The main issue with the attack

[Usafox1]

You cannot  play Maddison as the attacking midfielder and Vardy as your striker. Maddison is not creative enough to play that position at this level unless you have wingers good enough to draw the defenders out wide.  Vardy is a workhorse, he's constantly moving, tracking deep to collect the ball but what he needs most are good passes, Maddison cannot provide it, Gray cannot and full backs cannot afford to rush forward often enough or they'll leave the back exposed. 

 

With this attacking focus you get possession but you don't have enough creativity to carve out opportunities. Unfortunately, I do not see the issue improving without major personnel or tactical changes. The low risk high rewards option until the season is over would be to switch to a 4411 and play Iheanacho behind Vardy. Nacho is a better passer when in form and he can  score. Can't get worse results !

[Guest ttfn]

At the very least you need players prepared to get in the penalty area.

 

One of the few times Vardy got involved in the second half, Maguire played him in down the left and Vardy played a great ball into the penalty area. Gray and Maddison should have been hurtling into the six yard box for a tap in but Maddison was stood almost on the edge of the box and Gray was even further back, walking towards the penalty area.

 

 

[Vardinio'sCat]

 

I didn't think Madders was playing as a number 10, because Tielemans was in front of him for most of the time.

 

I could be wrong tho, it's hard to watch all 11 for 90 minutes.

[Babylon]

Everyone being stood like statues is one of the biggest issues. There is nothing to be creative to up front. 

[Ceirboy]

Too many in that team afraid to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Harry tried in the final minutes with one of his bombscare runs forward and lost possession and then Zaha fizzed it past not nearly as good as he thinks he is.

[st albans fox]

17 minutes ago, Babylon said:

Everyone being stood like statues is one of the biggest issues. There is nothing to be creative to up front. 

 

46 minutes ago, Vardinio'sCat said:

 

I didn't think Madders was playing as a number 10, because Tielemans was in front of him for most of the time.

 

I could be wrong tho, it's hard to watch all 11 for 90 minutes.

for the first half an hour, Maddison and tielemans were interchanging and we looked mobile and full of ideas ........... until we reached their penalty area where it seemed the preparation hadn’t  included moves to get wingers/full backs around the back of their defence 

 

and then we got sucker punched and the players shoulders dropped ......

 you can sort of understand that .........  they were desperately wanting to avoid conceding first and in that manner must have hurt badly, especially mentally

 

the second half was a bit strange ...... palace started as if told they had to put in a strong ten minutes to try and frustrate what would be a resurgent group who would have recovered their mojo in the break.   And we eventually got our own break with a scrappy equaliser .....

 then it went tits.

 

pushing for the winner is understandable but without two holders in midfield, it reminded me a little of Bournemouth away where wilf and papy weren’t disciplined enough and the full backs pushed on together, leaving us short of cover. Good teams don’t take risks like we did when 1-1. They make sure that they don’t get caught on the counter. We had the momentum but we managed it badly. 

 

In that way I feel a bit sorry for Claude but a capable manager would have remained the players of this possibility and the message would have been driven into their psyche ......... get the equaliser and push on for a few minutes whilst your opponent is affected. Then regroup for a final onslaught - don’t take the chance of allowing them to retake the advantage. 

 

We we must have prepared our set plays. (didn’t look like it though). Corners are an opportunity to score but also leave you vulnerable against a strong counter attacking side like palace. if we are playing a deep one to Harry then surely someone should be charged with covering the left flank of the area in case it clears him.  Perhaps I’m being hyper critical on this point but you don’t generally see good sides caught out like that. 

[hejammy]

This is the problem, Madisson has no creativity in that final 3rd. More often than not it goes wide. There were a number of times the ball was crossed in and there was no-one in the box. Our corners and set plays are pathetic. We need a target man, Unfortunaly Puel doesn't like a  target man but makes his players play like there should be. Doesn't make sense. Vardy this season has been poor make no mistake about it. You can complain all you want about him not getting the balls he wants fed through to him etc but ultimately he has had opportunities and has not taken them as he would in previous seasons. Also he has become pretty poor on the ball. Like it or not we cannot survive by revolving our play around Vardy, it's not sustainable as he's getting older and also if he gets injured, we have no other player like Vardy so we have no plan B. Ultimately our attack fails as we do not have that target man and Nacho is not him. 

[Gazza M]

Reminds me of the Taylor days at the moment. We can hold on to the ball sideways and backwards with some nice switches across the park. Then get to the last third and not a bloody clue how to unlock the opposition with no bodies in the box and woeful quality balls in. 

Maddison is a luxury we can't afford to let prance around at the moment. Desperate for a hold up physical presence up front which we don't have unfortunately as Fraude got rid of both of them in his wisdom. 

For the rest of the season as sad and nostalgic as it sounds I would let Vardy play with his mate Okazaki and play counter attack. At least them two have an understanding if not the legs any more. 

 

[Fox92]

The problem is one up front.

[st albans fox]

11 minutes ago, Gazza M said:

Reminds me of the Taylor days at the moment. We can hold on to the ball sideways and backwards with some nice switches across the park. Then get to the last third and not a bloody clue how to unlock the opposition with no bodies in the box and woeful quality balls in. 

Maddison is a luxury we can't afford to let prance around at the moment. Desperate for a hold up physical presence up front which we don't have unfortunately as Fraude got rid of both of them in his wisdom. 

For the rest of the season as sad and nostalgic as it sounds I would let Vardy play with his mate Okazaki and play counter attack. At least them two have an understanding if not the legs any more. 

 

Can’t really play counter attack at home against sides that sit ........ funnily enough the opportunity generally only presents itself when the opposition get a corner or attacking free kick.  I think the crowd wouldn’t put up with a boring game of chess in the midfield or us just punting the ball long for them to gain possession and then just pass it around in their own half and move slowly forwards .......

[shailen]

I think the main issue we have is that we are too slow in possession. When the other team goes and has an attack and we try to counter - it takes an age for us to get into the box or we try to build possession - this allows the other team to set up defensively and we need an eye of the needle ball to then find our players in the box. 

 

This stops the likes of Vardy/Barnes/Gray making runs knowing they aren't going to be picked out. The only time I've not seen this happen this season is against all the top sides where we have been forced to counter given the space in behind.

[whetstonefox]

Rondon would have been a good signing for us, he would at least have a presence in the box. 

[TMELcfc]

Everything we do is slow, structured, and unimaginative. It has been since last season. 

[langtonfox]

6 hours ago, Usafox1 said:

You cannot  play Maddison as the attacking midfielder and Vardy as your striker. Maddison is not creative enough to play that position at this level unless you have wingers good enough to draw the defenders out wide.  Vardy is a workhorse, he's constantly moving, tracking deep to collect the ball but what he needs most are good passes, Maddison cannot provide it, Gray cannot and full backs cannot afford to rush forward often enough or they'll leave the back exposed. 

 

With this attacking focus you get possession but you don't have enough creativity to carve out opportunities. Unfortunately, I do not see the issue improving without major personnel or tactical changes. The low risk high rewards option until the season is over would be to switch to a 4411 and play Iheanacho behind Vardy. Nacho is a better passer when in form and he can  score. Can't get worse results !

Can see why your not a manager 

[Milo]

The main issue with the attack?? We have a manager who doesn’t seem to like attacking. One of those that would rather set up not to lose, rather than try to win a match. Don’t think it’s that difficult a concept. 

 

 

[wardyfox86]

When Fulham go down, Mitrovic should be our main priority. 

[ceebeefox]

34 minutes ago, shailen said:

I think the main issue we have is that we are too slow in possession. When the other team goes and has an attack and we try to counter - it takes an age for us to get into the box or we try to build possession - this allows the other team to set up defensively and we need an eye of the needle ball to then find our players in the box. 

 

This stops the likes of Vardy/Barnes/Gray making runs knowing they aren't going to be picked out. The only time I've not seen this happen this season is against all the top sides where we have been forced to counter given the space in behind.

We are, albeit on a lower level just like Jose's United, slow, boring, ponderous possession. Look at them now. With this group we can quicken the game up get it forward quicker and create chances, which Claude thought we made first half but I just saw 20 yard shots not chances.

[deep blue]

5 hours ago, ttfn said:

At the very least you need players prepared to get in the penalty area.

 

One of the few times Vardy got involved in the second half, Maguire played him in down the left and Vardy played a great ball into the penalty area. Gray and Maddison should have been hurtling into the six yard box for a tap in but Maddison was stood almost on the edge of the box and Gray was even further back, walking towards the penalty area.

 

 

I remember this incident very well. I railed inside at Maddison who was in ideal position to run forward in anticipation of the cross but stood as if disinterested. The situation must be so frustrating for Vardy.

[Ceirboy]

5 minutes ago, wardyfox86 said:

When Fulham go down, Mitrovic should be our main priority. 

We’ll be not too far behind them!

[Lesta Legend]

A well drilled team in cautiously probing with focus to the wings and central players that will sit deeper when our full backs push on. One up front. 

 

I’m under no illusion, I expect our chance creation to predominantly be limited to wider deeper positions while a prolific striker looks a lonely forlorn figure in the process. 

[wardyfox86]

3 minutes ago, Ceirboy said:

We’ll be not too far behind them!

It seems the popular comment now that we are in a relegation fight. Whilst I agree to an extent that if nothing changes we are heading towards the bottom 3, if you look at Cardiff's fixture list can anybody really see them picking up 8 more points than us? 

[La-li-lu-le-lo]

There’s nothing scientific to why we can’t score. The answer is simple, Puel is completely ignoring the strengths of our attacking line up to satisfy his own personal desires. It’s been said a million time on here, Jamie Vardy is not the type of striker who is going to benefit from this style of football, he is an old school get the ball over the top kind of striker, and until this rescognoses by Puel we won’t be going anywhere.

[foxes21]

7 hours ago, Usafox1 said:

The main issue with the attack

1) Lack of movement.

 

2) Lack of penetration from midfield. When Vardy and Barnes do make some good runs the midfield is more likely to recycle the ball sideways or back rather than picking out their runs.

 

3) No pressing, wtf. I don’t care if you’re a counter attacking team, a possession team or a park the bus team. When you have the opportunity to press the opposition in their half, you do it. We never seem to press under Puel, but we know it can lead to chances by winning the ball near their box. 

 

4) Maddison. Guy plays more like a DM whatever position he’s asked to play. He is always so deep, but as an attacking player he should be busting a gut to get into the box. Playing as the LCM in the 4-3-3 against Spurs/Palace, the idea is for Ndidi to sit back not Maddison!

 

5) Ndidi. Doesn’t he have the most shots (mostly off target) this season? That is awful. Guy needs to just sit and protect the defence not pretend he’s Kante running around everywhere. Or get benched for Choudhury. Whichever.

 

6) Right hand side. WE HAVE NO GOOD WINGERS!!! Apart from Barnes everyone else is useless. So any formation we play that involves using a right winger, we are immediately handicapped. When your RB is the best winger you have you know there’s problems. 

 

7) Reliance on the fullbacks. Pereira and Chilwell are our two best attackers. But fullbacks should always be the support role, not the main threat. When they do cross the ball you want 4 maybe 5 bodies in the box. Instead they only get 1, sometimes 2 to aim for. 

 

8) Lack of depth. A serious issue! Would love a striker like Che Adams and two right wingers.