Nacho man assist appreciation thread

[fuchsntf]

3 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

My argument there is, he's still barely had a run of games and although he's not been amazing he's still chipping in with assists and a few goals here and there. The likes of Chilwell and Gray have been given game after game to try and begood enough for this level, Iheanacho finally gets what appears to be a 3 game stretch to make his mark and he's subbed after an hour vs Southampton after an assist that got us level in the game, after 55 mins vs Fleetwood and then didn't even start vs Liverpool where we didn't play a striker. Low and behold he comes on after an hour, sets one up and we finally started looking threatening.

 

I don't think Puel rates him, which is scandalous given he's let go every other fcukin attacker we had.

I stand by Puel...though

this is one area,I really want to see him push...for 2 forwards...

that said ,we have just reached 5 games,3 away 2 home.  2 of those game against,title contenders the other top 3...

This last game...our defence was poor,and even before they scored,we had 2 great clear cut chances,and playing decent

Football,which didn't stop ,through the whole game.  Oh !!! not forgetting Bournemouth are a very good home team..

Many poster tend to forget that,then have the arrogant nerve to derate every opposition we have.....How nieve and boring is that!!!!

[stulcfc]

And another one and a goal . All hail king nacho

[Marutimon]

5 minutes ago, stulcfc said:

And another one and a goal . All hail king nacho

4 key passes to boot.

His intelligence is arguably his biggest trait and most underestimated one at that. Makes things happen.

Compare that to Gray...

[Mark]

48 minutes ago, Marutimon said:

Compare that to Gray...

Iheanacho not only sees the passes Gray would never see but makes the pass and sets players up to score, number 10 is definitely his position but where does that leave Maddison? He was able to drift inside alot today as Huddersfield weren't much of a threat but against better opposition he'll be stuck out wide and that doesn't suit his game.

[Marutimon]

47 minutes ago, Mark said:

Iheanacho not only sees the passes Gray would never see but makes the pass and sets players up to score, number 10 is definitely his position but where does that leave Maddison? He was able to drift inside alot today as Huddersfield weren't much of a threat but against better opposition he'll be stuck out wide and that doesn't suit his game.

I think the optimal solution is Vardy up front and Iheanacho, Maddison and one winger interchanging on between AM, LW and RW.

[That_Dude]

On 16/09/2018 at 01:00, STUHILL said:

I want to see him starting alongside Vardy, in a new formation with Maddison behind them.

 

Vardy is just too isolated and easily dealt with when on his own in this new system. 

 

Nacho was showing real signs of quality last season when he was partnered with Vardy. Get him on and lets get a partnership going

That supposes a 3-5-2 formation and if any of them is injured, we're without back-up to play it any further.

[Max Power]

Really good and will only improve with continued games. See Chilwell 

[Harry96]

Great game big fan of his.

[Finnegan]

1 hour ago, Mark said:

Iheanacho not only sees the passes Gray would never see but makes the pass and sets players up to score, number 10 is definitely his position but where does that leave Maddison? He was able to drift inside alot today as Huddersfield weren't much of a threat but against better opposition he'll be stuck out wide and that doesn't suit his game.

 

Just bin off our wingers and play Maddison behind the two of them. 

 

I don't care if we play a diamond or 352 just stop persisting with our shit wide men. Wing backs are by far our best wide players. 

[RODNEY FERNIO]

16 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Just bin off our wingers and play Maddison behind the two of them. 

 

I don't care if we play a diamond or 352 just stop persisting with our shit wide men. Wing backs are by far our best wide players. 

Agreed .. peppering in crosses for strikers that are essentially not tall enough is a bit of a pointless exercise.

Ok if you've got a Slimani in the box .. but not with Vardy, Shinji and to a lesser extent Nacho trying to out jump six foot plus defenders.

[Usafox1]

Nacho's best position is the exact same position Mahrez used to play.  Right side of the forward line with freedom to roam and less defensive duties if you want him to really play to his true potential. Nacho is a top 5 goal scorer if used appropriately. 

 

As for Madison, he's a very good player but I'm not sure he has the creative ability for the role he's been given. Has a good shot and can play attacking mid well but I don't see him as a long term solution in that position. Hope I'm wrong.

[Edingleyfox]

Deserved his standing ovation when he came off yesterday. I think he is under rated the goal was more difficult than it looked and the assist showed quick thinking . He can have a role alongside Vardy and Maddison. The guys on MOTD were impressed.

[psychonaut]

Im curious as to the reasoning behind Puel not letting the team pick itself and going 3-5-2. Perhaps this formation doesnt allow for such a possession game as he’d like. Even with Nacho going in a 2 with Vardy surely he could drop off and link up with Madison/support Vardy playing off the shoulder... so it would be more like a 3-4-2-1. Playing 3 at the back you’d think would alleviate some of out defensive issues as well. 

[lgfualol]

His finishing is just brilliant. I somehow knew he would score.

[Danno]

If he had the work rate of Vardy he’d be some player. So frustrating when half the time he doesn’t even move towards the ball.

[dynamark]

Madison got to move infield yesterday because Chilwell was used to push up left.It worked pretty well.Often Nacho was the man looking for the early ball gave the defence a lot more to deal with.

[BenTheFox]

2 hours ago, psychonaut said:

Im curious as to the reasoning behind Puel not letting the team pick itself and going 3-5-2. Perhaps this formation doesnt allow for such a possession game as he’d like. Even with Nacho going in a 2 with Vardy surely he could drop off and link up with Madison/support Vardy playing off the shoulder... so it would be more like a 3-4-2-1. Playing 3 at the back you’d think would alleviate some of out defensive issues as well. 

I'm with you on this one, but yesterday's line up did feel like it had the flexibility to change to a back 3 with ease and at times it did turn into a back three when Maddison came into the middle. 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

21 hours ago, Usafox1 said:

Nacho's best position is the exact same position Mahrez used to play.  Right side of the forward line with freedom to roam and less defensive duties if you want him to really play to his true potential. Nacho is a top 5 goal scorer if used appropriately. 

 

As for Madison, he's a very good player but I'm not sure he has the creative ability for the role he's been given. Has a good shot and can play attacking mid well but I don't see him as a long term solution in that position. Hope I'm wrong.

You're definitely wrong. Madison's potential outweighs Ian's by about 10 times

[Beechey]

3 hours ago, psychonaut said:

Im curious as to the reasoning behind Puel not letting the team pick itself and going 3-5-2. Perhaps this formation doesnt allow for such a possession game as he’d like. Even with Nacho going in a 2 with Vardy surely he could drop off and link up with Madison/support Vardy playing off the shoulder... so it would be more like a 3-4-2-1. Playing 3 at the back you’d think would alleviate some of out defensive issues as well. 

Depends the opposition I think as well. He'd be deemed as criminally negative if he played 5 at the back against a team that had scored 5 goals in 15 games.

[broughtonblue]

Jury's still out for me. Not sure if he has the quality needed. Man city have something like 30 players out on loan, but took the first offer on nacho 

[HKFox]

41 minutes ago, broughtonblue said:

Jury's still out for me. Not sure if he has the quality needed. Man city have something like 30 players out on loan, but took the first offer on nacho 

valid point, but they did have Gabriel coming in as a replacement. Nacho is an excellent finisher as he showed at Man City, and starting to do with us with the Spurs away goal last season + Peterborough goals, plus Huddersfield this season, he needs a consistent run with him and Vardy and I think they will both get 15+ league goals each.  

[broughtonblue]

16 minutes ago, HKFox said:

valid point, but they did have Gabriel coming in as a replacement. Nacho is an excellent finisher as he showed at Man City, and starting to do with us with the Spurs away goal last season + Peterborough goals, plus Huddersfield this season, he needs a consistent run with him and Vardy and I think they will both get 15+ league goals each.  

15 goals each? Between them how things are going 

[StriderHiryu]

6 hours ago, psychonaut said:

Im curious as to the reasoning behind Puel not letting the team pick itself and going 3-5-2. Perhaps this formation doesnt allow for such a possession game as he’d like. Even with Nacho going in a 2 with Vardy surely he could drop off and link up with Madison/support Vardy playing off the shoulder... so it would be more like a 3-4-2-1. Playing 3 at the back you’d think would alleviate some of out defensive issues as well. 

Doesn’t quite answer the question but it’s possibly because in 352 there can be a tendency for the wing backs to sit back too much meaning everyone is sat back and you can’t get out. We played 352 under O’Neil and though we were decent at it against the bigger teams this is what happened to us. Guppy and Impey never got forward and Cottee / Heskey got isolated. And whilst our team wasn’t as good then, Lennon, Izzet and Savage were a great trio in the middle. 

 

Different eras of course but a similar idea. 

 

Also the current formation is working. 3 wins, controlling the game even against teams supposedly better than us. Puel does keep tinkering but whenever you see us play it is understandable what he’s trying to do even if you don’t agree with it.

 

- Switched Silva for Mendy as Silva gave the ball away a bit cheaply against Man U. This has definitely been a great decision. 

 

- Played Amartey with Ricardo in front of him. This one is highly debatable but essentially he’s experimenting with trying to get the balance between attack and defending on the right hand side correct. Ricardo has two assists and looks good going forward but has been responsible for leaving us exposed. Amartey never convinces me but was solid on Saturday. This one will still be tinkered with you feel. Maybe it leads to a formation change?

 

- Evans got exposed against Wolves so bring back Morgan who is used to playing with Maguire. Many didn’t like this (including me!) but we beat Southampton and did well against Liverpool till the shocker versus Bournemouth. 

 

- Experimented with Gray up front to stretch Liverpool’s defence given Nacho can be quite static compared to Vardy. This experiment was a dismal failure but I can see the thinking behind it. 

 

- Has alternated between Gray / Albrighton and Ghezzal on the wings in recent matches. No real winner here so the tinkering will continue. 

 

- Bring Nacho in as the 10, putting Maddison on the left wing but allowing him to drift inside to make a second 10. Leaves Chilwell to run the left hand side with Amartey in the team to sit so we have 3 back on a turnover. This is the latest experiment which worked well but was against a very poor side. 

 

So that’s a hell of a lot of tinkering in just one formation! I personally would prefer it if we kept the same lineup for 3 games to get used to it but I do see the reason why he keeps changing it. Basically he doesn’t yet know who his best 11 is of the players we have which sounds bad but is actually because this is the strongest squad we’ve ever had! Not every player is consistent either so day to day in training one may outperform the other to further complicate matters. 

 

The good news is we keep picking up points and parts of our play are improving. So I think this might continue for a bit longer until hopefully we nail it. 

 

Remember that even in the title winning year we tinkered at the start. Inler was in the team (!) and Kante came on in one game as a winger! But after Claudio got the Pizza in the best 11 and tactics were discovered and the rest is history. 

 

However, saying all that it does sometimes seem like Puel changes things just because he’s bored!

[Dan]

He's a very classy finisher.

 

Thought he had one of his best games for us yesterday. Quality finish and assist.

[danny2997]

58 minutes ago, broughtonblue said:

15 goals each? Between them how things are going 

Vardy was suspended for 3 out 7 games and Iheanacho has been limited to mainly substitute appearances, I think having 2 goals each at this stage is a steady return. No reason why they couldn't get 15 each based on the season so far.

 

If Vardy carried on at the current rate playing every game he'd have ~19 goals at the end of the season.

Iheanacho would have ~13 goals if he carried on being bit part like he is now, should be able to stretch that to 15 with more regular minutes.

 

Obviously this is just a vague indicator, but would suggest its certainly possible.