our defenders.

 

The team looks low in confidence and that has resulted in too much hoofball and too little pass and move football.  When we equalised for the first time against Boro we started to look more dangerous.

 

I don't think there's an easy solution to this.  The only plus is that a good deal of the team spirit that has sustained us over the last couple of seasons remains and we need to keep that going.

 

I'm not enjoying this season but believe that we can turn this around with most of our current squad; improvements in January, in midfield and elsewhere, would be helpful.

[Guest Col city fan]

7 minutes ago, Crinklyfox said:

Midfield is a problem but it's not the only problem and I can't see a magic solution of getting one more midfielder which will suddenly restore us to the glories of last season.  I agree with most posters that we need a class midfielder but that has to be part of the solution, not the only solution.

 

We have looked lightweight in attack this year with JV being out of form.  All strikers go through lean spells so this shouldn't be a shock.  We also look weaker in defence, not only because of the midfield issues but because of the form of our defenders.

 

The team looks low in confidence and that has resulted in too much hoofball and too little pass and move football.  When we equalised for the first time against Boro we started to look more dangerous.

 

I don't think there's an easy solution to this.  The only plus is that a good deal of the team spirit that has sustained us over the last couple of seasons remains and we need to keep that going.

 

I'm not enjoying this season but believe that we can turn this around with most of our current squad; improvements in January, in midfield and elsewhere, would be helpful.

Superb post.

[Wymsey]

Midfield is a problem at the moment as King mostly feels he'll get criticised if he makes a mistake that is harmless to his team, whilst with Amartey he's slowly improving but surprised he isn't more dominant like Drinkwater.

[erlee]

18 hours ago, Barky said:

Eh? We just picked up a point. Just now, a few minutes ago.

yep we picked up a point with a "last" min penalty.. at home against lowly Boro..

[reynard]

Whilst the midfield is the obvious problem I'm afraid the shortcomings go deeper and wider than that.

Last season we could cover things up because we played with tempo and confidence and for much of the season had Kante in midfield. The problems are both at player and at coach level.

For example look at the contribution of the front two yesterday. Virtually nil. Whilst Boro played short passes out of defence Vardy and Okazaki basically spent the afternoon jogging across the pitch. Meanwhile, presumably under the manager's instructions, we had two rigid banks of four. The issue was though that the two banks of four were usually 30 metres away from the two strikers leaving huge areas for the Boro midfield to calmly pass the ball around. Our great run of form coincided with us pressing further up the pitch and playing on the front foot. The fact that we did it at the end of the season before last and without Kante shows that it wasn't just him. It is a whole ethos thing which simply must come from the manager.

Mahrez is too isolated. He's heavily marked and yet there is hardly ever anyone making a run to draw defenders away. On top of that he's clearly not playing as well as last season. Personally I suspect in his head he's already at another club.

Albrighton against Brugge ran at defenders and attacked the penalty area and won a penalty. Yesterday, and in just about every league game this season, he doesn't he stops put the ball onto his right foot and tries an in-swinging cross usually with not striker in sight.

Last season we broke up attacks further up the pitch. Ranieri seems happy for us to sit very deep and try from there. The problem is we don't have technically gifted players able to pass their way up the field and our front two are usually too far away so we just hoof it. We have suddenly lost just about all creativity. We hardly created a chance yesterday though that side of the game improved with the substitutions.

Our defensive shape is hardly there and we don't seem to have players stronger enough in the tackle to win the ball.

 

January is a bad time to be buying players but we need at least two combative midfielders and a creative midfielder as well. £69 million invested in the summer and as far as I am concerned we have gone badly backwards and with every match are continuing to slide.

[Foxxed]

21 hours ago, Royston. said:

drinkwater is hindered enough even when he has a defensive partner so not sure how effective he'd be on his own.

 

unless there is another freak of nature out there capable of doing the work of two players then we need two players doing the dirty work while drinkwater concentrates on making things happen.

Shinji with his best disruptive tactics, and Albrighton and Gray/Musa keeping close and thereby also pushing teams out wide, could possibly provide adequate support though.

[hejammy]

The thing is, when Drinky is available again and Mendy is fit again, I don't think we have a huge problem in midfield. At the moment it's just Mahrez who isn't playing well, once he performs our midfield will be great again. The defense is the problem, no strength in depth but also the current back 4 are very exposed (mostly due to the absence of Kante obviously). Simmo has been pretty decent but Fuchs and Huth have been a bit short from last season, we need to strengthen our defensive unit. Until we do that we'll be struggling. 

[jammie82uk]

On 26/11/2016 at 17:17, TheUltimateWinner said:

Didn't look like we played a midfield the first half, would love to see how many touches they had, we seemed to completely bypass them.

A list of all completed passes by King and Amartey 

 

[filbertway]

14 hours ago, jammie82uk said:

A list of all completed passes by King and Amartey 

 

 The number of backwards passes there

[norwichfox]

15 hours ago, jammie82uk said:

A list of all completed passes by King and Amartey 

 

Almost double the amount of passes to attacking players from Amartey than from King, I found that a bit surprising.

 

If we buy a quality Central midfielder in the January transfer window, what's the likely-hood that he'll find himself not in the team or on the bench until around March time. Just hope to see James or Mendy on soon, surely either can't be worse than were treated to whilst DD is banned.

[foxy boxing]

not forgetting goalkeeper defence and attack

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

On 26/11/2016 at 18:22, CityFan 06 said:

I reckon the plan for this season was to have Drinkwater and Mendy as the CM pairing, with Amartey learning his game gradually, before then being introduced into more first team action as the season went on. The way things have worked out, Amartey has been put straight into the side which takes a lot of adjustment, given he's still learning English football. He has shown glimpses of star performances, and he can still play a role for us I feel.

If you believe what was said at the time Mendy was signed to compliment Drinky and Kante, not replace, why we never signed another Midfielder when Kante went god only knows, we had money and time to do so surely.

[Guest Col city fan]

The only point to the stats above would be to COMPARE them to the same stats of other Prem central midfielders across the weekend. For instance, how do the same stats of Amartey and King compare to the Middlesborough central midfielders?

Only then do they mean anything in terms of how we are playing in the middle of the park.

Stattos....get to work...

 

[Guest]

It definately is the midfield. they aren't providing the defensive cover required to push our opponents out wide and they arent using the ball effectively at all.

 

Amartey needs to be taught to win the ball then drive forward at pace. he has the physique for it and could become a phenomenon in the future  if he learns to play that way. at the moment he is too safe on the ball though which leads to backwards passes. there is potential there though. 

 

King just isn't good enough at this level. i hate to say that about a leicester legend but it is true. 

 

Time to see what James and kaputchka can bring to the table. 

 

Two new midfielders required. whether one can be mendy we will see but we need to have somebody that can work with drinky to control the ball so we can get forward in numbers not just lump it forward from deep as we have been all season. 

[jammie82uk]

3 hours ago, Col city fan said:

The only point to the stats above would be to COMPARE them to the same stats of other Prem central midfielders across the weekend. For instance, how do the same stats of Amartey and King compare to the Middlesborough central midfielders?

Only then do they mean anything in terms of how we are playing in the middle of the park.

Stattos....get to work...

 

[Guest Col city fan]

58 minutes ago, jammie82uk said:

Cheers for that mate. Unless I'm reading something wrong, doesn't this imply that forward passes to key attacking players were very few by Andy King? The fewest of all four players cited? And less than Amartey who interestingly WAS looking to get the ball forward.

[jammie82uk]

7 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

Cheers for that mate. Unless I'm reading something wrong, doesn't this imply that forward passes to key attacking players were very few by Andy King? The fewest of all four players cited? And less than Amartey who interestingly WAS looking to get the ball forward.

nope your not reading anything wrong that is exactly the case 

[Vardinio'sCat]

On 11/27/2016 at 00:14, Royston. said:

stating the obvious drinkwater and kante bossed it last season.

 

lose kante replace him with mendy who gets serious injury and our back up players amartey and king are expected to cut it at this level which they arent.

 

we missed out on silva in the summer but did we have no other midfield options lined up to recruit?

 

we're limping towards the next window and cr's formation is highlighting a painful vulnerability.

 

is no one in the back room staff or even the players even suggesting to cr we need a midfield three?

 

It has been mentioned that Nzonzi was targeted. I thought this was common knowledge but everyone seems to focus on Silva, who was very much a last minute thing.

 

As we can barely manage a 2 at the mo, being capable of playing a three is some weeks away, sadly. 

[sylofox]

30 minutes ago, Vardinio'sCat said:

 

It has been mentioned that Nzonzi was targeted. I thought this was common knowledge but everyone seems to focus on Silva, who was very much a last minute thing.

 

As we can barely manage a 2 at the mo, being capable of playing a three is some weeks away, sadly. 

Eggs and basket spring to mind. Piss poor planning on our part. We only seem to be able to sort out one signing at a time. Do all clubs work like this?

[sylofox]

8 hours ago, Col city fan said:

The only point to the stats above would be to COMPARE them to the same stats of other Prem central midfielders across the weekend. For instance, how do the same stats of Amartey and King compare to the Middlesborough central midfielders?

Only then do they mean anything in terms of how we are playing in the middle of the park.

Stattos....get to work...

 

One conclusion we can come to from that. Is our over use of our right wing/side by both of them.

[dorsetboy]

cant argue with the fact that we have been poor all over and i fail to believe its all down to kante leaving 

 

fuchs has looked basically dead on his feet 

vardy has lost his hunger and teams now setting up to sit deep to stop his runs and hes not getting the passes 

huth has been poor this season and looks to have lost even more pace  

zeieler well i will just leave spelling his name wrong as the best thing for him 

 

is there a solution who knows but if was claudio i would change formation and personal for the next two games to give others a gee up 

 

for me we are way to open in front of the back four and we like to counter attack but with vardy well off the pace and albrighton not in any kind of form i would go with the following 

 

play a 4-2-3-1 

 

==============kasper==================

simpson====morgan====hernandez====chilwell 

=========king====big was==========

gray===========mahrez=========musa

===============slimani ================

 

if were gonna play pure pace counter then lets do that and slimani is ideal as he can play with his feet and is one of the best headers of the ball in the prem and has raw strength to hold up play and lately hes put way more effort in than vardy and with mahrez just behind in a free role and two pure pacy and skillfull wingers and let kingy and sit just in fron t of big was who can help out the back four or at least take out someone eye with his elbow

[HighPeakFox]

4 hours ago, dorsetboy said:

cant argue with the fact that we have been poor all over and i fail to believe its all down to kante leaving 

 

fuchs has looked basically dead on his feet 

vardy has lost his hunger and teams now setting up to sit deep to stop his runs and hes not getting the passes 

huth has been poor this season and looks to have lost even more pace  

zeieler well i will just leave spelling his name wrong as the best thing for him 

 

is there a solution who knows but if was claudio i would change formation and personal for the next two games to give others a gee up 

 

for me we are way to open in front of the back four and we like to counter attack but with vardy well off the pace and albrighton not in any kind of form i would go with the following 

 

play a 4-2-3-1 

 

==============kasper==================

simpson====morgan====hernandez====chilwell 

=========king====big was==========

gray===========mahrez=========musa

===============slimani ================

 

if were gonna play pure pace counter then lets do that and slimani is ideal as he can play with his feet and is one of the best headers of the ball in the prem and has raw strength to hold up play and lately hes put way more effort in than vardy and with mahrez just behind in a free role and two pure pacy and skillfull wingers and let kingy and sit just in fron t of big was who can help out the back four or at least take out someone eye with his elbow

I'm exhausted just reading this