The importance of the next two fixtures

[AmarteyAndChill]

35 minutes ago, CityFan 06 said:

Win these two and we're up to 36pts. That'd leave us 4 away from the desired 40pts.

 

 

 

 

Cheers dr do little 

[TheHitman™]

6 out of 6 for the next two games, rest a few but play tactics to force a draw against Everton, then Go full strength and energy against Atletico away. That Atletico game is huge but I think you can fight and get something out of it.

[dynamark]

Not sure we need to give any of the chosen group a rest just give the subs more time Maybe 30 minutes for Gray,Amartey,KIng even Ulloa.

Shinzi is on Duracell so hes fine.May need to hold back a bit on the pressing depending on the score.

[fuchsntf]

Just hope, Shakespeare , the players, through the whole squad, are not so weak kneed, as some posters seem to 

be. Doubt has no place, nor tiredness qualms belong to any profi player.

The coaches and manager get paid, for just these type of issues..

The stupid thought on this, if you believe it will effect the whole team, who must all be tired in one way or the other.

WHO  in hells name do you rest, who do you leave off the teamsheet.

We could play for those 6pts, and still only manage one, then what do you do..??? 

We could win both CL games then lose 3 games afterwards. Football doesnt allow the obvious.

We wanted PL, we wanted success. We dont throw the wages out we do for excuses.

Let the cry babies, with double qualities squads as ours like the Mourinhos, Gardiolas, Klopp, Conti, and Wenger of old.

do the pathetic complaining..when tiredness becomes an excuse.

I expect Shakespeare to rotate, but we have who and what we have. You on this forum like shouting to the rafters

about fearless, then leave the fingers well away from this "panic"  button.

"knowalls" are poor bed-partners

[Jobyfox]

 

14 hours ago, ZeGuy said:

No, you can't. The match against West ham was a fair warning and we were lucky (Kasper) to get away with the win. Player rotation is mandatory.

 

6 hours ago, elvisfmcfly said:

One might argue it was once we made the substitutions that we struggled!

One might further argue that we wouldn't have been 2-0 and 3-1 up in the first place if we hadn't started with the best eleven. We've not really demonstrated that we've got the squad depth to rotate the side up to this point in the season.

[coolhandfox]

Would take 4pts! 

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

I'm not worried at all. We will stay up.

[WiFoxes]

37 points has been enough for safety in 7 of the last 10 seasons.

 

We get 4 points from the next two games and most likely one win from our last 8 will be enough to stay up.

[sylofox]

hey win these two and a little help from our new found friends. Arsenil spuds mcity. We could be about safe. common spuds then let us fvck the title up for them

[STUHILL]

I think Sunderland and Boro have already tied up 2 of the relegation places. I think Hull have a very capable manager but I'd imagine they will come up just short in the end. Usually one club in the bottom 3 has a late run, but with teams like Swansea, Palace, Us and Watford above them, I just can't see it being enough. 

 

Hopefully, we win our next 2 home games, and that pretty much gets us over the line, with us just needing a few draws or another win to guarantee our safety. I must admit, after the Swansea game, I really thought Claudio would be staying and we were doomed. Quite incredible how drastically we have turned things around. This team never ceases to amaze me! 

 

 

[Gerard]

35 minutes ago, STUHILL said:

I think Sunderland and Boro have already tied up 2 of the relegation places. I think Hull have a very capable manager but I'd imagine they will come up just short in the end. Usually one club in the bottom 3 has a late run, but with teams like Swansea, Palace, Us and Watford above them, I just can't see it being enough. 

 

Hopefully, we win our next 2 home games, and that pretty much gets us over the line, with us just needing a few draws or another win to guarantee our safety. I must admit, after the Swansea game, I really thought Claudio would be staying and we were doomed. Quite incredible how drastically we have turned things around. This team never ceases to amaze me! 

 

 

 

Just imagine if we kept Claudio and lost the next three, the table would look like this:

 

Swansea 27

Hull 27

--------------------

Boro 22

Leicester 21

Sunderland 20

[AmarteyAndChill]

1 minute ago, Gerard said:

 

Just imagine if we kept Claudio and lost the next three, the table would look like this:

 

Swansea 27

Hull 27

--------------------

Boro 22

Leicester 21

Sunderland 20

But according to some, sacking raneiri was a mistake. Do me a favour 

[shailen]

Can't decide which way to go is better. Rest the players and keep them fresh for Atletico or play our first team every game to keep momentum up, and go into that game hopefully with an extension to our run. 

 

Personally, I don't like the idea of us prioritising the CL whilst we still have work to do to be safe and therefore we can't pick and choose which games to play our second string team in. Although I do understand it, I think momentum is more important and therefore we go with our best team every game and rest players in games when the job is done.

[Stevosevic]

Win the next two and we should be aiming for the top half. 

 

Beat Stoke and we're only 3 points off 9th.

[Thracian]

The more I hear about us collecting six points as if it will come like an annual charity donation, the less I think it will happen. If football was so conveniently accommodating for Leicester City fans we'd all be banned from Bet365 due to the level of our winnings every week.

 

That's not being the least pessimistic. It's emphasising that unless we focus on exactly how we intend to compete against Stoke, first and foremost,  we'll be drinking in the bleeding hearts club in no time, wondering what hit us.

 

Stoke don't do donations, they do mean and miserable like the weather there.  

And we'll need to be at our competitive best to bring home the sunshine of three points.

 

     

[adejo92]

Every game is just as important for us now.

[STUHILL]

33 minutes ago, shailen said:

Can't decide which way to go is better. Rest the players and keep them fresh for Atletico or play our first team every game to keep momentum up, and go into that game hopefully with an extension to our run. 

 

Personally, I don't like the idea of us prioritising the CL whilst we still have work to do to be safe and therefore we can't pick and choose which games to play our second string team in. Although I do understand it, I think momentum is more important and therefore we go with our best team every game and rest players in games when the job is done.

Tough call. I would normally say, keep the same team playing and building that confidence, but we saw how fatigue kicked in against West Ham in the 2nd half and we were lucky to hold on. I'd suggest a bit of rotation could work, with 2-3 changes to the starting 11 and using the subs earlier if possible. 

[Thracian]

16 minutes ago, STUHILL said:

Tough call. I would normally say, keep the same team playing and building that confidence, but we saw how fatigue kicked in against West Ham in the 2nd half and we were lucky to hold on. I'd suggest a bit of rotation could work, with 2-3 changes to the starting 11 and using the subs earlier if possible. 

You're right - and we saw what Millwall did for to our nice, fresh, reserves.

[StriderHiryu]

39 minutes ago, Thracian said:

The more I hear about us collecting six points as if it will come like an annual charity donation, the less I think it will happen. If football was so conveniently accommodating for Leicester City fans we'd all be banned from Bet365 due to the level of our winnings every week.

 

That's not being the least pessimistic. It's emphasising that unless we focus on exactly how we intend to compete against Stoke, first and foremost,  we'll be drinking in the bleeding hearts club in no time, wondering what hit us.

 

Stoke don't do donations, they do mean and miserable like the weather there.  

And we'll need to be at our competitive best to bring home the sunshine of three points.

 

     

Exactly!

 

During our title winning season our best win streak was 5 in a row. We are taking for granted that we will win the next two despite being toilet for most of the season. 

 

Its certainly possible but one of the best things about the Premier League is that any team can beat any other. 

 

We we need to focus on one game at a time and hope the boys play with the same effort and desire shown in the last 4 games. We will get a setback eventually, it's just how we cope with it. 

[STUHILL]

7 minutes ago, Thracian said:

You're right - and we saw what Millwall did for to our nice, fresh, reserves.

I said 2-3 changes to the starting 11, as in Gray, Benny and Slimani for example. 

 

The Leicester line up for Millwall was this:

 

Zieler

Amartey

Wagué

Benalouane

Chilwell

King

Mendy

Musa

Kapustka

Gray

Okazaki

 

....bit of a difference to what I was suggesting. 

[Stadt]

Rest one key player at a time, not all at once because then hopefully we'll retain momentum whilst keeping players fit

[STUHILL]

8 minutes ago, Wookie said:

Rest one key player at a time, not all at once because then hopefully we'll retain momentum whilst keeping players fit

I think for the Stoke game we should be the same starting 11, then change 1, maybe 2 for the Sunderland game but then look to make 2-3 changes for the Everton game, with Atletico away only 3 days later. 

 

Ideally, we just keep the same 11, but it's a lot to ask with 4 matches in 11 days, especially with them travelling to Spain as well. 

 

Some smart, minor rotation could really help manage that busy schedule. It also means that if we do sustain an injury to a key player, like Vardy or Mahrez, then we know that Slimani and Gray have had enough quality minutes under the belt, that they can then come in and hopefully be up to speed and do a job. 

[Foxxed]

Wouldn't mind the players not worrying about relegation, but focusing on repelling Athletico.

[Captain...]

This is where Craigy boy will earn his money.

 

There is one key issue we are forgetting here, if Ranieri has been ignoring the advice of the sports science team then these players have not had the world class conditioning programme that they benefitted from in the last 2 seasons. We have had more niggly injuries this season than the last 3 combined.

 

I suspect that Morgan was rested on their advice and Craig listened to it knowing how important they have been to our success. Drinkwater is having his fitness managed.

 

I would be in favour of keeping the same team for the rest of the season, but I don't know if they will be able to cope physically. What we can't afford is key players breaking down at the wrong time. If that means playing Chilwell and Gray vs Sunderland Amartey and Slimani vs Stoke then go for it. I trust Craig and our Sports Science team to make the right call. They know we will need our whole unit fit and firing for both legs against Atletico to stand a chance of going through.

[Thracian]

2 hours ago, Captain... said:

This is where Craigy boy will earn his money.

 

There is one key issue we are forgetting here, if Ranieri has been ignoring the advice of the sports science team then these players have not had the world class conditioning programme that they benefitted from in the last 2 seasons. We have had more niggly injuries this season than the last 3 combined.

 

I suspect that Morgan was rested on their advice and Craig listened to it knowing how important they have been to our success. Drinkwater is having his fitness managed.

 

I would be in favour of keeping the same team for the rest of the season, but I don't know if they will be able to cope physically. What we can't afford is key players breaking down at the wrong time. If that means playing Chilwell and Gray vs Sunderland Amartey and Slimani vs Stoke then go for it. I trust Craig and our Sports Science team to make the right call. They know we will need our whole unit fit and firing for both legs against Atletico to stand a chance of going through.

Some sound thinking there and I'm not dismissive of the likely need for changes.

My concern is about getting ahead of ourselves.

Too many people are talking about six points from Stoke/Sunderland as if they're a given. They're not.

So start with our established first team against Stoke, get them properly focused and motivated then see what transpires.  

I'm with you 100% about listening to the sports science people and, if necessary, taking action to prevent problems before they arise if the signs look iffy.

But we need to maintain our momentum and to play with passion in the Stoke game as every other.

And that's where the first team differs from the rest. Passion.

To a man our first choice team has this massive desire to play and to win.

Time and again over three seasons they've shown themselves able to defy the odds.

The question is who among our replacements can be trusted to have the same need, willpower and winning instincts in adversity?

I keep thinking back to that Millwall game and when I do, I find no answers. Just a team with too many players prepared to accept defeat, the same as at Hull the year before.

Yet, some of those players have been winners in different circumstances but others not nearly often enough.    

And that's what bothers me about making changes. The wrong mentality.

Anyone can skip around looking interested. But I'd rather have a tired winner giving his last few breaths and collapsing exhausted at the end than a loser getting shoved off the ball or not taking responsibility for what's needed.