Fleetwood Town (A) 0-0 FA Cup 3rd Round

[Sunbury Fox]

I'm not saying don't pick some fringe players, just not so many. We could easily have lost today. 

 

We should have made 5 changes, rather than 8, and not fiddled with the formation, whilst giving 4 or 5 fringe players a game. 

 

I like what Puel has been trying to do since he came in but I think he took a very big risk today and we only just dodged a bullet. 

[Tringfox]

9 minutes ago, BenTheFox said:

Spot on. That's given him a clearer idea of which players he needs to move on. 

And I’m sure he looked at that performance today and thought a mass clear out is needed!!

[Wortho]

We just didn't impose ourselves on the game. They played well but we were too timid and poor touches led to us terrible passing. We could've done without another game but I'm sure Puel knows what he's doing.

[Freeman's Wharfer]

Today was all about the mentality of our players. Nothing wrong with Puel making changes (risky though it might be) but when he does you'd like to see those players given a chance really take it.

 

We fell down on desire in large parts today...

 

Slimani - you can talk about service which is valid to an extent but how about making something happen for yourself? Working your arse off so that you can say you did everything in your power to affect things? He couldn't care less: bin.

 

King - I'm a King fan and I've always felt that the anonymous criticism that he gets is a tad unfair: if someone's not making mistakes then you don't notice then. I do however feel that he's not grown as a player who can positively affect a game when the chips are down. He's 28 now, should be in his prime and it would have been nice to see him grab the game by the scruff of the neck to try and make something happen.

 

Iheanacho - his career at the club's on the line and I can't remember any involvement other than pulling his foot out of a tackle on the halfway line. Play like you want a future.

 

There are others who just weren't good enough; Benalouane, Barnes and Silva I'm looking at you. That can happen and you won't get 11 on their game in a team that has no history together. But it speaks volumes when Okazaki and Albrighton can look a couple of notches above the rest in their cameos just for the fact that they wanted it more (as they always do).

 

Bullet dodged today, in large part due to the application of several who should be busting a gut to force their way into Puel's plans.

[SemperEadem]

What a photo.

[Always Next Year]

52 minutes ago, Tringfox said:

And I’m sure he looked at that performance today and thought a mass clear out is needed!!

Agree 100%

[ARM1968]

Said they’d destroy us. Why not take the fuching game seriously?  It’s the FA Cup, not the Caramac cup or whatever. Pricks. 

[Always Next Year]

1 hour ago, BenTheFox said:

Two things: Firstly our Christmas fixture list was more congested than Man City's and secondly, it's about giving players an opportunity. Puel wants to assess his squad. Before the game he thought the team was good enough to win the game, as did I. 

You both need to get to Boots for an eye test.

Assess the squad, I did this after the Man City League Cup game and the first 45 mins today, my verdict .  SHIT and more SHIT

[Ric Flair]

5 hours ago, reynard said:

The players should be ashamed and so should Puel. A manager who clearly doesn't give a toss about cup competions.

 

Disgraceful shambles. Not a single shot on target. Midfield non-existent would be polite. If I see James do one of those stupid overhead flicks back to their players ever again.

 

I really woudn't care less if several of those players never pulled on a Leicester shirt ever agian.

 

The match clearly shows

A How utterly dependent we are on Mahrez for any sort of creativity

B Vardy is essential

C  Too manyof the fringe players are simply not anywhere near good enough for us to challenge at the top end of the Premier League

D  Our young players simply aren't anywhere near ready

He got to a final last year so he must have done something right to get that far.

 

It was a heinous performance but let's not get carried away. These fringe players played extremely well vs Sheffield Utd, Liverpool and Leeds earlier this season but today there was absolutely no real class on the bench to make anything happen if we struggled and that shows we need to ship some Deadwood out and try and bring in some better balance.

 

How many of our young players actually played today? Barnes was the only non-established kid, Chilwell, Gray and Amartey are all first team players. I'd have liked to have seen Hughes and Thomas in there, couldn't have been much worse than the rest today. I do wonder what Hughes has to do to get a go given we're down to the bare bones in defence and our U23's are absolutely mustard. Obviously not ready yet.

 

The main fear as always is how bang average we are without Mahrez. Frightening if he goes. 

 

[Guest]

Is the replay on the 16th?

[Ansteyblue]

Made to many changes for me should have started albrighton,marhez &okazaki then changed it later in the game if they needed a rest 

[Ansteyblue]

2 minutes ago, FIF said:

Is the replay on the 16th?

Think so apparently only selling West stand at first. Why I don' know or get 

[Great Boos Up]

On the only plus side, we must have added a few new record stats with that performance.

It really is impossible to explain what it's like supporting this club. I hope we are deservedly absolutely slated in the press because we will probably then go on and win the thing now.

[reynard]

14 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

He got to a final last year so he must have done something right to get that far.

 

It was a heinous performance but let's not get carried away. These fringe players played extremely well vs Sheffield Utd, Liverpool and Leeds earlier this season but today there was absolutely no real class on the bench to make anything happen if we struggled and that shows we need to ship some Deadwood out and try and bring in some better balance.

 

How many of our young players actually played today? Barnes was the only non-established kid, Chilwell, Gray and Amartey are all first team players. I'd have liked to have seen Hughes and Thomas in there, couldn't have been much worse than the rest today. I do wonder what Hughes has to do to get a go given we're down to the bare bones in defence and our U23's are absolutely mustard. Obviously not ready yet.

 

The main fear as always is how bang average we are without Mahrez. Frightening if he goes. 

 

We had Albrighton and Okazaki on the bench and even they didn't make much difference. Plus a player we paid 25 million for. I can't agree there was no real class on the bench.

Personally I don't think Chilwell or Armatey are ready for more than cameo performances and they both struggled today. Barnes seems to have gone backwards at Barnsley.

if Hughes isn't as decent as Benalouane then he must be considerd miles away which is disappointing as he seems to be doing ok in under 23s.

[Karljohn]

Just now, Ansteyblue said:

Think so apparently only selling West stand at first. Why I don' know or get 

It is the 16th. Cant see it going beyond the West Stand and their fans in the family stand. Wont make 8k. Its middle of Jan, extra expense, and a team that holds no interest other than it being Vardys old club. 

[SecretPro]

5 hours ago, foxes21 said:

Amartey, Dragovic, Benalouane, Slimani, Ulloa, Musa, King

 

Gerrem all out 

Amartey has been pretty good as cover for Simpson this time around, I'm not his biggest fan but he offers something at least. 

 

Drago shouldn't be in this list, he seems pretty solid to me if nothing else but what do you want from a CB?

 

Benny is an icon but he ain't prem.

 

Slim is 'fits and starts' defined, sometimes i watch him and think he's worth keeping, other times I just want him to close his mouth and move along. He moans like ****, he's occasionally lazy and his touch is that of a rapist but he can score goals (his goal to minutes ratio is decent) and I feel if we played as a 9 and we ping balls into the box constantly he would look the dogs but at present he doesn't fit our usual style of play.

 

Ulloa offers nothing, I've seen faster roadkill, he doesn't use his size to his advantage, he never wins second balls, spends far to much time on the deck and to be totally honest hes a jumped up lanky **** that said he'd never play for the club again and obviously has no respect for the fans or the club, why we gave him another contract I'll never know and even if it's because he's a cheaper option of we move slim on I still don't care because he literally offers nothing. He turns up, keeps the bench warm and takes home a shit load of cash, how we ever thought he had the right to spit his dummy out and demand first team football is beyond me. 

 

Musa is dogshit, you're right. 

 

King, club legend, fans favourite, been here for centuries, nice man, team player, model pro yada yada but I agree that in reality he offers nothing except a back-pass, an invisibility cloak and the odd good gurn. 

 

Edited 6 January 2018 by SecretPro

[Kasey Keller]

0 shots on target ?FFS

[FoxFossil]

6 hours ago, Webbo said:

I won't bother watching MOTD tonight. Our highlights will consist of 2 throw ins.

So unfair. King kicked the ball forward once.

[foxgas]

25 minutes ago, SecretPro said:

Amartey has been pretty good as cover for Simpson this time around, I'm not his biggest fan but he offers something at least. 

 

Drago shouldn't be in this list, he seems pretty solid to me if nothing else but what do you want from a CB?

 

Benny is an icon but he ain't prem.

 

Slim is 'fits and starts' defined, sometimes i watch him and think he's worth keeping, other times I just want him to close his mouth and move along. He moans like ****, he's occasionally lazy and his touch is that of a rapist but he can score goals (his goal to minutes ratio is decent) and I feel if we played as a 9 and we ping balls into the box constantly he would look the dogs but at present he doesn't fit our usual style of play.

 

Ulloa offers nothing, I've seen faster roadkill, he doesn't use his size to his advantage, he never wins second balls, spends far to much time on the deck and to be totally honest hes a jumped up lanky **** that said he'd never play for the club again and obviously has no respect for the fans or the club, why we gave him another contract I'll never know and even if it's because he's a cheaper option of we move slim on I still don't care because he literally offers nothing. He turns up, keeps the bench warm and takes home a shit load of cash, how we ever thought he had the right to spit his dummy out and demand first team football is beyond me. 

 

Musa is dogshit, you're right. 

 

King, club legend, fans favourite, been here for centuries, nice man, team player, model pro yada yada but I agree that in reality he offers nothing except a back-pass, an invisibility cloak and the odd good gurn. 

 

Andy king is actually quite good at pointing at the ball. I can't believe the team selection, if you pick a team on the basis that they haven't played much football don't be surprised at such a disjointed performance. We were lucky to get away with a draw and I won't be paying over a tenner for the replay to watch that bunch. It's the FA cup for Christ's sake Claude, give it a go and with the top teams distracted by Europe we may actually win it !

[Raj]

Absolutely woeful today.

They should be ashamed of that.

All of these players had a chance to knock on the door of a first team place and ask the Manager a question.

NOT ONE player came out of that with credit in my opinion against the calibre of player they were up against ( no disrespect to Fleetwood)

[FoxFossil]

6 hours ago, Line-X said:

Did anyone notice the grassy knoll outside Highbury in the top left of the picture?

Not enough shots for a grassy knoll conspiracy.

[MC Prussian]

7 hours ago, Harrydc said:

On the LCFC website yesterray they posted tickets for a replay match against fleetwood on the 16th and deleted it soon after. today was a 0-0, is there something sinister going on?...

I'm not too much into conspiracy theories and would really hate it if it were true, but what are the odds that both Leicester and Fleetwood had both agreed on a draw even before a ball was kicked?

 

Even though they aren't suffering from financial problems with their local owner, a replay would give Fleetwood some much-needed additional influx of cash, as LCFC have to split the gate with the guests again. Don't know about TV rights.

Edited 6 January 2018 by MC Prussian

[Dan LCFC]

I do think Puel made a few too many changes in hindsight but absolutely no way on earth should that side not register a single shot on target against Fleetwood.

 

I think it highlights how ridiculously reliable we are on Mahrez.

[Clever Fox]

2 hours ago, Tringfox said:

And I’m sure he looked at that performance today and thought a mass clear out is needed!!

If he did he'd have to include Silva. He was poor especially as someone who has reputation as a defensive midfielder.

[Clever Fox]

5 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

I do think Puel made a few too many changes in hindsight but absolutely no way on earth should that side not register a single shot on target against Fleetwood.

 

I think it highlights how ridiculously reliable we are on Mahrez.

It wasn't the changes Puel made was the problem, At what point do players take individual responsibility for their own performance. There wasn't one leader on the pitch.

What worries me more is Puel failure to see the tactical short comings and to deal with it. When things are not going right he fails to identify the problem and react to it.