Match Ratings : Leicester City 1-1 Athletico Madrid - Vote Now

[the fox]

Its ok for Simpson, the defender to stay away because he could get skinned. But mahrez the 10 stone flair winger should be jumping with crushing tackles and put his body on the line, seems fair to me.

[The Blur]

Schmeichel - 7 - Quiet but solid distribution and a great tackle on Carascco for their pen shout.  I did love how he started and joined in several attacks in the second half

 

Simpson - 7.5 - Solid in both RB and CB. 

Morgan - 8 - MOTM  Our best defender on the night which is even more impressive when you consider he has only just returned from an injury. 

Benny - 7 - Steady

Fuchs - 6 - Much improved in the second half.  I cannot blame him fully for the goal,  he did check Saul twice and soon as he switch his focus back to the ball, that is when Saul made his great run. 

 

Albrighton - 6 - Limited final product but gave his all defensively

Ndidi - 6-  Wayward passing but did some good defensive work

Drinkwater  - 5  It was interesting to read the discussion between ZeGuy and other poster in this thread on DD's role but I agreed with ZeGuy that with Ndidi along him,  DD should take on more responsibility as our creator.  I cannot remember any forward passes of note from him.  

Mahrez - 6-  Our most dangerous outlet but mucked up most if not all of our attacks.  

 

Okazaki - 6 - I thought he had a fairly good first half.  

Vardy - 7.5 -Ran his socks off all game and a good finish for his goal.  

 

Leo - 6 - Gave A.Madrid's defence something else to think about when he came on but I just feel he could have done bit better at times.  Unlucky not to score with his chance.

Chilwell - 7 -  Great fearless attitude from him when he came on,  hard to judge whether if his impact is down to the space A.Madrid gave him or not but his beating of final man and final ball is limited. 

Amartey - N/A 

 

Shakey - 8 - I thought it was unfair to criticise him for not going for it in the first half,  we just cannot afford to concede any and A.Madrid had several two/three on two/three after the formation change in the second half so I believe we would definitely concede in first anyway if we started with 3-5-2.    Great formation change and subs in the second half apart from Amartery/Gray. 

 

Atleti - 8 - What ACKJ said

 

Officials - 7 -  Good game from them to let the game ebb and flow.  The ref was not having some of dives as well.  

[ZeGuy]

51 minutes ago, the fox said:

Its ok for Simpson, the defender to stay away because he could get skinned. But mahrez the 10 stone flair winger should be jumping with crushing tackles and put his body on the line, seems fair to me.

No Mahrez should have closed down as Simpson was there as a back up and to block the touch line path. Mahrez is partly responsible for the goal, no question.

[the fox]

5 minutes ago, ZeGuy said:

No Mahrez should have closed down as Simpson was there as a back up and to block the touch line path. Mahrez is partly responsible for the goal, no question.

Yes he shares some of the responsibility, but 100%! Everyone knows that mahrez is doing his best on defence. Yes he should've done better, but at least he was there and tracked back.

[hornyhollthefox123]

2 hours ago, ZeGuy said:

1. He has the most shots yet couldn't get one on target. Let alone score. Unless you consider killed pigeons or spectators as a valid stat.

 

2. We had more possession because Atletico are, like us, not a possession based team and leading the tie. They sat deep let us the ball and killed us on a counter.

 

3. "Bunch of meaningless stats" bit

 

Kinda dislike stats cited with no context. Gives me the feeling I'm actually having a youtube conversation with Ronaldo (the fake one) and Messi fanboys who only swear by numbers. Football is a bit more than that. And of course, the one who brings those stats on the table, is also supposed to give them a context.

 

DD's role in a 4-4-2 didn't change. Ndidi took Kanté's job. The main attack disruptor in the middle, is Ndidi. No matter how much tackles DD wins, he's often dispossessed. He's responsible, beside giving a hand in the defense, to coordinate the transition between defense and attack and give the game a direction. Which he doesn't do.

 

All I saw is a guy in the offensive phase carefully caring to stay at least 3-4 meters away from the guy with the ball and if that guy gives him the ball anyway, you can be sure that the ball will be safely handed to our defense or to the next guy right away. Which for a team relying on speedy attacks is kinda annoying. Or try a long hoof forward that either ends by the opposition or in the hands of some spectator.

 

Interesting would be his forward passes completion.

 

4. "I can only assume you don't ever see us live and see how many runs he tracks off the ball"

 

lol.

 

Well do you ever see us live? Your location is set as Cologne, Germany and given your lack of understanding of Drinkwater's role in our team i can only assume you watch occasionally on TV.

 

I'm not a huge fan of stats either but you're ignoring all of my points.. Your opinion on aimless long hoofs that ends up with the opposition or spectators is just factually wrong:

 

His average length of pass is only 18m (behind Huth, Wes, Albrighton, Fuchs, Benalouane, Simpson & Hernandez).. He's completed the most passes in the Premier League for Leicester..  and has the 2nd highest pass accuracy of anyone who starts regularly for us. 

 

More than happy to agree to disagree as you clearly don't get his role in our team. 

[ZeGuy]

1 hour ago, hornyhollthefox123 said:

 

Well do you ever see us live? Your location is set as Cologne, Germany and given your lack of understanding of Drinkwater's role in our team i can only assume you watch occasionally on TV.

 

I'm not a huge fan of stats either but you're ignoring all of my points.. Your opinion on aimless long hoofs that ends up with the opposition or spectators is just factually wrong:

 

His average length of pass is only 18m (behind Huth, Wes, Albrighton, Fuchs, Benalouane, Simpson & Hernandez).. He's completed the most passes in the Premier League for Leicester..  and has the 2nd highest pass accuracy of anyone who starts regularly for us. 

 

More than happy to agree to disagree as you clearly don't get his role in our team. 

1. Cheap shot holding no water whatsoever. I followed every game. By your logic, anyone who wasn't at the stadium can't understand what's going on on the pitch. We don't need to watch the games then. The pundits neither. We'll just all wait for your match report to know exactly what happened that day.

 

2. Huh?

 

3. Amazing input. Besides you missed my point.

 

4. Told you stats don't interest me. Sideward and backward pass completion neither.

 

5. lol.

[Sambiasso]

Shakey 7 - HT subs spot on

7 - Chilwell, Vardy, Simpson, Morgan(MOTM)
6 - rest of the team, except
5- Drinky, Okazaki 

Ref 7 - Let it flow, though some dubious decisions 
Atletico 7 - They are a great team but not as world class as people make out

Stay 

@ZeGuy  Spot on with everything you have said.

[Dickov22]

Kasper 7 Leader. Hope we can keep him

 

Simpson 8 Thought he was outstanding once we went to a back 3 

 

Morgan 9 MOTM Laughable that some suggested Benalouane was the superior player after 2 good games. Wes was bloody fantastic (again) 

 

Benalouane 6 Thought he did fine 

 

Fuchs 7 Partly at fault for the goal but what a spectacular header it was. Never stopped trying right until the last second 

 

Albrighton 7 Work rate superb 

 

Drinkwater 7 Must have watched a different game to some. Lost count of his interceptions and thought it was his best game in a while 

 

Ndidi 6 Bit careless in possession but I think he'll turn out to be a great player for us 

 

Mahrez 6 He tried but just lost the ball bit too often. Swarms of Athletico players around him whenever he got the ball 

 

Vardy 8 Brilliant finish and a pest all night to them 

 

Okazaki 4 Very poor. Why can he not just stop falling over? 

 

Ulloa and Chilwell 8 each. Ulloa can feel rightly aggrieved that he's not had more chances this season. 

 

Shakey 10/10. Won us the league last season and has turned this one around. 

[Fox92]

5 hours ago, the fox said:

Its ok for Simpson, the defender to stay away because he could get skinned. But mahrez the 10 stone flair winger should be jumping with crushing tackles and put his body on the line, seems fair to me.

Mahrez should have closed him down. His inability to defend is ridiculous, no wonder Pearson never picked him in away games during our great escape.

 

Griezmann is a "10 stone flair" player but the shift he put in was superb. He won ball backs when we were on the edge of their area.

[the fox]

45 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Mahrez should have closed him down. His inability to defend is ridiculous, no wonder Pearson never picked him in away games during our great escape.

 

Griezmann is a "10 stone flair" player but the shift he put in was superb. He won ball backs when we were on the edge of their area.

He can defend and he is actually tracking back well this season, only problem is he lacks intensity.

 

Griezmann is not a flair player, never was and never will be, this is like saying aguero is a flair player.

[MattCan]

Griezmann has his attributes of course (I like him a lot) but never a flair player ...

[drofmor55]

The FA   0/10 for making us play Sun / Wednesday 1st leg / Sat / Tuesday 2nd leg...did us no favours whatsoever...could not care less about English teams taking part in a UEFA competition .

 

I think Shakespeare did the right thing in picking a strong team against Crystal Palace as we were not 100% safe ...but could not that match have been played this weekend 

[Ted Maul]

11 hours ago, the fox said:

He can defend and he is actually tracking back well this season, only problem is he lacks intensity.

That's a fair point, it isn't too often he gets stranded upfield when we're defending. The lack of intensity is a big problem though- our entire game is based around it, and when you're carrying someone who can't/won't put the hard graft in, it nullifies the pressing of the other players and gives sides an easy pass/time on the ball.

 

Against a quality side like Atletico, we were made to pay for it. 

[Realist Guy In The Room]

Just to weigh in on the Drinkwater argument.  His tracking back and off the ball work is commendable.  However, as a midfield lynchpin the most important element of his game is what he does WITH the ball.

 

In this respect, it's been a long time since he's had anything near a decent game.  Constantly caught in possession and his passing is wayward to say the least.  Even his short passes seem to be underhit

alot of the time putting the recipient in trouble.

 

I watch the majority of the games on tv as I live in Cornwall and cant get back.  This actually gives a better perspective of the game and an individuals performance than being in the stadium.

 

Drinky scored a 4 from me on the night and that's been about his average for a few weeks.