Palace at Home - Pre Match

[Father Ted]

If Mendy starts I won't bother leaving the pub 

[mad biker]

You`ll have to leave it though, you can`t take it, other people will want to use it :-)

 

[deanolegend1989]

I’ll be disappointed if mendy starts.

Ill be very disappointed if mendy starts.

Ill be absolutely fuming if mendy starts.

Puel out if mendy starts.

 

Been saying for 6 months, we will never improve with mendy in the side. First game he’s out we play the best football I’ve seen from us since 2016. It’s not a coincidence.

 

The other issue I have is the Vardy issue. We are a million times better and more dangerous with him in the side. He’s been a bit below par due to lack of service(as above stated why this has been a problem all season).

Vardy should start 100% of the time. Tilimens should start 100% of the time.

mendy should start 0% of the time. Stick to those rules and build the team around that and we will push for 7th comfortably, whilst playing good football. Simples

[Jimmy]

The problem has never been Papy Mendy the problem was it was both Mendy and NDidi, which ever one of Papy, Wilf or Hamza is picked would do a fine job as the holding player

[fuchsntf]

1 hour ago, deanolegend1989 said:

I’ll be disappointed if mendy starts.

Ill be very disappointed if mendy starts.

Ill be absolutely fuming if mendy starts.

Puel out if mendy starts.

 

Been saying for 6 months, we will never improve with mendy in the side. First game he’s out we play the best football I’ve seen from us since 2016. It’s not a coincidence.

 

The other issue I have is the Vardy issue. We are a million times better and more dangerous with him in the side. He’s been a bit below par due to lack of service(as above stated why this has been a problem all season).

Vardy should start 100% of the time. Tilimens should start 100% of the time.

mendy should start 0% of the time. Stick to those rules and build the team around that and we will push for 7th comfortably, whilst playing good football. Simples

But you ain't the Pope,neither St Peter...

 

Until The turn of the year,this forum has been split on Mendy including Ndidi .Which side of the split has weight!!!

Vardy has not converted...the service to him has been probably better than most of last season..

Even though he was on the scoresheet more last season..

 

Don't put me down as pro or contra on your little ditty....Just stating the obvious!!

 

 

[Ric Flair]

9 hours ago, Jimmy said:

The problem has never been Papy Mendy the problem was it was both Mendy and NDidi, which ever one of Papy, Wilf or Hamza is picked would do a fine job as the holding player

I kind of agree but Ndidi and Choudhury are superior at tackling. That’s not to say Mendy isn’t capable but I don’t see why he would be picked over those two unless neither were available.

[Guest]

12 hours ago, Foxy_Bear said:

 

Jesus!! Can you imagine if Puel dropped Kasper and a Ward error lead to a defeat??!!

 

This Forum would emplode upon itself. Civil war would break out. The city would be in ashes by sundown and Puel would have to be smuggled from it to a non extradition country via a network of underground tunnels. 

Leicestershire as a county would rupture into competing factions that would select champions to represent them in a battle royale, fight to the death in the ruins that was once the King Power. 

There is some truth to this but when Kasper makes errors and they lead to defeat we blame Puel anyway. There's no reason why Ward would be more likely to cost us a game than Kasper.

 

Let the revolution continue. 

 

Get the snakes out. 

[Scotch]

8 minutes ago, FIF said:

There is some truth to this but when Kasper makes errors and they lead to defeat we blame Puel anyway. There's no reason why Ward would be more likely to cost us a game than Kasper.

 

Let the revolution continue. 

 

Get the snakes out. 

I'm not arguing for or against dropping Kasper. You're quite right, he has errors in him. I'm just saying..... 

 

If we as a fan base soiled our undies in rage at Puel for the audacity to drop an out of form Jamie Vardy who not 7 days prior called him a Knobhead in front of the world on live TV,I can only imagine the abuse he would get for dropping a fan favourite who didn't publicly humiliate him. 

[filbertway]

10 hours ago, deanolegend1989 said:

I’ll be disappointed if mendy starts.

Ill be very disappointed if mendy starts.

Ill be absolutely fuming if mendy starts.

Puel out if mendy starts.

 

Been saying for 6 months, we will never improve with mendy in the side. First game he’s out we play the best football I’ve seen from us since 2016. It’s not a coincidence.

 

The other issue I have is the Vardy issue. We are a million times better and more dangerous with him in the side. He’s been a bit below par due to lack of service(as above stated why this has been a problem all season).

Vardy should start 100% of the time. Tilimens should start 100% of the time.

mendy should start 0% of the time. Stick to those rules and build the team around that and we will push for 7th comfortably, whilst playing good football. Simples

Same rules apply to Vardy? Best we've looked in ages without him starting?

[Dahnsouff]

22 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

I'm not arguing for or against dropping Kasper. You're quite right, he has errors in him. I'm just saying..... 

 

If we as a fan base soiled our undies in rage at Puel for the audacity to drop an out of form Jamie Vardy who not 7 days prior called him a Knobhead in front of the world on live TV,I can only imagine the abuse he would get for dropping a fan favourite who didn't publicly humiliate him. 

See, this is the point for me. Vardy is Vardy, there is no one like him in the league. So even going through a barren spell he should automatically be picked? No, of course not. This is the definition of favourtism without merit.

Any team worth its salt has to operate as a considered meritocracy, i.e.; if you are goon enough consistently then you get picked.

Dropping Kasper is less likely, unless Puel can trace his Dads comments back to Kasper.

Playing Gray as a striker for me was never going to work in terms of goals scored, but the movement by the team with Gray on the pitch was infinitely better than when he was replaced by Vardy. (All about our movement,  moving opposition out of position, chance creation)

If Gray could score (Or even if Barnes had ataken his chances) then Vardy would not have got on the pitch (Until even later)

 

11 hours ago, deanolegend1989 said:

I’ll be disappointed if mendy starts.

Ill be very disappointed if mendy starts.

Ill be absolutely fuming if mendy starts.

Puel out if mendy starts.

 

Been saying for 6 months, we will never improve with mendy in the side. First game he’s out we play the best football I’ve seen from us since 2016. It’s not a coincidence.

 

The other issue I have is the Vardy issue. We are a million times better and more dangerous with him in the side. He’s been a bit below par due to lack of service(as above stated why this has been a problem all season).

Vardy should start 100% of the time. Tilimens should start 100% of the time.

mendy should start 0% of the time. Stick to those rules and build the team around that and we will push for 7th comfortably, whilst playing good football. Simples

And as for this. Well, deary me.

Vardy is getting on, and stats dictate he is getting less productive (Insert blame Puel here).

Tielemans is here as a sampler to see what such a player would do to the team, and the answer after only 1 game is very positive.

 

Simples 

Edited 15 February 2019 by Dahnsouff

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

I kind of agree but Ndidi and Choudhury are superior at tackling. That’s not to say Mendy isn’t capable but I don’t see why he would be picked over those two unless neither were available.

At the start of the season when Mendy came in he looked the definition of 'tidy', and he was getting about the middle of the pitch well doing a job

 

Recently he's had a couple of mistakes, but with Tielemans providing that dynamic aspect to midfield it could prove that Mendy at his most tidy self would be a good partner in the midfield.  Only speculation as it could be Ndidi who would offer more, but I can definitely picture Mendy and Tielemans working well

[Xen]

50 minutes ago, AlloverthefloorYesNdidi said:

At the start of the season when Mendy came in he looked the definition of 'tidy', and he was getting about the middle of the pitch well doing a job

 

Recently he's had a couple of mistakes, but with Tielemans providing that dynamic aspect to midfield it could prove that Mendy at his most tidy self would be a good partner in the midfield.  Only speculation as it could be Ndidi who would offer more, but I can definitely picture Mendy and Tielemans working well

Exactly.

 

Mendy was a man reborn at the start of the season, like a completely fresh new signing. Arguably his resurgence was part of the reason Silva/Iborra rarely featured.

 

The last couple months have been rough, but in the same way that Ndidi looked poor when paired up with a similar style player, Mendy also suffered. His mistakes have been more notable, admittedly, but that could just mean that being asked to play box-to-box affected him more than Ndidi. When asked to play a simple DM role and with the right (Tiele)man alongside him, he might be just as good, possibly better.

 

Puel sees the players in training so will know for sure. We just have to guess until we see it in action. Likewise with Hamza.

[Clever Fox]

There's no doubt the team performed better as a unit without Vardy.

The balance and movement was so much better particularly going forward.

Yes we know Gray is not really a striker but his pace movement and quick feet allowed him to provide the extra man in the trangle, which provided chances for himself and others.I

This is exactly the type of movement played by Liverpool albeit with better players.

Had Barnes taken his chances nobody would be too concerned about Vardy being left out. Barnes will continue to improve and all he needs to do is relax when presented with his next chance and he score. Then he'll get better and score double figures every season for us.

It's not the end for Vardy either though, But I think it will be horses for courses in the games he plays. Or he needs to keep improving his all round game which to be fair to him he has been doing.I

I'd like to see Ward given a run in place of Kasper also, As I don't think he's been at his best lately.

Things are getting better all the time and I hope Puel keeps experimenting for the rest of this season. Then with 1or 2 additions in the Summer we'll be well set for a great year next season. 

 

[volpeazzurro]

4 hours ago, Dahnsouff said:

See, this is the point for me. Vardy is Vardy, there is no one like him in the league. So even going through a barren spell he should automatically be picked? No, of course not. This is the definition of favourtism without merit.

Any team worth its salt has to operate as a considered meritocracy, i.e.; if you are goon enough consistently then you get picked.

Dropping Kasper is less likely, unless Puel can trace his Dads comments back to Kasper.

Playing Gray as a striker for me was never going to work in terms of goals scored, but the movement by the team with Gray on the pitch was infinitely better than when he was replaced by Vardy. (All about our movement,  moving opposition out of position, chance creation)

If Gray could score (Or even if Barnes had ataken his chances) then Vardy would not have got on the pitch (Until even later)

 

And as for this. Well, deary me.

Vardy is getting on, and stats dictate he is getting less productive (Insert blame Puel here).

Tielemans is here as a sampler to see what such a player would do to the team, and the answer after only 1 game is very positive.

 

Simples 

I agree with this. I too thought that the movement was very good prior to Vardy coming on and with a bit more luck we could of scored a couple of goals. It's no use saying that had Vardy had of been on he would have scored because A, it was the specific movement from those players on the pitch that led to those goal-scoring chances and B, Vardy has hardly been Mr Clinical himself this season but has still always given of his best. That is not to say that i wasn't  pleased to see him come on when he did for good sound tactical reasons.

 

I do sometimes despair over some criticisms though and this isn't just of Puel's decision making, but fans on managers at other clubs also. There's an inherent belief almost that, if enough fans agree on something, they invariably know more and are wiser than the average professional manager regardless of the fact that they have never played the game or managed in any capacity whatsoever,  let alone worked with players all week in training. By this I don't mean the expression of mere opinions which is what forums are all about. One minute, if a fans club is losing a run of games, the fans turn on the manager and accuse him of slavishly picking the same side. When he tries something new, like Puel last week and it doesn't immediately come off first time,  the same fans protest yet again. And, whatever you do, don't put a fans favourite on the bench regardless of the reasoning behind it! Then there's hate figures like Chilwell for many on here last year yet, it would seem with hindsight that Mr Puel, actually having seen him in training every day, knew a bit more than you did didn't he! Now it's Mendy and sometimes Wilf. I'm sure Puel would perhaps like to pick his 'after match' conversation buddy Paul Pogba, but unfortunately he plays for someone else. Yet neither of those two or Choudhury are bad players, in fact they are all very  decent players who give of their best and perhaps, as someone else has pointed out, it's more to do with that they are all pretty similar in some ways regarding the job they can do for the team. But without a viable option, until Tielemans arrived,  Puel was a bit hamstrung and could only field what he's got having watched them all week in training.

 

I  had no problem whatsoever with the initial team picked against Spurs and thought in the first half they acquitted themselves well. The movement in particular was very good and that had been lacking at times this season for me. I too personally don't see Gray as a striker. However, if a professional like Puel and also Southgate has muted similar some time ago, as they have watched him in training and seen certain traits, the only way to find out is in a proper game under pressure to test him. Whilst a different class of player admittedly, didn't Wenger do exactly that with Thierry Henri?  The history of the game is littered with examples where a manager has bought or inherited a player and completely changed his position to great success,  but it doesn't come overnight when a young player is so used to playing one particular way. Sometimes short term results obscure our clearer longer term vision. Our team has actually played well against Liverpool, Man Utd and Spurs but gained only 1 point in matches we weren't expected to win anyway. But for a little bit more luck and some naive moments of defending, it could have been different. Far from being angry or so bloody downhearted as some with their constant dissection of team selection and oh so knowledgeable instant solutions, I saw some heartening progressive performances by some promising young players and, never once, did I get the impression that they weren't playing for their team or manager. 

Edited 15 February 2019 by volpeazzurro

[Nicolo Barella]

I am quite happy if Mendy starts as the lone 6. He has done so for Puel before at other clubs in a 3-man midfield. 

[deanolegend1989]

4 hours ago, filbertway said:

Same rules apply to Vardy? Best we've looked in ages without him starting?

Because Mendy wernt on and Tilimens gave us balance. That’s why we were better. We had a ball carrier in midfield.

 

Not the same rules as Vardy because when Vardy came on we were even more of a threat and created about 4/5 great chances! 1st half, whilst looking relatively solid, we didn’t create any actual goal scoring chances bar 1 for Barnes. Defenders are frightened of Vardy, Spurs were on the ropes at home for nearly the entire 2nd half.

 

4 hours ago, Dahnsouff said:

See, this is the point for me. Vardy is Vardy, there is no one like him in the league. So even going through a barren spell he should automatically be picked? No, of course not. This is the definition of favourtism without merit.

Any team worth its salt has to operate as a considered meritocracy, i.e.; if you are goon enough consistently then you get picked.

Dropping Kasper is less likely, unless Puel can trace his Dads comments back to Kasper.

Playing Gray as a striker for me was never going to work in terms of goals scored, but the movement by the team with Gray on the pitch was infinitely better than when he was replaced by Vardy. (All about our movement,  moving opposition out of position, chance creation)

If Gray could score (Or even if Barnes had ataken his chances) then Vardy would not have got on the pitch (Until even later)

 

And as for this. Well, deary me.

Vardy is getting on, and stats dictate he is getting less productive (Insert blame Puel here).

Tielemans is here as a sampler to see what such a player would do to the team, and the answer after only 1 game is very positive.

 

Simples 

‘If Barnes had taken his chances’...but he didn’t did he? By the way his 2nd and clearly the best chance we had all game was brilliantly set up by who? ?‍♂️.

Vardy is getting on but his standards remain. He is clinical. He may have missed a few chances this season but we have missed lots of chances in general. We are terrible as a whole at coverting. Gray, Barnes, Maddison, ghezzal, nacho..I wouldn’t trust a single one of those. Vardy , whilst missing a few, has been clinical in loads of other big moments.

 

Watching both Everton and Chelsea away, 2 tough away games. Both we created very little(Especially Everton away).. 1 genuine chance, bang. Clinical. Now no one can tell me in these games we are this free flowing team that has chance after chance? We don’t create much. We play 2 defensive midfielders for most of the season and our creativity from wide is tragic, so Vardy lives off scraps.

Im hoping we have finally found the man who has some creativity in midfielder to be more expansive(tilimens).

We lost that in Drinky, but still had Mahrez. We then lose Mahrez..no wonder why Vardy has struggled.

Gray offers nothing as a striker, he has no end product and doesn’t position himself or make runs that a striker for years at grassroots works on. He offers just a bit of pace to get it and turn back and lay a simple ball.

Gray should play wide and make runs up and down the wing stretching defences and giving more space/service to someone who CAN finish. This isn’t a knock on gray, I like him and he offers good to the team but NOT as a striker!

 

Last thing about fans who seem to love the idea of moving people on and bringing through new players..we will not get a better trio of players(Vardy,Kante, Mahrez) in 20 centuries at a club the size of us. It was freak scouting and we are blessed to of witnessed the most golden era we will ever have.

I’m all for youth, but to many people just think the grass is always greener with New over Old.

I don’t believe in sentimental values either and when I feel it’s just for sentiment too I’d want him on bench but Vardy should be 100% starting because he’s the best player we have, best striker we have and our biggest threat and has at least 1/2 seasons left at the top level.

Im excited to see what we can produce with Tilimens, Maddison and Vardy in full flow. Play more expansive and less negative and It’ll certainly give us better chances and more of a threat, at home for sure.

The main problem is, Teams know if they score first they can just sit deep and we have had mendy and Ndidi sitting still and Maddison struggling to take on the entire midfield creating space and Vardy marked by like 4 players! ?‍♂️. It never f*king works and that’s been the biggest issue that puel has failed to change. Bench’s Maddison benches Vardy but doesn’t see why these struggle, especially at home when there is less space.

Tilimens is like a gift that has changed everything just by the sheer mentality and will change it. I know it’s been one game and I’m not jumping on bandwagon already regards to the player himself, but I mean in general, by playing a player who gets forward(regardless of actual talent) will be better than the stupid persistence with 2 DMs. I thought this was common sense and obvious by watching but clearly not by Puel!

Edited 15 February 2019 by deanolegend1989

[NasPb]

Kasper 

Ricardo maguire Evans chillwell 

Ndidi tielemans 

Maddison iheanacho Barnes 

Vardy 

[Dahnsouff]

15 minutes ago, deanolegend1989 said:

Because Mendy wernt on and Tilimens gave us balance. That’s why we were better. We had a ball carrier in midfield.

 

Not the same rules as Vardy because when Vardy came on we were even more of a threat and created about 4/5 great chances! 1st half, whilst looking relatively solid, we didn’t create any actual goal scoring chances bar 1 for Barnes. Defenders are frightened of Vardy, Spurs were on the ropes at home for nearly the entire 2nd half.

 

‘If Barnes had taken his chances’...but he didn’t did he? By the way his 2nd and clearly the best chance we had all game was brilliantly set up by who? ?‍♂️.

Vardy is getting on but his standards remain. He is clinical. He may have missed a few chances this season but we have missed lots of chances in general. We are terrible as a whole at coverting. Gray, Barnes, Maddison, ghezzal, nacho..I wouldn’t trust a single one of those. Vardy , whilst missing a few, has been clinical in loads of other big moments.

 

Watching both Everton and Chelsea away, 2 tough away games. Both we created very little(Especially Everton away).. 1 genuine chance, bang. Clinical. Now no one can tell me in these games we are this free flowing team that has chance after chance? We don’t create much. We play 2 defensive midfielders for most of the season and our creativity from wide is tragic, so Vardy lives off scraps.

Im hoping we have finally found the man who has some creativity in midfielder to be more expansive(tilimens).

We lost that in Drinky, but still had Mahrez. We then lose Mahrez..no wonder why Vardy has struggled.

Gray offers nothing as a striker, he has no end product and doesn’t position himself or make runs that a striker for years at grassroots works on. He offers just a bit of pace to get it and turn back and lay a simple ball.

Gray should play wide and make runs up and down the wing stretching defences and giving more space/service to someone who CAN finish. This isn’t a knock on gray, I like him and he offers good to the team but NOT as a striker!

 

Last thing about fans who seem to love the idea of moving people on and bringing through new players..we will not get a better trio of players(Vardy,Kante, Mahrez) in 20 centuries at a club the size of us. It was freak scouting and we are blessed to of witnessed the most golden era we will ever have.

I’m all for youth, but to many people just think the grass is always greener with New over Old.

I don’t believe in sentimental values either and when I feel it’s just for sentiment too I’d want him on bench but Vardy should be 100% starting because he’s the best player we have, best striker we have and our biggest threat and has at least 1/2 seasons left at the top level.

Im excited to see what we can produce with Tilimens, Maddison and Vardy in full flow. Play more expansive and less negative and It’ll certainly give us better chances and more of a threat, at home for sure.

The main problem is, Teams know if they score first they can just sit deep and we have had mendy and Ndidi sitting still and Maddison struggling to take on the entire midfield creating space and Vardy marked by like 4 players! ?‍♂️. It never f*king works and that’s been the biggest issue that puel has failed to change. Bench’s Maddison benches Vardy but doesn’t see why these struggle, especially at home when there is less space.

Tilimens is like a gift that has changed everything just by the sheer mentality and will change it. I know it’s been one game and I’m not jumping on bandwagon already regards to the player himself, but I mean in general, by playing a player who gets forward(regardless of actual talent) will be better than the stupid persistence with 2 DMs. I thought this was common sense and obvious by watching but clearly not by Puel!

Don`t get my wrong, I don`t disagree with much of this, and I am no way putting Vardy down or disputing that he is far and away our best striker.

The is not even remotely up for debate in my opinion.

As I have, and others have said; with Gray on the pitch we created much more space for other players. Now whilst Vardy does create space, it is usually behind his searing runs, which perhaps the team have not/cannot react to? 

Just watching the Tottenham game, the amount of movement created by Barnes, Chilwell, Ricardo, Maddison, Tielemans and Gray was enough to dislocate the Tottenham defence, making space for each other to fashion chances (Something that bodes well for teams sitting deeper).

Once Vardy came on, this happened less, perhaps due to two things:

1. Vardy is focused on his defence splitting runs
2. Gray is far too ill disciplined to be a lone striker (Or striker at all), and drifted wide as well as occassionally troubling the defence

 

But for Grays faults (covered elsewhere), his movement both at the sides and forward position provided numerous opportuntiies for others.

 

So in short, I don`t know. I love Vardy, but for whatever reason, he offers less space creation and moves defenders abolut less.

But Vardy is without doubt our best striker currently.

[Guest Markyblue]

4 hours ago, filbertway said:

Same rules apply to Vardy? Best we've looked in ages without him starting?

We couldn't finish though. 

[Haywood_6]

                 Kasper

Ricardo Evans Maguire Chilwell

           Ndidi Tielemans

    Ghezzal Maddison Barnes

                  Vardy 

[volpeazzurro]

22 minutes ago, deanolegend1989 said:

Because Mendy wernt on and Tilimens gave us balance. That’s why we were better. We had a ball carrier in midfield.

 

Not the same rules as Vardy because when Vardy came on we were even more of a threat and created about 4/5 great chances! 1st half, whilst looking relatively solid, we didn’t create any actual goal scoring chances bar 1 for Barnes. Defenders are frightened of Vardy, Spurs were on the ropes at home for nearly the entire 2nd half.

 

‘If Barnes had taken his chances’...but he didn’t did he? By the way his 2nd and clearly the best chance we had all game was brilliantly set up by who? ?‍♂️.

Vardy is getting on but his standards remain. He is clinical. He may have missed a few chances this season but we have missed lots of chances in general. We are terrible as a whole at coverting. Gray, Barnes, Maddison, ghezzal, nacho..I wouldn’t trust a single one of those. Vardy , whilst missing a few, has been clinical in loads of other big moments.

 

Watching both Everton and Chelsea away, 2 tough away games. Both we created very little(Especially Everton away).. 1 genuine chance, bang. Clinical. Now no one can tell me in these games we are this free flowing team that has chance after chance? We don’t create much. We play 2 defensive midfielders for most of the season and our creativity from wide is tragic, so Vardy lives off scraps.

Im hoping we have finally found the man who has some creativity in midfielder to be more expansive(tilimens).

We lost that in Drinky, but still had Mahrez. We then lose Mahrez..no wonder why Vardy has struggled.

Gray offers nothing as a striker, he has no end product and doesn’t position himself or make runs that a striker for years at grassroots works on. He offers just a bit of pace to get it and turn back and lay a simple ball.

Gray should play wide and make runs up and down the wing stretching defences and giving more space/service to someone who CAN finish. This isn’t a knock on gray, I like him and he offers good to the team but NOT as a striker!

 

Last thing about fans who seem to love the idea of moving people on and bringing through new players..we will not get a better trio of players(Vardy,Kante, Mahrez) in 20 centuries at a club the size of us. It was freak scouting and we are blessed to of witnessed the most golden era we will ever have.

I’m all for youth, but to many people just think the grass is always greener with New over Old.

I don’t believe in sentimental values either and when I feel it’s just for sentiment too I’d want him on bench but Vardy should be 100% starting because he’s the best player we have, best striker we have and our biggest threat and has at least 1/2 seasons left at the top level.

Im excited to see what we can produce with Tilimens, Maddison and Vardy in full flow. Play more expansive and less negative and It’ll certainly give us better chances and more of a threat, at home for sure.

The main problem is, Teams know if they score first they can just sit deep and we have had mendy and Ndidi sitting still and Maddison struggling to take on the entire midfield creating space and Vardy marked by like 4 players! ?‍♂️. It never f*king works and that’s been the biggest issue that puel has failed to change. Bench’s Maddison benches Vardy but doesn’t see why these struggle, especially at home when there is less space.

Tilimens is like a gift that has changed everything just by the sheer mentality and will change it. I know it’s been one game and I’m not jumping on bandwagon already regards to the player himself, but I mean in general, by playing a player who gets forward(regardless of actual talent) will be better than the stupid persistence with 2 DMs. I thought this was common sense and obvious by watching but clearly not by Puel!

The main problem is, Teams know if they score first they can just sit deep and we have had mendy and Ndidi sitting still and Maddison struggling to take on the entire midfield creating space and Vardy marked by like 4 players! ?‍♂️. It never f*king works and that’s been the biggest issue that puel has failed to change.

 

Wow, such close observation is astounding. I'm just amazed that all this time, that Puel has never realised that or even remotely considered the problem of deep lying defences. Makes you wonder what he's been doing all his playing and managerial career to not have developed such clarity of vision? Or maybe, when he'd tried it without success with Vardy and Maddison and it wasn't getting the desired results (because we had the same problems before Puel or even Maddison came by the way), he thought to himself  'you know what, you boring old bastard, I might just try a different approach'. Revolutionary eh! Because you can damn well be sure of one thing, if he slavishly stuck to one team and one tack, Ala Shakespeare, a different set of knives would have come out for him.

[volpeazzurro]

11 minutes ago, NasPb said:

Kasper 

Ricardo maguire Evans chillwell 

Ndidi tielemans 

Maddison iheanacho Barnes 

Vardy 

Everything looks good there for me with perhaps the exception of Iheanacho who has disappointed too many times this season and offers little for me, if anything, regarding movement off the ball. I'd sooner see Ghezzal or Gray on the right with Maddison in the centre of those three. Nacho may become of use towards the end in a more poaching type of role, however, he still for me doesn't seem to have a knack of finding or ghosting into decent positions and I find his movement off the ball very poor. As sacrilegious as it's going to sound, I'd also perhaps at some stage like to see Barnes in a more number 10 role instead of Maddison as although smaller in height, he looks stronger, more direct and purposeful.

[deanolegend1989]

14 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Don`t get my wrong, I don`t disagree with much of this, and I am no way putting Vardy down or disputing that he is far and away our best striker.

The is not even remotely up for debate in my opinion.

As I have, and others have said; with Gray on the pitch we created much more space for other players. Now whilst Vardy does create space, it is usually behind his searing runs, which perhaps the team have not/cannot react to? 

Just watching the Tottenham game, the amount of movement created by Barnes, Chilwell, Ricardo, Maddison, Tielemans and Gray was enough to dislocate the Tottenham defence, making space for each other to fashion chances (Something that bodes well for teams sitting deeper).

Once Vardy came on, this happened less, perhaps due to two things:

1. Vardy is focused on his defence splitting runs
2. Gray is far too ill disciplined to be a lone striker (Or striker at all), and drifted wide as well as occassionally troubling the defence

 

But for Grays faults (covered elsewhere), his movement both at the sides and forward position provided numerous opportuntiies for others.

 

So in short, I don`t know. I love Vardy, but for whatever reason, he offers less space creation and moves defenders abolut less.

But Vardy is without doubt our best striker currently.

It’s all just talking after one game though. Lots of variables in any given game.

 

You make some good points, but whilst you say how you feel that with Gray we create more space and chances for other people I have to disagree with.

As good as we played in the first half, did we really create any good chances bar Barnes one?

We looked neat and tidy but no clinical edge what so ever. We never really looked like scoring in general. 2nd half when Vardy was on we had about 3/4 great chances -

Vardy set up Barnes - Sitter!

our goal.

Vardy had another chance half volley.

Nacho has a great chance but scuffed it tamely in side netting.

there was a few more where we were in great positions etc.

so I have to disagree we looked better without Vardy , however the whole game we looked better in general meaning it’s clear about my other point too - regards mendy.

There is potential to playing Gray and Vardy as a 2 which would cause defences to be even more scared. We could play 433 attacking style.

either way Vardy has to be in for me. We nearly always look better than without him.

[deanolegend1989]

29 minutes ago, NasPb said:

Kasper 

Ricardo maguire Evans chillwell 

Ndidi tielemans 

Maddison iheanacho Barnes 

Vardy 

Kasper

Ricardinho Harry Johnny Ben

Wilfrid Youri

Demary James Harvey

Jamie(Legend)

[Dahnsouff]

6 minutes ago, deanolegend1989 said:

It’s all just talking after one game though. Lots of variables in any given game.

 

You make some good points, but whilst you say how you feel that with Gray we create more space and chances for other people I have to disagree with.

As good as we played in the first half, did we really create any good chances bar Barnes one?

We looked neat and tidy but no clinical edge what so ever. We never really looked like scoring in general. 2nd half when Vardy was on we had about 3/4 great chances -

Vardy set up Barnes - Sitter!

our goal.

Vardy had another chance half volley.

Nacho has a great chance but scuffed it tamely in side netting.

there was a few more where we were in great positions etc.

so I have to disagree we looked better without Vardy , however the whole game we looked better in general meaning it’s clear about my other point too - regards mendy.

There is potential to playing Gray and Vardy as a 2 which would cause defences to be even more scared. We could play 433 attacking style.

either way Vardy has to be in for me. We nearly always look better than without him.

Yes agree again, its one game, no more.

We created quite a few (at half chances)

I am not suggesting we should play Gray as a striker, I just think Puel was looking at what someone with arguably more technical skills would be like as a striker, especially relevant when against opponents who sit deep (Not spurs then...but trying it against Palace when we hope to get a result is a huge no-no)

The idea of Gray as a striker long term is not the right option for me.

I agree, play Vardy, but we need to look long term too (Hence playing Gray in my opinion)

That experiment is now done, back to Vardy