Why can't we score

[HighPeakFox]

There's one other possibility. A number of posters might just not have turned up at all when we were utterly mediocre. That's forgivable in my book, if it's the case, until they start moaning about current circumstances. 

[fuchsntf]

I can't score....!!  It's my spectacles,bucked teeth,and I fart when I slobber.....giv is a kiss!!

[Smudge]

 

3 hours ago, Babylon said:

Levein, Megson, Holloway, Kelly, Sousa.... anyone suggesting they preferred the football of any of these managers compared to now, can frankly jog their way onto the ignore list.

True but I'd doubt that Puel could polish a turd either.

[Smudge]

2 minutes ago, fuchsntf said:

I can't score....!!  It's my spectacles,bucked teeth,and I fart when I slobber.....giv is a kiss!!

Happy hour in Woellstein fuchsy?

[OhYesNdidi]

Think it comes down to our lack of quality really. Just look at Everton, a team (not sure why but they do) people think we should be finishing above; Walcott, Benard, Sigurdsson, Tosun, Lookman & Richarlison - Compare that to ours: Vardy, Gray, Iheanacho, albrighton & ghezzal. The gulf in quality is huge imo. 

 

Even teams like wolves & Bournemouth have better options than us imo. Defo the area we need to spend money on. 

[fuchsntf]

2 minutes ago, Smudge said:

Happy hour in Woellstein fuchsy?

Chat up lines ananymous....

[Max Wall]

50 minutes ago, fuchsntf said:

Chat up lines ananymous....

A chat line for elderly relatives?

[Mark]

Five goals in seven games, three of which were - an own goal (vs Arsenal), a hugely deflected shot (vs West Ham) and a penalty (vs Brighton)

[Dan]

It's our lack of chance creation at home in-particular that I can't be doing with.

[LestaAl]

Just a thought....

 

...maybe the the manager could ask someone in the team to pass it forward occasionally...

 

... or even  to Jamie sometimes

 

Why someone could even try ‘running at them’

 

wake me up if it happens! 

[Babylon]

7 hours ago, Mark said:

Five goals in seven games, three of which were - an own goal (vs Arsenal), a hugely deflected shot (vs West Ham) and a penalty (vs Brighton)

It's not great and it needs to improve, but two games we played with 10 men and two more on the back of the crash and treckubg the world. We've also continued to miss some sitters most weeks.

 

We've scored 18 goals, more than 11 other teams and only two less than the likes of Everton and Man U who've spent a bundle more.

 

Bournemouth have scored 22, but have scored about twice the number of set pieces we have.

 

Room for improvement in every aspect of course, but when you delve a little deeper there is nothing that out of the norm going on.

[StriderHiryu]

Why can’t we score? The simple answer is we aren’t creative enough. We rely on players like Chilwell, Ricardo, Maddison, Ghezzal, Albrighton and Gray to make things happen and only Gray started versus Southampton. Remember we’ve also sold our most creative player in Mahrez. 

 

Right now Leicester are very similar to Southgate’s England. We keep the ball and pass a lot but rarely score from open play and rely on set pieces and the counter attack instead. Sound familiar?

 

Just like England we are lacking the type of players that can truly create. Take either Leicester or England and imagine Modric as the 10 and Rakitic as the 8. All of a sudden the creativity would go through the roof. The problem is such players are world class for a reason - they don’t grow on trees. 

 

Thus we need two things to happen.

 

1 - Our young developing players to kick in and improve. Modric started off in his own country until he moved to the Premier League and it took him time to get as good as he is. 

 

2. Continue to sign creative players. Maddison and Ricardo are creative. Ghezzal has looked creative and threatening in some games. Soyuncu can play out from the back Maguire style. But we need more. That we are being linked with that Spanish attacking midfielder is music to my ears. He may or may not work out but at least we’ve recognised the problem we need to fix. 

 

I think the downside to this is that it will take time. I don’t expect a Premier League classic for a while given the team and players we have. Sure the manager could change his tactics but that isn’t going to happen. Pep, Klopp, Sarri are all pretty stubborn in how they set out their teams, and were prepared to go through a painful period before things turned round. So I think the strategy of the club is to tough this one out until we truly have adapted to the new style. 

 

I think it’s fair enough to do this given we will surely be safe this season but believe me when I say like many I’m a bit tired of seeing boring matches! At some point it’s got to change, but I will say that Puel’s OGC Nice team in 15/16 which finished 4th with an on fire Hatem Ben Arfa was actually a really decent team to watch. So Puel has Puelled it off before... let’s hope can do it again!

 

 

[Shane]

The lack of movement is the problem! When our defenders got the ball last night, our attackers just strolled around instead of providing an option! By option, I don’t mean dropping into our own half like Maddison, but actually giving the defence a chance to give the ball to feet in the opposition half.

 

When teams sit deep you need multiple runners and constant movement with quick passes to get around them. We don’t do that.

 

This is a regular occurrence in all of our games. 

[suffolk fox]

9 minutes ago, Shane said:

The lack of movement is the problem! When our defenders got the ball last night, our attackers just strolled around instead of providing an option! By option, I don’t mean dropping into our own half like Maddison, but actually giving the defence a chance to give the ball to feet in the opposition half.

 

When teams sit deep you need multiple runners and constant movement with quick passes to get around them. We don’t do that.

 

This is a regular occurrence in all of our games. 

This spot on top post

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

On 26/11/2018 at 17:04, OhYesNdidi said:

Think it comes down to our lack of quality really. Just look at Everton, a team (not sure why but they do) people think we should be finishing above; Walcott, Benard, Sigurdsson, Tosun, Lookman & Richarlison - Compare that to ours: Vardy, Gray, Iheanacho, albrighton & ghezzal. The gulf in quality is huge imo. 

 

Even teams like wolves & Bournemouth have better options than us imo. Defo the area we need to spend money on. 

He had all summer to improve this, and instead chose to focus on getting Ghezzal, who he prioritised over other players, and we signed Maddison, whilst he binned off all the other strikers with out replacing them. 

[lgfualol]

16 minutes ago, Shane said:

The lack of movement is the problem! When our defenders got the ball last night, our attackers just strolled around instead of providing an option! By option, I don’t mean dropping into our own half like Maddison, but actually giving the defence a chance to give the ball to feet in the opposition half.

 

When teams sit deep you need multiple runners and constant movement with quick passes to get around them. We don’t do that.

 

This is a regular occurrence in all of our games. 

I dont think some of our players are intelligent enough or have the ability for that style of play. It is either stand still or come short for a 1-2, followed by a back pass because everyone else is standing still. All teams need to do is sit deep to stop Vardy and keep Maddison quiet, then you are sorted. We really need dangerous wingers, or our wingers need to step it up to take all the attention off Maddison. 

[OhYesNdidi]

5 minutes ago, Abrasive fox said:

He had all summer to improve this, and instead chose to focus on getting Ghezzal, who he prioritised over other players, and we signed Maddison, whilst he binned off all the other strikers with out replacing them. 

We don’t really seem interested in spending loads of money tbh

[Shane]

1 minute ago, lgfualol said:

I dont think some of our players are intelligent enough or have the ability for that style of play. It is either stand still or come short for a 1-2, followed by a back pass because everyone else is standing still. All teams need to do is sit deep to stop Vardy and keep Maddison quiet, then you are sorted. We really need dangerous wingers, or our wingers need to step it up to take all the attention off Maddison. 

Honestly it’s very frustrating watching us play at the moment because of this. I think some of our players just aren’t good enough to play this style consistently, like you say.

 

I guess we still can’t play ‘Puel’s way’ with the players we have. We need 5 new players in around the first 11 atleast imo:

 

CB - One of Soyuncu or Benkovic to partner Maguire.

CM - Preferably a creative CM. 

x2 attackers - To partner Maddison in the 3 behind Vardy. One could be Barnes hopefully. 

CF - Another striker to compete with Vardy

 

Now take into account our success rate in the transfer window and we’re more likely to sign duds then players we can slot into our first 11 straight away.

[LCCFox96]

I like the Mendy and Ndidi partnership from a defensive perspective but that midfield pairing, due to their style of play, will not offer much in terms of creativity. Compared to Drinkwater who, on song, had an excellent flighted through ball and creative passing range, and Kante who was capable of driving forwards and finding Vardy/Mahrez we've moved from a midfield worth 10+ assists (albeit in a spectacular season) to a midfield likely to get a third/half as much.

 

That's all very well and good, especially if the two deep-lying midfield players are essential to Puel's system but we then need more from the front 3 behind Vardy. Mahrez was capable of 10+ assists alone. Now though, Albrighton consistently gets around 5 and Maddison has registered 2 but that aside we're struggling. I hate the term 'Mahrez replacement' because that is largely impossible but we do need to bring another top winger in alongside Maddison in CAM and Albrighton/Gray. 

 

I do think it's overdramatised slightly, we have been scoring relatively well by and large, and other aspects of Puel's game - notably full back attacking contribution, ball retention (in parts) and the overall ball playing ability of the CB's - have improved. I genuinely believe we are one or two top quality players away from a very good side. 

 

 

 

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

24 minutes ago, Shane said:

Honestly it’s very frustrating watching us play at the moment because of this. I think some of our players just aren’t good enough to play this style consistently, like you say.

 

I guess we still can’t play ‘Puel’s way’ with the players we have. We need 5 new players in around the first 11 atleast imo:

 

CB - One of Soyuncu or Benkovic to partner Maguire.

CM - Preferably a creative CM. 

x2 attackers - To partner Maddison in the 3 behind Vardy. One could be Barnes hopefully. 

CF - Another striker to compete with Vardy

 

Now take into account our success rate in the transfer window and we’re more likely to sign duds then players we can slot into our first 11 straight away.

This is it for me.

 

Hes had a year and the players weve got cant implement the style he wants, it will take about 8 years at this rate!

[OhYesNdidi]

13 minutes ago, LCCFox96 said:

I like the Mendy and Ndidi partnership from a defensive perspective but that midfield pairing, due to their style of play, will not offer much in terms of creativity. Compared to Drinkwater who, on song, had an excellent flighted through ball and creative passing range, and Kante who was capable of driving forwards and finding Vardy/Mahrez we've moved from a midfield worth 10+ assists (albeit in a spectacular season) to a midfield likely to get a third/half as much.

 

That's all very well and good, especially if the two deep-lying midfield players are essential to Puel's system but we then need more from the front 3 behind Vardy. Mahrez was capable of 10+ assists alone. Now though, Albrighton consistently gets around 5 and Maddison has registered 2 but that aside we're struggling. I hate the term 'Mahrez replacement' because that is largely impossible but we do need to bring another top winger in alongside Maddison in CAM and Albrighton/Gray. 

 

I do think it's overdramatised slightly, we have been scoring relatively well by and large, and other aspects of Puel's game - notably full back attacking contribution, ball retention (in parts) and the overall ball playing ability of the CB's - have improved. I genuinely believe we are one or two top quality players away from a very good side. 

 

 

 

Drinkwater was good in 15/16 but by the end of his time here was passing it simple 5 yards or just hoofing it forward to Okazaki or Vardy. 

 

Albrighton, ghezzal, diabate, Gray or Maddison doesn’t exactly strike fear into opposition teams. 

[LCCFox96]

5 minutes ago, OhYesNdidi said:

Drinkwater was good in 15/16 but by the end of his time here was passing it simple 5 yards or just hoofing it forward to Okazaki or Vardy. 

 

Albrighton, ghezzal, diabate, Gray or Maddison doesn’t exactly strike fear into opposition teams. 

 

True re. Drinkwater but the point being that the starting two do not offer what Drinkwater did in terms of attacking contribution. 

 

Agree with your second point - Albrighton is a seasoned pro good for 5-7 assists, Ghezzal is struggling slightly, Diabate is very raw, Gray is inconsistent and Maddison had a very bright start (hopefully his suspension will give him a jump start again) but we need that extra attacking option that is a real cut above our existing options. A difficult player to find for sure, but not impossible.

[OhYesNdidi]

2 minutes ago, LCCFox96 said:

 

True re. Drinkwater but the point being that the starting two do not offer what Drinkwater did in terms of attacking contribution. 

 

Agree with your second point - Albrighton is a seasoned pro good for 5-7 assists, Ghezzal is struggling slightly, Diabate is very raw, Gray is inconsistent and Maddison had a very bright start (hopefully his suspension will give him a jump start again) but we need that extra attacking option that is a real cut above our existing options. A difficult player to find for sure, but not impossible.

Albrighton just doesn’t score enough, ghezzal i don’t think will be good enough, diabate isn’t good enough atm, Gray is quick but has no end product. Ideally if we want to attempt to finish 7th then we need two wingers and Maddison to improve. & drinkwater player next to kante, his numbers were crap once he left. 

[lcfcsnow]

Sounds familiar? https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/14927108.Puel_bemoans_lack_of_goals/

 

Saints’ 1-0 defeat to Sparta means they have failed to score to in any of their three away Europa League Group K fixtures, though they do still have a great chance of getting through thanks to their home form.

Since the 3-1 victory over Burnley, Saints have scored just five times in eight games in all competitions.

 

The comments are an interesting read too

[Grebfromgrebland]

It will be interesting to see how many we score between now and Christmas.