Huth and Morgan looked decent again...

[Struwwelpeter60]

5 minutes ago, Thracian said:

but there's no need to be pessimistic before it happens

To be optimistic/pessimistic only makes sense before it

happens. Because after the fact, when you know, what

has happened...

Do you get my drift?

[dylanlegend]

We attacked as a team and defended as a team, makes a huge difference 

[Struwwelpeter60]

14 minutes ago, erlee said:

with huth & morgan,. defending near the centre circle high is FATAL

Spot on!

[Struwwelpeter60]

10 minutes ago, dylanlegend said:

We attacked as a team and defended as a team, makes a huge difference 

If we can repeat that performance against Hull, I will

start to be optimistic again.

Not before. Too many false dawns this

season.

[mozartfox]

One swallow does not make a summer.........They have been Sunday League up to the Liverpool game.  There are other players more deserving to be given an another chance.

 

[Wymsey]

Bump.

 

Have to say that they were impressive together tonight. Morgan more.

I admit I thought they were starting to fade earlier in the season until early-February, but it seems that they've developed a strong working relationship again. Not convinced there's a better CB partnership than these up two when both in-form imo.

[justfoxes]

Was it because Kante was in the building ?

 

No FairPlay to the both of them they actually looked like a defensive pairing tonight keeping Seville at bay !!

Lets hope the can keep this up !?

[EGBFitness]

Both solid tonight! We needed a solid defence display and we got one! Great work by everyone at the back, massively impressed with Fuchs again tonight! 

 

Said I'd it all season but Morgan has been unfairly criticised! Feel like he has been covering 3 positions this season (Simpson being forced to push high/Huths poor positioning/lack of speed). 

 

Still a a critic of Huth this season but he put in a good performance tonight 

[car1os]

I thought they were immense - both solid at the back, didn't get pulled out of position, and enabled a solid platform for counter atracks especially in the second half

[Hirsty The Blue 94]

Been said earlier in the thread, but there jobs are made easier when the balls played forward are played under pressure. When we sat off teams early season they looked exposed (as most CB's would have.) With the high pressing energetic game that we are playing they are now being asked to deal with balls they are comfortable in dealing with. The hate earlier in the season was lunacy when they were quite clearly let down by the managers tacitcs.

[fuchsntf]

15 minutes ago, Hirsty The Blue 94 said:

Been said earlier in the thread, but there jobs are made easier when the balls played forward are played under pressure. When we sat off teams early season they looked exposed (as most CB's would have.) With the high pressing energetic game that we are playing they are now being asked to deal with balls they are comfortable in dealing with. The hate earlier in the season was lunacy when they were quite clearly let down by the managers tacitcs.

I dont disagree..

Its just hard trying to get ones head around the back 4 performances with Claudio, then these 3 games without him...

Claudio makes a slight tweek and a nip n tuck with the back 4, that helps us win the title, CBs looking like the  china wall.

Then our 1st 20 games, what did Claudio say and Change, to bring  out those abysmal performances, and why..???

Then these last 3 games, where the back 4 has clicked again.not forgetting Albrightons defensive contribution has

Once again returned to that top class performances...looks like we have bought 5 new guys. Though Simpson

has not had a bad season..He  n Fuchs near on their best ever games in a foxes shirt tonight....

[Vardinio'sCat]

They will never be pretty to watch, or quick on the turn, but if you give them the protection they need, they can defend.

 

I thought they were gone myself, but they have risen like Lazarus. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[foxes21]

reminiscent of last season. we made sevilla play to huth & morgan's strengths by forcing them wide, only to end up crossing it onto huths head.

beautiful.

 

[StriderHiryu]

They look better because the style of play we've used in the last 3 games suits them much better. Pressing from the front means we face less chances as a team when defending. It also means we have more of an offensive threat and pose the opposition problems. So often early in the season we were under the kosh from the start of the game, offered nothing up front and retreated back and played deep with no outlet. Inevitably this means someone makes a mistake, we went 1-0 down, our heads dropped and it was game over.

 

Huth and Morgan aren't world beaters, but are honest pros. They have made some terrible mistakes throughout this season, but part of tactics as a coach is to make the most out of the team you have.

 

Confidence also helps. Even though Kasper saved their blushes for the clean sheet, we've kept one against one of the best European sides out there over the last 5 years. Confidence means fewer mistakes!

[murphy]

On 01/03/2017 at 19:50, Struwwelpeter60 said:

Huth and Morgan are still our two oldest  first-team players.

They are still slow and ponderous.

They are still prone to panic, when put under pressure.

They still  can't pass properly.

And they were the two most ridiculed and insulted

players in this forum.

 

But suddenly the same people, who were castigating

CR for not dropping them, are applauding CS for

playing them.

Does that mean, that after all, CR was right, or

what?

It is really, really bizarre.

How fickle can one be??

Worst poem ever.

[Foxxed]

21 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

They look better because the style of play we've used in the last 3 games suits them much better. Pressing from the front means we face less chances as a team when defending. It also means we have more of an offensive threat and pose the opposition problems. So often early in the season we were under the kosh from the start of the game, offered nothing up front and retreated back and played deep with no outlet. Inevitably this means someone makes a mistake, we went 1-0 down, our heads dropped and it was game over.

 

Huth and Morgan aren't world beaters, but are honest pros. They have made some terrible mistakes throughout this season, but part of tactics as a coach is to make the most out of the team you have.

 

Confidence also helps. Even though Kasper saved their blushes for the clean sheet, we've kept one against one of the best European sides out there over the last 5 years. Confidence means fewer mistakes!

Exactly this for me.

 

I was among their critics before the turnaround, a turnaround that's included them, but a turnaround in the way we play. They were largely faultless last night, but then they were in no position to make any faults, since our narrow and compact formation pushed Sevilla out wide. And as soon as Sevilla crossed into the box, Huth and Morgan were in their element, not just in defending the ball but recycling the ball into an attacking ball.

 

Why we were unable to play like this with Ranieri? Did he decide we could no longer play as compact and narrow without N'golo? Did he decide a season of tinkering management was justified to cope with new challenges? These last three games seem to have proved, especially with Ndidi, we can play like this again. Until teams can conclusively prove we can no longer play as such, there's no chance of anyone but Huth and Morgan.

 

Arguably with good reason.

[catfordfox]

12 minutes ago, Foxxed said:

Exactly this for me.

 

I was among their critics before the turnaround, a turnaround that's included them, but a turnaround in the way we play. They were largely faultless last night, but then they were in no position to make any faults, since our narrow and compact formation pushed Sevilla out wide. And as soon as Sevilla crossed into the box, Huth and Morgan were in their element, not just in defending the ball but recycling the ball into an attacking ball.

 

Why we were unable to play like this with Ranieri? Did he decide we could no longer play as compact and narrow without N'golo? Did he decide, to cope with new challenges, a season of tinkerless management justified a season of tinkering management? These last three games seem to have proved, especially with Ndidi, we can play like this again. Until teams can conclusively prove we can no longer play as such, there's no chance of anyone but Huth and Morgan.

 

Arguably with good reason.

I do wonder if we'd had ndidi from the start of the season whether ranieri would have changed the style to that extent. Our centre mid pairing was invariably dire before he joined, whichever combination ranieri tried

[Foxxed]

2 minutes ago, catfordfox said:

I do wonder if we'd had ndidi from the start of the season whether ranieri would have changed the style to that extent. Our centre mid pairing was invariably dire before he joined, whichever combination ranieri tried

He tried to use this team against Burnley and Swansea, albeit with Gray instead of Shinji, and we got boned both times. By the time Ndidi was in the squad the team spirit was broken though, so it may be have been a bridge too far for Ranieri: he'd not only need to use Ndidi but motivate the players again.

[StriderHiryu]

55 minutes ago, Foxxed said:

Exactly this for me.

 

I was among their critics before the turnaround, a turnaround that's included them, but a turnaround in the way we play. They were largely faultless last night, but then they were in no position to make any faults, since our narrow and compact formation pushed Sevilla out wide. And as soon as Sevilla crossed into the box, Huth and Morgan were in their element, not just in defending the ball but recycling the ball into an attacking ball.

 

Why we were unable to play like this with Ranieri? Did he decide we could no longer play as compact and narrow without N'golo? Did he decide a season of tinkering management was justified to cope with new challenges? These last three games seem to have proved, especially with Ndidi, we can play like this again. Until teams can conclusively prove we can no longer play as such, there's no chance of anyone but Huth and Morgan.

 

Arguably with good reason.

Yes great point, pushing out slightly more than pre-Christmas means that teams have to go wide.

 

Something I want to say about Ranieri is that tactically the guy is actually brilliant, like many of the Italian coaches. The thing is though that just having the tactics isn't everything, the team you manage need to be able to understand and implement those tactics in a matchday environment. Julian Nagelsman, the rookie hotshot coach of Hoffenheim has famously said "Football Managament is 30% Tactics and 70% Social Competence" and I suspect that Ranieri struggled with the later this season when things weren't going so well.

 

Ranieri I beleive wanted the team to play a far more "Catenaccio" style (see the video below), as evidenced in many games when he would should shout at Vardy for pressing too high up the pitch (I've personally heard him do this at both the Boro and Southampton home games). Why would he want to do that? Well I beleive he identified that with no Kante player in the team, we did not have the energy to play a high tempo game when taking into account the extra high profile games of our European adventure. Morgan and Huth are getting older and not known for blistering pace, and in theory if we could excute the tactic correctly it would improve our defensive discipline and still enable us to hit teams on the break. To this day, if executed proficiently there is nothing wrong with the tactic. The problem IMO is that he was too stubborn and did not realise that our current set of players just couldn't make the system work, which led to all manner of extra tinkering and other formations / tactics and bemusing the team even further. I feel a similar problem currently exists at Man City where Guardiola is trying to get his team to play a certain way, but they aren't as technically competent across the pitch as Barcelona or Bayern Munich and so are having problems.

 

 

Shakespeare has reverted back to the system we played for the bulk of last year. We've been massively helped by the emergence of Wilfred Ndidi, who though a different player to Ngolo Kante is doing a pretty decent impersenation of him, at least in the role he fulfills for the team, whereas pre-Christmas we struggled with Amartey or King in the middle. The video below shows Atletico Madrid's system, which is a close match of how we play, but we are a bit different in that we are much more physical, direct and press high up the pitch at the start of games, intending to fall back once we get the lead and play on the break. The home leg against Seville was almost textbook Leicester in this regard.

 

As a disclaimer I want to say that I am no Tactics expert! I am actually taking a coaching course, mainly because I find it quite interesting hence some attempt at insights here. Shout me down if you think I am wrong by all means!

 

Speaking to some colleagues on my course, I think Leicester last year showed two things; 1 - that team spirit and togetherness can triumph over technical ability but also 2 - that playing tactics that work with the players and squad you have at your disposal can make a massive difference. Despite a lot of Ranieri criticism recently from many of us (I am also guilty of it!) he turned areas of weakness into strengths for us. Switching to a 4-4-2 with an ultra compact narrow shape that pressed high got the best out of our defence, unleashed Vardy on the Premier League, allowed Mahrez enough freedom to be our X-factor and maximised the use of Ngolo Kante whilst "marquee" signing Gokhan Inler sat on the bench all season long. That's excellent coaching right there.

 

We will have to see what the long-term effect is of playing at a higher intensity regularly is on our squad. But even if we hit a physical brickwall, it's surely worth it for the points and confidence we will rack-up in the meantime.

[Foxxed]

42 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Yes great point, pushing out slightly more than pre-Christmas means that teams have to go wide.

 

Something I want to say about Ranieri is that tactically the guy is actually brilliant, like many of the Italian coaches. The thing is though that just having the tactics isn't everything, the team you manage need to be able to understand and implement those tactics in a matchday environment. Julian Nagelsman, the rookie hotshot coach of Hoffenheim has famously said "Football Managament is 30% Tactics and 70% Social Competence" and I suspect that Ranieri struggled with the later this season when things weren't going so well.

 

Ranieri I beleive wanted the team to play a far more "Catenaccio" style (see the video below), as evidenced in many games when he would should shout at Vardy for pressing too high up the pitch (I've personally heard him do this at both the Boro and Southampton home games). Why would he want to do that? Well I beleive he identified that with no Kante player in the team, we did not have the energy to play a high tempo game when taking into account the extra high profile games of our European adventure. Morgan and Huth are getting older and not known for blistering pace, and in theory if we could excute the tactic correctly it would improve our defensive discipline and still enable us to hit teams on the break. To this day, if executed proficiently there is nothing wrong with the tactic. The problem IMO is that he was too stubborn and did not realise that our current set of players just couldn't make the system work, which led to all manner of extra tinkering and other formations / tactics and bemusing the team even further. I feel a similar problem currently exists at Man City where Guardiola is trying to get his team to play a certain way, but they aren't as technically competent across the pitch as Barcelona or Bayern Munich and so are having problems.

 

 

Shakespeare has reverted back to the system we played for the bulk of last year. We've been massively helped by the emergence of Wilfred Ndidi, who though a different player to Ngolo Kante is doing a pretty decent impersenation of him, at least in the role he fulfills for the team, whereas pre-season we struggled with Amartey or King in the middle. The video below shows Atletico Madrid's system, which is a close match of how we play, but we are a bit different in that we are much more physical, direct and press high up the pitch at the start of games, intending to fall back once we get the lead and play on the break. The home leg against Seville was almost textbook Leicester in this regard.

 

As a disclaimer I want to say that I am no Tactics expert! I am actually taking a coaching course, mainly because I find it quite interesting hence some attempt at insights here. Shout me down if you think I am wrong by all means!

 

Speaking to some colleagues on my course, I think Leicester last year showed two things; 1 - that team spirit and togetherness can triumph over technical ability but also 2 - that playing tactics that work with the players and squad you have at your disposal can make a massive difference. Despite a lot of Ranieri criticism recently from many of us (I am also guilty of it!) he turned areas of weakness into strengths for us. Switching to a 4-4-2 with an ultra compact narrow shape that pressed high got the best out of our defence, unleashed Vardy on the Premier League, allowed Mahrez enough freedom to be our X-factor and maximised the use of Ngolo Kante whilst "marquee" signing Gokhan Inler sat on the bench all season long. That's excellent coaching right there.

 

We will have to see what the long-term effect is of playing at a higher intensity regularly is on our squad. But even if we hit a physical brickwall, it's surely worth it for the points and confidence we will rack-up in the meantime.

Great videos and points.

 

It seems although Athletico will attack teams out pushing out wide, we'll let them stay there and cross in a ball, with Huth and Morgan using their height and physicality to start a counter attack.

 

The Catenaccio tactic confuses me. I understood the start of the video: pull back into a back four, absorb pressure, and then counter.

 

But I failed to fully understand the second part, about a lob-sided system with one winger pulling back, and one full back rushing towards. And if a non native speaking person tried to explain it to me, even less so.

[Realist Guy In The Room]

Lets not kid ourselves.  They both need replacing in the summer.

[Foxxed]

23 minutes ago, Realist Guy In The Room said:

Lets not kid ourselves.  They both need replacing in the summer.

If we stay with the same system, I'd be happy to have anyone with the same height and physicality strengths.

 

I'm not sure how good it'd be for the team spirit to lose Morgan though, and if we have Morgan how well he'd work without Huth, but I'd be mad to ignore any improvements obviously.

[Koke]

Towards the last 20 minutes Sevilla got desperate and started go lump balls into the box from everywhere. I don't think they created a single chance after the missed penalty. That's 16 mins + 4 added time and no chances created. Correa had a half chance he put way over the bar but that was all.

[lgfualol]

11 hours ago, Realist Guy In The Room said:

Lets not kid ourselves.  They both need replacing in the summer.

Surely we will. They're solid again after a few months of looking league 2 level but Huth is about 40 now and should take Wasyl's place as the veteran bench bloke. 

[Babylon]

Is Morgan still a shit Captain... or is he ok this week.