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MPH

Leicester city 1-4 Crystal palace post-Match thread

By MPH, in Leicester City Forum

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Mike Oxlong

Mike Oxlong

Posted
Posted (edited)

Although we were better at moving the ball forwards  rather than sideways in the game we still failed to take available opportunities to move it forwards to players in space at key times in a move. Yes, I know it’s easier to see in the stands but this ongoing failure should now be obvious through coaching and reviewing match videos with the players.

 

It’s as if possession is more important than taking the risk of losing the ball but it’s taking risks that is more likely to create better chances.  Whether that failure is down to confidence or the coaching message not getting through I’m not sure. Seeing Puel’s instruction to N’Didi in the Man Utd game and hearing his post match comments I believe that he wants us to get the ball forward more quickly but he is either being ignored or the message isn’t getting through. That shouldn’t be the case after the length of time he has now had working with this squad.

 

For all the good things yesterday we flattered to deceive. Lots of good passages of play but we rarely worked their keeper. We let 4 goals in and it was still Kasper who made the one outstanding save of the game. 

 

The defending was a shambles at times and although if the contest were a boxing match and decided by what happens between the 18 yard boxes it would have been stopped in the first half in the two penalty boxes we were decidedly second best.

 

Finally, the failure to create chances or momentum from corners and free kicks was lamentable. Work the keeper, lift the crowd, perhaps even, score a goal !

 

We had so many set piece opportunities and the only thing of note that happened as a result is them breaking away and scoring.

 

On the face of it we showed promise but actually when you strip it down it was another inept performance.

 

I hate the manager merry go round and am conscious that if we get rid of Puel now we will have sacked our manager in each of our last three seasons. 

 

The booing/chants when Tielemans was subbed off was a disgrace. To me he looked knackered. The pace and physicality of playing a team like Palace is totally different to that of Ligue 1. It was just an opportunity for the boo boys to show their non support. Hardly helping a team with fragile confidence. 

 

Finally it’d be nice if the players could just give us something to put a smile on our faces again. Be brave. We showed what good things can happen when we’re not so risk averse during the great escape. We are nowhere near the position that we in that season but the worrying thing is that our direction of travel is in the opposite way to that of our last 9 games of 14/15. 

 

Come on Leicester, give Brighton a stuffing FFS. 

Edited by Mike Oxlong
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Jazzy_Jeff

Jazzy_Jeff

Posted
Posted

I’ve tried to be patient and see the bigger picture but my faith has run out.

 

whilst we keep the ball better we have no idea what to do and in final third. The amount of times we worked ourselves into a good position then no-one was in the box. 

 

We need someone in to steady the ship until the summer then go again. Rodgers or Rafa would do for me

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The Doctor

The Doctor

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Posted
9 hours ago, inckley fox said:

Okay, so at one point Vardy bailed Puel out, at another he added to his problems. It's still totally wrong to imply that Vardy has been the great thorn in Puel's side, or that his finishing was a relevant factor in today's debacle. He remains the only striker to have enjoyed any kind of success in the EPL under Puel's management. And of course there are 'right sort of chances' for a striker. A floated cross into the box would have been fantastic for Ulloa, Iwan Roberts, Steve Walsh, less so for Tony Cottee or Vardy. There are strikers, like Cottee, who are 'quick around the box', react well in tight situations. Others thrive in the air. And we could go on. So when Vardy misses a decent aerial opportunity, the chance isn't as tailored to his skills as when he's one on one. Now I know he's not buried all of his one-on-ones, and I know he used to have a good record in the air, but it's another sweeping, misleading statement to say 'chances are chances are chances.' I simply don't understand your determination to focus this argument on Vardy, even on a day like today when he clearly wasn't one of our principal problems. It's beginning to look more like an aggressive agenda rather than balanced, sober criticism of a still-decent striker who isn't enjoying his best form, and may be showing the first signs of decline. And I find that very peculiar from a Leicester fan, especially when it's largely driven by a determination to defend Claude Puel, and do so by pointing the finger at established favourites.

 

I'm not saying he's been a thorn in Puels side though? I'm saying he's on the decline and it's really not a case of change back to direct play to suit him and we'll be easily 7th like some seem to think. 

 

Ulloa and Roberts weren't all round strikers though, they were target men and nothing else, while Walsh was a CB shoved up there purely for height. It is as simple as a good chance is a good chance - if a ball drops for a target man and he scuffs it because he's shit with his feet, he's not a good striker, he's just a target for crosses. Similarly, with crosses it'd be about winning the header, if you have done and it's a reasonable height (i.e. not craneing back to reach it), and it's in a good position (say, 6 yards out, unmarked), "oh, I need quick balls" isn't an excuse unless you're not a good all round player.

 

Once again: I. Didn't. Single. Vardy. Out. For. This. Defeat. I. Did. Not. Say. He's. The. Reason. We. Lost. Can I make that any clearer or do you want a fecking picture? 

 

 

4 hours ago, Fosse93 said:

Please tell me who 'justifies' a start over Vardy because I'm all ears.... he's the best striker outside of the top 6 yet you'd rather place the blame at his door than Puel's?

 

Do you go to the games? He gets zero service most weeks.

 

You like statistics? We haven't lost 4 home games on the bounce for NINETEEN YEARS, but yeah Puel is faultless right?

 

Award for the most deluded poster on foxestalk goes to.... (sorta want to apologise for being harsh here but I've seen you say worse on countless occasions :ph34r:)

Y'know, if you could actually read you'd see that I said the issue is his competition aren't doing enough to justify playing, and he's staying in as the least worst option.

 

Is he still the best striker outside of the top 6? In past years yes, but would you seriously have him over someone like Jiminez or Arnautovic on what we've see this season?

 

I've been to every home game, league and cup and that simply ain't true - he has been getting the service, the quality of chances he's been receiving has been better than most seasons he's had. His finishing has been the issue on that front, not chance creation for him.

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RowlattsFox

RowlattsFox

Posted
Posted

I’ve tried my best to avoid this forum because it would depress me even more than I was already. 

 

Its just not happening for Puel, you can admire giving youth a chance but their confidence is shot, and I’m struggling to see how Puel can turn that around. I really wanted to give him the summer but there is know way that is going to happen now. Unless something miraculous happens. 

 

Maddison likes to think he’s dictating the game but he’s too slow on the ball and seems to think winning a free kick is his role. Corners are atrocious too. ghezzal looked like someone who was scared every time he got the ball. 

 

Every little mistake we make is leading to a goal. And then our confidence is gone, we actually started ok yesterday, seemed to play with more control without creating anything clear cut. 

 

Too easy to play against and to be honest I don’t see what we could do differently, players just have to be better. 

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oxtonfox

oxtonfox

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Posted
10 hours ago, deep blue said:

But you could argue that by the time we get to the summer our results might have slumped so much that our better players will want to leave and we will be unattractive to transfer targets - the whole club on a downward path.

Spot on deep blue. I still think we need 6 points to stay up. The better players Vardy, Maguire, Tielemans, Chilwell, possibly Ricardo will leave and we will be relegation favourites next season.

There are similarities with the Peter Taylor second season and Puel. When we lost to Wycombe (see Newport) in 2001 we lost 12 out of the last 13 matches including at home to all of the relegated clubs that season. Following season was awful and down we went. 

It disappoints me to say it but we need to replace the manager now because everyone, players and fans have lost faith and their belief. 

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Crinklyfox

Crinklyfox

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Posted

I looked at the body language Puel was demonstrating during his interview and came to the conclusion that he believes that he's a dead man walking - his Leicester career is over and he's now just waiting for the axe.

 

No matter if you support Puel or oppose him, that is a very unhealthy situation and I don't expect us to thrive until it's resolved.  The man's heart doesn't seem to be in it any more, I give him credit for sticking to his beliefs in the face of all the disappointments and reverses, but can't see a way forward until he goes.

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oxtonfox

oxtonfox

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Posted

Yesterday reminded me of an unfair boxing match between a featherweight and a middleweight. We punched away at the body without making much damage and Palace, who were not great themselves, just threw a solitary punch and put us on the floor. 

Later on it was an unfair fight we tired ourselves out and the referee should have stopped it. 

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AjcW

AjcW

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I don’t know if anyone else thought this, but at 3-1 down from about 85 minutes on, I felt like we gave up and just started passing it around in midfield. 

 

There was no attempt to go long or stick Harry up front, none of those things you expect to see with a two goal deficit and time left to play.

 

It genuinely just looked like we’d given up, to the point where they then win it back in midfield and score another! 

 

The reason it stands out to me is because over the last ten years or so, I’ve always believed even with a two goal defecit going into the final five that we’d come back (plenty of examples of it over the years) but yesterday didn’t feel like that at all :( 

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Matt

Matt

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4 minutes ago, AjcW said:

I don’t know if anyone else thought this, but at 3-1 down from about 85 minutes on, I felt like we gave up and just started passing it around in midfield. 

 

There was no attempt to go long or stick Harry up front, none of those things you expect to see with a two goal deficit and time left to play.

 

It genuinely just looked like we’d given up, to the point where they then win it back in midfield and score another! 

 

The reason it stands out to me is because over the last ten years or so, I’ve always believed even with a two goal defecit going into the final five that we’d come back (plenty of examples of it over the years) but yesterday didn’t feel like that at all :( 

 

Tbh even in the first 30 odd minutes when we played fairly ok, fairly good, I felt we were never going to win it or even draw really, you know what's going to happen, you're just waiting for it.

 

We just go through the motions.

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Guest Cujek

Guest Cujek

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48 minutes ago, Crinklyfox said:

I looked at the body language Puel was demonstrating during his interview and came to the conclusion that he believes that he's a dead man walking - his Leicester career is over and he's now just waiting for the axe.

 

No matter if you support Puel or oppose him, that is a very unhealthy situation and I don't expect us to thrive until it's resolved.  The man's heart doesn't seem to be in it any more, I give him credit for sticking to his beliefs in the face of all the disappointments and reverses, but can't see a way forward until he goes.

I don't think his heart has ever been in it. I think that's the major problem with him.

 

We should have axed him when going into a season with Amartey as RB and Iheanacho and Okazaki as our only back up to Vardy became a reality.

 

The guy is a ****ing joke.

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Sunbury Fox

Sunbury Fox

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I agree with a lot of the criticism above but I also think absolutely nothing is going for us. In the last 7 games we've had 132 shots against 66 for the opposition. 8 of 132 have gone in for us and 17 of 66 have gone in against us. 

 

We totally dominated last night's game for the first 35 minutes, playing some really nice football at times. We were also denied what looked a clear pen, although I've not been able to face watching the "highlights" back to confirm that. Palace couldn't get out of their half at all until one of their midfielders had a pot shot from 30 yards or so that was going miles wide until it hit their centre forward and looped in the other corner. For a young team lacking experience that must have been a massive blow. We really need a break like that to go for us. 

 

Other thoughts on last night:

 

Maddison is not as good as he thinks he is. His set pieces and shooting were appalling, as they often are, and yet he demanded to take every one. 

 

Even if he could deliver a good ball we have very little physical presence to win headers from crosses and corners. 

 

I like Ghezzal for some reason but last night he looked like a fan who had won a prize to play a game. The bottom line is that he lacks the speed and physicality to play on the wing in the PL. His best game was at home to Burnley when he played as a 10 but he has not been deployed there again. 

 

I don't think Vardy can play the role he is being asked to play. His strength is running in behind, not linking up play with one two's around the box or winning headers from crosses. It reminds me of how Simpson looked trying to play as a wing back last season. I genuinely think Puel doesn't really want to play Vardy but he has to because the alternatives are worse. We have nobody who can play as a lone striker. We need someone like Jiminez for that. 

 

With the players we have 352, like Wolves play, is so obviously the best system because it:

 

allows our 2 excellent attacking FBs to bomb on without leaving so many gaps behind.

 

allows Maguire to play to his strengths as he did for England last summer. And in Soyüncü we have a fast CB who can cover for Evans and Maguire's lack of pace. 

 

Gives us a much needed extra tall player. 

 

Still means we can play a midfield 3 but if 2 of those are more offensive players having a third CB gives us more cover behind them.

 

Enables us to play a support striker close to Vardy, as the latter is really struggling with the lone striker role. 

 

My team would be:

 

Kasper

 

Soyüncü 

Evans 

Maguire

 

Ricardo

Tielemans

Ndidi

Maddison

Chilwell

 

Barnes

Vardy

 

But I'm wasting my breath as Puel will never play it again. He tried it once at Arsenal in the first half and we were superb. After they equalised he reverted to a back 4 again and we fell away and ended up being well beaten. 

 

Despite his stubbornness I've been firmly 'Puel in' as I think he has bought some good players and is trying to transition us into an attractive, youthful team. At times we've been very good but too often we flatter to deceive. But after last night, with regret I have concluded that his position is now untenable. In fact, as I finish writing this, news is coming through that he has been sacked. Sad but inevitable. 

 

 

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