Leicester City v Chelsea post match thread 0 - 3

[AmarteyAndChill]

6 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

I'm not going to knock Ranieri for trying that system yesterday. I was one of the (many) who thought it looked ok, pre match.

No, for me yesterday, it was more about the players just not performing. Drinkwater looks a shadow of the player we saw last season, Wes and Huth are, let's face it, past it when played together, and we never came to terms really with their quick passing style of play.

Albrighton put in a couple of super crosses, but to whom? In Musa and Vardy, we have two of the quickest, but smallest players in the division, so why are we whipping-in HIGH crosses to the pair of them? The Chelsea defenders will probably not have an easier day all season.

I got the game plan personally. It was excecuted really really badly AND, on a day when Chelsea were also very very good.

The problem I have is this....I just don't think we have a particularly strong squad. Whatever formation we choose to play, I can't see the defence being strong enough and we are short of ideas going forward.

I still think we'll survive. The poor teams, very fortunately this season, are really poor. But I think we'll limp over the line with a few better performances, but primarily playing bang average football and then have to regroup over the summer.

What is clear is that the owners will again have to spend money, primarily on almost completely revamping the back four, which, I'm afraid, is looking too slow at this level.

Before the game I was optimistic. Everton tried to match Chelsea and conceded 5.

[ZeGuy]

14 hours ago, LCFC FOX said:

.

I disagree.

[LCFC FOX]

1 minute ago, ZeGuy said:

I disagree.

How come you gave me a rep point then? You obviously agreed.

[Domsdad]

The problem for me is us not picking up the second ball. Time after time Schmeichels kicks were to Chilwell as we obviously thought he had the beating of Moses, but nobody got on the end of the flicks. 

Mendy and N'Didi look very promising, but the problem there is Drinky isn't sure of his role. N'Didi is a world apart from Amartey, primarily because he tracks his man- who yesterday was Hazard! 

I think we have to hope for an early Algeria exit from AFCON, and that Slim and Mahrez come back with a point to prove.

[ZeGuy]

1 minute ago, LCFC FOX said:

How come you gave me a rep point then? You obviously agreed.

Even if I have a different opinion, I still found your argument well-thought-out and appreciated it. That's why.

[st albans fox]

What did they change second half to negate our first half successful tactic of not allowing courtois to take short goal kicks?

 

we forced him to kick long and that gave us  a good chance of winning the ball back as they had no costa to compete for the header. 

 

we applied a similar tactic at WHL last season  to stop them building from the back. 

 

didnt notice what changed but something must have as they were so much more comfortable second half 

[ZeGuy]

10 hours ago, ozleicester said:

Ranieri tried something...it failed.

Drinkwater out of form

Vardy out of form

Three main reasons for failure

How about completely outclassed CBs? Watching Morgan was painful. You can't expect points with that kind of defending.

 

Absolutely baffled to see attackers or midfielders constantly slated when Huth/Morgan have been on a Championship level the whole season.

[elvisfmcfly]

41 minutes ago, somebum said:

Just reading again where I slated the new players. oh no wait, I didnt. Pratt.

You was having a go at Musa. Pillock.

[Bayfox]

10 minutes ago, Domsdad said:

The problem for me is us not picking up the second ball. Time after time Schmeichels kicks were to Chilwell as we obviously thought he had the beating of Moses, but nobody got on the end of the flicks. 

Mendy and N'Didi look very promising, but the problem there is Drinky isn't sure of his role. N'Didi is a world apart from Amartey, primarily because he tracks his man- who yesterday was Hazard! 

I think we have to hope for an early Algeria exit from AFCON, and that Slim and Mahrez come back with a point to prove.

The goal kicks were odd as well.

 

Aimed to high so Chilwell was always having to head them. I could partly understand if we were playing them to his feet. But he was isolated despite us doing it time and time again.

[somebum]

1 minute ago, elvisfmcfly said:

You was having a go at Musa. Pillock.

care to give me a quote? I cant recall mentioning him at all

[elvisfmcfly]

1 minute ago, somebum said:

care to give me a quote? I cant recall mentioning him at all

Can't be arsed going back to find it let's just say you did and leave it there.no hard feelings! Have a nice day.

[somebum]

1 minute ago, elvisfmcfly said:

Can't be arsed going back to find it let's just say you did and leave it there.no hard feelings! Have a nice day.

sound

[ZeGuy]

28 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

I'm not going to knock Ranieri for trying that system yesterday. I was one of the (many) who thought it looked ok, pre match.

No, for me yesterday, it was more about the players just not performing. Drinkwater looks a shadow of the player we saw last season, Wes and Huth are, let's face it, past it when played together, and we never came to terms really with their quick passing style of play.

Albrighton put in a couple of super crosses, but to whom? In Musa and Vardy, we have two of the quickest, but smallest players in the division, so why are we whipping-in HIGH crosses to the pair of them? The Chelsea defenders will probably not have an easier day all season.

I got the game plan personally. It was excecuted really really badly AND, on a day when Chelsea were also very very good.

The problem I have is this....I just don't think we have a particularly strong squad. Whatever formation we choose to play, I can't see the defence being strong enough and we are short of ideas going forward.

I still think we'll survive. The poor teams, very fortunately this season, are really poor. But I think we'll limp over the line with a few better performances, but primarily playing bang average football and then have to regroup over the summer.

What is clear is that the owners will again have to spend money, primarily on almost completely revamping the back four, which, I'm afraid, is looking too slow at this level.

Very good post.

 

I also think that the 3-5-2 formation was the right answer to Chelsea, but not with Morgan and Huth together. In a 3-5-2, you need CBs that actually can play high, pass forward and a bit quicker on the ball. The first and second goals were awful to watch. Why not try to pair Amartey (when he's back) with Huth?

With time Ndidi and Mendy will do wonders in the midfield. They got a bit in each others way yesterday but it was the right set-up. I just hope Drinky's tough spell is soon over. 

 

I'd like to see something like this after the AFCON:

 

                               Kasper

             Simpson Amartey Huth(or better) Chilwell

                            Mendy  Ndidi

                             Drinkwater

                 Mahrez                Gray

                                 Slim

[BenTheFox]

This season: Let the opposition pass the ball in and around us, win it back, boot an aimless ball forward, lose it, repeat. 

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

1 hour ago, Col city fan said:

I'm not going to knock Ranieri for trying that system yesterday. I was one of the (many) who thought it looked ok, pre match.

No, for me yesterday, it was more about the players just not performing. Drinkwater looks a shadow of the player we saw last season, Wes and Huth are, let's face it, past it when played together, and we never came to terms really with their quick passing style of play.

Albrighton put in a couple of super crosses, but to whom? In Musa and Vardy, we have two of the quickest, but smallest players in the division, so why are we whipping-in HIGH crosses to the pair of them? The Chelsea defenders will probably not have an easier day all season.

I got the game plan personally. It was excecuted really really badly AND, on a day when Chelsea were also very very good.

The problem I have is this....I just don't think we have a particularly strong squad. Whatever formation we choose to play, I can't see the defence being strong enough and we are short of ideas going forward.

I still think we'll survive. The poor teams, very fortunately this season, are really poor. But I think we'll limp over the line with a few better performances, but primarily playing bang average football and then have to regroup over the summer.

What is clear is that the owners will again have to spend money, primarily on almost completely revamping the back four, which, I'm afraid, is looking too slow at this level.

I think yours is a very good assessment indeed although with some caveats, one of which is whether I think we will survive. If we get our systems sorted, and with an additional/replacement centre back, then yes I think we will. Without doing that, we will struggle and suffer the drop - no limping over the line.

 

I also agree I didn't really disagree with Ranieri's line up although I would have kept last week's finishing set up. Whilst the players' performances were largely poor (exceptions I felt were Ndidi and Chilwell) - apart from the latter part of the first half - I think the tactical and formational change didn't help them. They struggled early on, conceded the early goal after a very slow start, and then once that repeated itself at the start of the second, it was literally game over.

 

After that, we didn't really have a clue how to use or change the tactics to rescue the game. Bringing on Simpson at the stage Claudio did smacked of desperation or muddled thinking. 

 

I don't think Chelsea were that great to be honest. We made them look good in the second half.

 

We need some stability tactically now, whilst refinding our pressing game and vigour. 

[jim5000]

Last season reminded me of watching Utd play under Ferguson. Whenever our players had the ball, there was always a couple of teammates close by supporting them. The players are playing in isolation now and not giving the player on the ball any support so we end up hoofing it to Vardy and it comes right back at us.

[NotTheMarketLeader]

14 hours ago, TAFKA Castroneves said:

Yeah that was terrible, i'm still (like others) pretty concerned at how long it's taking Claudio to get his head around this season - almost feels like we're reacting tactically to problems like four games too late - and that doesn't bode well in the Premier League, very concerning we could be in a bit of trouble come March...

 

I liked the change in system but it was just painfully apparent that the starting 11 weren't ready to execute it properly - we ended up flat 6-4-1 most of the time due to Chelsea's exceptional pressing play - and despite having 6 back they still found holes with remarkable ease. N'Didi and Mendy just got in each others way all the time, they couldn't operate together and that led us to more of a 6-3-1. Vardy isn't getting any service because Drinky is having to drop back so deep this year to try and mop up the ball as well - where as we've all said that was all Kante did last season. Huth and Morgan with the new rules as well aren't going to be effective enough anymore, sure Huthy can do a job but sadly Wes is just looking more and more shaky as we move forward it seems.

 

One thing we have to consider is the fact that perhaps this season Ranieri realised that our high-tempo pressing game would have burned us out (with the addition of the Champions League of course and the extra games) so he's looked to address that early and change that element of our game - the problem is we're not good at any other way of playing football with this side.

 

I'm really thinking we might need to gamble now and roll the dice - we're an attractive proposition now with a couple of Champs League games left, current Premier League champions, signing someone like Silmani (despite how good or not he has been - remember delivery here) who is seen as a top draw striker - we have the elements in place to remain a pretty "big" club - but that ends if we go down this year, we're back a load of steps and we'll need to build a new side in a much more difficult scenario. I hate suggesting we have to move Claudio on, it's not something I take any sort of kicks of saying as i could never thank him enough for last season - but this is a huge time in our club and the ship is very steadily sinking...

 

Roberto Mancini?

Look, I agree Ranieri is making mistakes one of which was his starting Musa (half understandable based on last week) who has now proven he is what I would call 'a flash in the pan merchant'. Flashes of brilliance every six months.

 

The square pegs in round holes also concerning - Chillwell playing as a winger for example. 

My my main 'beef' is our lack of ambition to win the game and no pressing high up the pitch. 

 

However, we were playing a world class team which when we look at it in a level headed way has to be taken into account. 

 

Also in mitigation for our now beleaguered manager - what we saw yesterday is several players displaying form which has 'fallen off a cliff'. 

 

Fuchs: looks like he's gone at the game, and lost two yards of pace. 

 

Albrighton: awful - could not make a 5yd pass. 

 

Drinkwater: I agree he previously was doing too much, dropping too deep etc, and being the only one who 'stepped up' in the first three months of the season. Today though he could not pass to save his life. He was bad beyond belief. Never seen such a poor display from him. 

 

I could go on, but if we leave it at that, when 40% of your outfield players have a complete shocker they have to take some responsibility, and when that coincides with the best team in the league coming to town the result is only what you'd expect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HankMarvin]

5 hours ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

That's a good 7 or 8 games now this season that were far, far worse than anything served up in 14-15, and I include the diamond experiment in that. These drubbings don't even bother me anymore.

The difference being expectations 

we didn't have a team that had just won the league.

we didn't have majority of players on top 6 wages.

we hadn't spent 70 million on players.

 

I can suffer a 0-3 defeat, but it's the manner in which we lose.

when gray comes on why does he look like his really trying and committed.

because near enough all his team mates are just going through the motions to do the minimum required of them.

 

[CosbehFox]

5 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

Look, I agree Ranieri is making mistakes one of which was his starting Musa (half understandable based on last week) who has now proven he is what I would call 'a flash in the pan merchant'. Flashes of brilliance every six months.

 

The square pegs in round holes also concerning - Chillwell playing as a winger for example. 

My my main 'beef' is our lack of ambition to win the game and no pressing high up the pitch. 

 

However, we were playing a world class team which when we look at it in a level headed way has to be taken into account. 

 

Also in mitigation for our now beleaguered manager - what we saw yesterday is several players displaying form which has 'fallen off a cliff'. 

 

Fuchs: looks like he's gone at the game, and lost two yards of pace. 

 

Albrighton: awful - could not make a 5yd pass. 

 

Drinkwater: I agree he previously was doing too much, dropping too deep etc, and being the only one who 'stepped up' in the first three months of the season. Today though he could not pass to save his life. He was bad beyond belief. Never seen such a poor display from him. 

 

I could go on, but if we leave it at that, when 40% of your outfield players have a complete shocker they have to take some responsibility, and when that coincides with the best team in the league coming to town the result is only what you'd expect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The three players you mention all played roles they weren't particularly comfortable in.

[TAFKA Castroneves]

3 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

Look, I agree Ranieri is making mistakes one of which was his starting Musa (half understandable based on last week) who has now proven he is what I would call 'a flash in the pan merchant'. Flashes of brilliance every six months.

 

The square pegs in round holes also concerning - Chillwell playing as a winger for example. 

My my main 'beef' is our lack of ambition to win the game and no pressing high up the pitch. 

 

However, we were playing a world class team which when we look at it in a level headed way has to be taken into account. 

 

Also in mitigation for our now beleaguered manager - what we saw yesterday is several players displaying form which has 'fallen off a cliff'. 

 

Fuchs: looks like he's gone at the game, and lost two yards of pace. 

 

Albrighton: awful - could not make a 5yd pass. 

 

Drinkwater: I agree he previously was doing too much, dropping too deep etc, and being the only one who 'stepped up' in the first three months of the season. Today though he could not pass to save his life. He was bad beyond belief. Never seen such a poor display from him. 

 

I could go on, but if we leave it at that, when 40% of your outfield players have a complete shocker they have to take some responsibility, and when that coincides with the best team in the league coming to town the result is only what you'd expect.

 

 

It's a really odd scenario, if you look for a general problem everyone just generally seems off the pace - for whatever reason, i can't think of many games this year we really even looked up to it - that's why my relegation radar is starting to get twitchy, that combined with the teams around us making adjustments and re-inforcing ready for the upcoming battle, it's like we're in a bit of a daze.

 

I don't want to create a misconception so just wanted to reiterate as well i'm not sat here fully screaming Claudio must go, I love him like the rest of us so it's not easy - but I also don't think it's an unreasonable expectation with our work in the Summer to expect not being in a relegation scrap this year. There are just so many factors wobbling, it's not just for one reason there's a lot looking troublesome about where we are now.

 

Let's see what happens i guess

[LCCFox96]

It's not an excuse but I think we were slightly unfortunate in that the next game following a decent spurt of form was Chelsea. We've got the players here to pull through, we just need to apply them in the correct manner.

 

I thought Ndidi, Chilwell and Gray looked good yesterday and I thought Mendy was excellent. An uncharacteristically bad performance from Drinkwater. Unfair to pin too much on Vardy and Musa yesterday, they had no service. Also our bank of 3 midfield players against Kante and Matic was frustrating. When Alonso and Moses dropped back alongside the midfield, we were always out numbered and always second best.

 

On a separate note, I was baffled when Chelsea signed Alonso (and for that fee) but I must say he was mighty impressive yesterday. Pedro, Hazard, Kanté all different class.

[lee7]

Ranieri last season was so good at spotting the obvious and making changes. This season it seems that he's lost that ability. 

 

i would love for us to be a team capable of keeping possession for long periods but with our centre halves and players like Albrighton in the team we will never be able to achieve that. Albrighton on occasions delivers some quality balls in the box and he works tirelessly but the amount of times he needlessly gives the ball away is unforgiveable. 

[urban.spaceman]

7 minutes ago, LCCFox96 said:It's not an excuse but I think we were slightly unfortunate in that the next game following a decent spurt of form was Chelsea. We've got the players here to pull through, we just need to apply them in the correct manner.

 

I thought Ndidi, Chilwell and Gray looked good yesterday and I thought Mendy was excellent. An uncharacteristically bad performance from Drinkwater. Unfair to pin too much on Vardy and Musa yesterday, they had no service. Also our bank of 3 midfield players against Kante and Matic was frustrating. When Alonso and Moses dropped back alongside the midfield, we were always out numbered and always second best.

 

On a separate note, I was baffled when Chelsea signed Alonso (and for that fee) but I must say he was mighty impressive yesterday. Pedro, Hazard, Kanté all different class.

I agree with much of this to be honest. And I can see what Claudio meant about it being a "good performance" - it wasn't obviously but we did play quite well in the first half and their first 2 goals came from a defensive mistake (where arguably Pedro could have been deemed to be offside and interfering with play... file it under 'seen it given') and an unlucky deflection. The third was a screw up of monumental proportions. 

 

Other than that and some baffling substitutions and tactics I felt there were a lot of positives to take away and could have made the difference against a different team (one that's just won 13 in 14 and looking to bounce back).

 

Let's be honest. Chelsea were good. I think we have a good chance next week to crack on. 

 

I

[AmarteyAndChill]

1 hour ago, jim5000 said:

Last season reminded me of watching Utd play under Ferguson. Whenever our players had the ball, there was always a couple of teammates close by supporting them. The players are playing in isolation now and not giving the player on the ball any support so we end up hoofing it to Vardy and it comes right back at us.

We don't pass and move. We pass and stand still, this is basics..

[Aeropars]

For me, Ranieri and the assistants have had their chance and it was time to go at Christmas. 

 

Yesterdays selection and tactical changes from the start and during the game were nothing short of bizarre. 

 

Theres no two ways about it. Our title defence has been nothing short of embarrassing and there is little sign it will get better. We are trying to be more solid in defence however that's only half of the problem. We are not loooking like scoring for so long in nearly all the games it it truly worrying. 

 

And Claudio being pleased with every poor performance is just baffling.