Playing to your strengths

[smitha]

The difference in performances since Brendan arrived has been so impressive and you can see he is a good tactition. For me the major factor in the improvement is that he is playing a system that suits the strengths of the players, it is no coincidence that Wilf has suddenly turned into a beast, Vardy is looking like his old self and Maddison is showing signs of his early season form.

 

All to often managers try to turn players into roles or systems that are not suited to them and have the stubbornness to continue until the inevitable happens. Brendan has implemented good tactics, played players in their best positions, given them some love and hey-ho we look like a team going places again.

 

What has impressed me is that in his first game he played Barnes closer to Vardy to give him more support, a role that did not really work which he addmited, ever since Barnes has been back on the wing and looks like the real deal. He saw it didn't work did not percivere for weeks and changed it to benefit not only the team but the player. His man management skills are second to none you could see it after the game yesterday, despite not playing many minutes recently even Wes was happy and the embrace with the gaffer was great to see, as it was with all the players.

 

The summer is going to be exciting with potential new arrivals hopefully not too many that it effects the development of the younger players. There are a couple of big decisions to be made, for me I would love to have Tielemans permanently. Luckily we have got rid of most of the dead wood but I'm interested to see what happens to Slimani and Silva . I was so excited by there arrival like so many but both have been a disappointment for various reasons (Slimani doing himself no favours at present), what are people's views on what will happen with them, will Brendan be able to work his magic on them or are they surplus to requirements, did we play to their strengths or were they just bad signings? Does anyone know how long left they have on their contracts?

[weller54]

Personally I don't want Slimani anywhere near our club again.. The guy is poison. 

With Silva, he's hopefully the ace up our sleeve to signing Youri on a permanent deal. 

[murphy]

1 hour ago, smitha said:

The difference in performances since Brendan arrived has been so impressive and you can see he is a good tactition. For me the major factor in the improvement is that he is playing a system that suits the strengths of the players, it is no coincidence that Wilf has suddenly turned into a beast, Vardy is looking like his old self and Maddison is showing signs of his early season form.

 

All to often managers try to turn players into roles or systems that are not suited to them and have the stubbornness to continue until the inevitable happens. Brendan has implemented good tactics, played players in their best positions, given them some love and hey-ho we look like a team going places again.

 

What has impressed me is that in his first game he played Barnes closer to Vardy to give him more support, a role that did not really work which he addmited, ever since Barnes has been back on the wing and looks like the real deal. He saw it didn't work did not percivere for weeks and changed it to benefit not only the team but the player. His man management skills are second to none you could see it after the game yesterday, despite not playing many minutes recently even Wes was happy and the embrace with the gaffer was great to see, as it was with all the players.

 

The summer is going to be exciting with potential new arrivals hopefully not too many that it effects the development of the younger players. There are a couple of big decisions to be made, for me I would love to have Tielemans permanently. Luckily we have got rid of most of the dead wood but I'm interested to see what happens to Slimani and Silva . I was so excited by there arrival like so many but both have been a disappointment for various reasons (Slimani doing himself no favours at present), what are people's views on what will happen with them, will Brendan be able to work his magic on them or are they surplus to requirements, did we play to their strengths or were they just bad signings? Does anyone know how long left they have on their contracts?

This is very true.

 

I bought in to the Puel project.  I thought that slowly we would grow into the team and the system that he wanted.  Eventually.

 

I still think that there are things that we should be grateful to Puel for such as the recruitment and youth policy but the early signs under Rogers have shown me that I was wrong to want to persevere with Puel.

 

When we have one of the best strikers in the league, it was wrong not to play to his strengths and ask him to adapt to become a shadow of himself.  We have seen that we can still get him in behind with a possession side.  Wilf again is being utilised to his strengths as you say and we look like we have our edge back.

 

Puel was unlucky that he never got to use Tielemans and his reign was littered with individual errors that were hardly his fault, but overall, it was the right decision to let him go and I am feeling optimistic for next season.

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, smitha said:

The difference in performances since Brendan arrived has been so impressive and you can see he is a good tactition. For me the major factor in the improvement is that he is playing a system that suits the strengths of the players, it is no coincidence that Wilf has suddenly turned into a beast, Vardy is looking like his old self and Maddison is showing signs of his early season form.

 

All to often managers try to turn players into roles or systems that are not suited to them and have the stubbornness to continue until the inevitable happens. Brendan has implemented good tactics, played players in their best positions, given them some love and hey-ho we look like a team going places again.

 

What has impressed me is that in his first game he played Barnes closer to Vardy to give him more support, a role that did not really work which he addmited, ever since Barnes has been back on the wing and looks like the real deal. He saw it didn't work did not percivere for weeks and changed it to benefit not only the team but the player. His man management skills are second to none you could see it after the game yesterday, despite not playing many minutes recently even Wes was happy and the embrace with the gaffer was great to see, as it was with all the players.

 

The summer is going to be exciting with potential new arrivals hopefully not too many that it effects the development of the younger players. There are a couple of big decisions to be made, for me I would love to have Tielemans permanently. Luckily we have got rid of most of the dead wood but I'm interested to see what happens to Slimani and Silva . I was so excited by there arrival like so many but both have been a disappointment for various reasons (Slimani doing himself no favours at present), what are people's views on what will happen with them, will Brendan be able to work his magic on them or are they surplus to requirements, did we play to their strengths or were they just bad signings? Does anyone know how long left they have on their contracts?

Whilst I have liked the Rodgers effect and do think he has got Vardy more support, it's too early to say we are playing to our strengths. Against Watford we played 3 centre backs, which I don't think is one of our strengths and still conceded two goals to both of their forwards despite playing this way. Against Burnley the team were fantastic (especially in the first half) but we had ten men and in the second half only had one shot on target as a result, so hardly playing to our strengths but more a performance of grit and determination. Against Fulham we looked much better but Fulham are second bottom for a reason.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think Rodgers is a good appointment and have been impressed with him since he's come in. I think he has a better ability to change a game than Puel did based on what we've seen already and your points about Barnes and Vardy I very much agree with. But I still think we haven't truly played to our strengths yet and am hopeful that we will. I feel like there is a 4-0 demolition performance in us against another midtable team if we can sort ourselves out. If we pull one of those off... then I think we will be playing to our strengths!

 

Regarding Slim and Silva, Silva will be swapped plus cash for Tielemans I am certain. Slimani I think will go back on loan to Sporting with us still paying most of his wages.

[Aus Fox]

Harsh that I’ve seen a lot of criticism of him playing 3 CB vs Watford - something many on here have been crying out for for a long time. Sometimes you have to try new things to see what works and what doesn’t.

the sign of a good manager is one that recognises that something doesn’t work and fixes it without being stubborn, which BR did and we’ve had three wins since.

[Ric Flair]

It's way too early to be deducing any long term evidence of what's going to happen under Rodgers as we have had great starts under our last 4 managers in the PL. I'm sure I could find some posts raving about Puel's new style he had blended with our counter attack after his first half a dozen games here.

 

Rodgers talks a great game though and I do think the style of football he likes to play is more suited to a team like ours in this country. Its football our fans will get behind and it is the sort of football that the players cant hide behind or coast with. It's in your face pressing, its passionate and it's full throttle. The early signs are good, the prospects of further coaching under a very very good man manager is exciting and if we can be shrewd in the transfer market then the good times are coming back here.

 

I had a nagging feeling it wouldn't ever go right here for Rodgers, as on paper this is a sensational coup for us and history shows we dont do too well with things like that but he's a man you cant help but hang off his every word and the players will love him. I think it might just work.

[Strokes]

I was and remain a fan of Puel, I think he was hard done too by our fans. However I’m not going to to let affect the way I judge Rodgers. Who for me has so far done everything important right. My main gripe in releasing Puel, was I wasn’t confident we couldn’t get an adequate replacement but that fear is quickly being eradicated with every game I watch under Rodgers. He is just fine tuning what was already put in place for him, it very much reminds me of when Claudio graced our fine club. I’d kill for ounce of the same success, long may the positivity continue.

[murphy]

42 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Whilst I have liked the Rodgers effect and do think he has got Vardy more support, it's too early to say we are playing to our strengths. Against Watford we played 3 centre backs, which I don't think is one of our strengths and still conceded two goals to both of their forwards despite playing this way. Against Burnley the team were fantastic (especially in the first half) but we had ten men and in the second half only had one shot on target as a result, so hardly playing to our strengths but more a performance of grit and determination. Against Fulham we looked much better but Fulham are second bottom for a reason.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think Rodgers is a good appointment and have been impressed with him since he's come in. I think he has a better ability to change a game than Puel did based on what we've seen already and your points about Barnes and Vardy I very much agree with. But I still think we haven't truly played to our strengths yet and am hopeful that we will. I feel like there is a 4-0 demolition performance in us against another midtable team if we can sort ourselves out. If we pull one of those off... then I think we will be playing to our strengths!

 

Regarding Slim and Silva, Silva will be swapped plus cash for Tielemans I am certain. Slimani I think will go back on loan to Sporting with us still paying most of his wages.

Maybe it is too early to make a judgement, but surely you have noticed differences between Puel's team and Rodgers already such as trying to play Vardy in early, the high press and getting Wilf to win the ball higher up the pitch.  

 

Early days but I think that BR has made some obvious tweaks that do indeed play to our strengths.

[the fox]

The last few examples are pretty much the same and following a blueprint.

 

We get a new coach>win 5+ games back-to-back>wobble to the finish line> start next season in a bad way> people say [enter manager name here ]-out> win against a top-6 team then lose to teams fighting relegation> players underperforme> talks about unrest inside the squad> vote of confidence> Manager sacked> rinse and repeat.

 

 

Hopefully this vicious cycle ends with Brendan.

[shailen]

6 minutes ago, the fox said:

The last few examples are pretty much the same and following a blueprint.

 

We get a new coach>win 5+ games back-to-back>wobble to the finish line> start next season in a bad way> people say [enter manager name here ]-out> win against a top-6 team then lose to teams fighting relegation> players underperforme> talks about unrest inside the squad> vote of confidence> Manager sacked> rinse and repeat.

 

 

Hopefully this vicious cycle ends with Brendan.

This happens with all clubs. If the managers go through a sustained bad period of form they will be the ones ultimately sacked. Even Jose Mourinho couldn't escape this. 

 

I hope we give Brendan time even if it gets sticky for a while, because ultimately I feel he is the right fit - much better than Puel imo. 

[daddylonglegs]

2 hours ago, weller54 said:

Personally I don't want Slimani anywhere near our club again.. The guy is poison. 

With Silva, he's hopefully the ace up our sleeve to signing Youri on a permanent deal. 

Eh?

Feel like that's massively harsh. He's got 13 goals in 47 games for us. He's contributed to a goal every 3 games in the Premier League. That's not brilliant but especially when you consider he never really got a run in the team, and a chunk of those games are from the bench I don't think it's worth suggesting he's not good enough.

Under Puel we were absolutely crying out for a plan B striker on the bench. It's all hunky dory now because we've won a couple of games, but bad times & moments in games & over the course of a season (Vardy injured/suspended/out of form/needs a rest) will come where we need (and have) to try something different. Slimani offers a good alternative.

 

Let's also not forget the fact he scored a winner in a CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GAME for us so maybe ease off him slightly  

[StriderHiryu]

49 minutes ago, murphy said:

Maybe it is too early to make a judgement, but surely you have noticed differences between Puel's team and Rodgers already such as trying to play Vardy in early, the high press and getting Wilf to win the ball higher up the pitch.  

 

Early days but I think that BR has made some obvious tweaks that do indeed play to our strengths.

Yep these things look awesome! But BR needs to get the balance is right as you could argue that goals / sending offs against Watford and Burnley came from defenders being exposed due to the opposition beating the high press. Really those goals were down to individual errors, but given that we've made so many errors this season, there is the possibility that playing the high press actually leaves us more exposed than we previously were. That's why I am reserving judgement, because we might end up scoring more goals, but also conceding a lot more too. It can be solved though, for example by being a bit more cynical in our play, like the fouls Fernandinho commits for Man City. He will make a foul if it looks like the high press was beaten, so Man City can regroup and try again. Right now we look more threatening but also look like conceding. Maguire had the opportunity to do this against Burnley but let play continue and then was in last chance saloon and lost.

 

I expect by the time next season rolls around we will be a lot more comfortable playing the Rodgers way. Fulham made many mistakes against us, but those mistakes were the result of our sustained pressure on their back four when trying to play out. The high press worked wonders, with Ndidi and Barnes showing us how it's done. And pressing high means Vardy can actually link up with Barnes, Maddison, Tielemans, Gray which makes us more threatening. So it can definitely become our strength, but I think it's too early to say it's a key strength as compared to leaving Vardy and Mahrez up top on opposition corners in 15/16. But I think we will get there quickly and will be in far better contention for 7th place next season as a result.

 

 

[Hanan96]

Beware the new manager bounce effect. Let's wait for the next season to start so we don't overjoyed. 

The first few months of Shakespeare and Puel aren't worse than our current form. We even beat Liverpool and Tottenham convincingly during these day. 

 

I really want any coach here to sucess, but overjoy can result over expectations which aren't good

[murphy]

48 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Yep these things look awesome! But BR needs to get the balance is right as you could argue that goals / sending offs against Watford and Burnley came from defenders being exposed due to the opposition beating the high press. Really those goals were down to individual errors, but given that we've made so many errors this season, there is the possibility that playing the high press actually leaves us more exposed than we previously were. That's why I am reserving judgement, because we might end up scoring more goals, but also conceding a lot more too. It can be solved though, for example by being a bit more cynical in our play, like the fouls Fernandinho commits for Man City. He will make a foul if it looks like the high press was beaten, so Man City can regroup and try again. Right now we look more threatening but also look like conceding. Maguire had the opportunity to do this against Burnley but let play continue and then was in last chance saloon and lost.

 

I expect by the time next season rolls around we will be a lot more comfortable playing the Rodgers way. Fulham made many mistakes against us, but those mistakes were the result of our sustained pressure on their back four when trying to play out. The high press worked wonders, with Ndidi and Barnes showing us how it's done. And pressing high means Vardy can actually link up with Barnes, Maddison, Tielemans, Gray which makes us more threatening. So it can definitely become our strength, but I think it's too early to say it's a key strength as compared to leaving Vardy and Mahrez up top on opposition corners in 15/16. But I think we will get there quickly and will be in far better contention for 7th place next season as a result.

 

 

Yes, I agree.  The high press comes with a risk and Fulham were the ideal opponents for us, being a team that likes to lay play out from the back and are not very good at it.  Next up are Bournemouth and they might well exploit a high defensive line.

 

On balance though, it is pleasing to see us on the front foot a bit more.  

 

 

[Foxxed]

Strengths are only strengths because we built them up. If Bren wants us to develop in ways we're currently weak then I'm game.

[SheppyFox]

8 hours ago, weller54 said:

Personally I don't want Slimani anywhere near our club again.. The guy is poison. 

With Silva, he's hopefully the ace up our sleeve to signing Youri on a permanent deal. 

Yes, I’m not convinced people realise how much of a dick Slim is to be around.

[st albans fox]

7 hours ago, Aus Fox said:

Harsh that I’ve seen a lot of criticism of him playing 3 CB vs Watford - something many on here have been crying out for for a long time. Sometimes you have to try new things to see what works and what doesn’t.

the sign of a good manager is one that recognises that something doesn’t work and fixes it without being stubborn, which BR did and we’ve had three wins since.

3 cb was hardly an abject failure ??  We grew into the game as the players adapted to the system and BR tweaked some things to help. The team looking most likely to win last 30 was us. we got sucker punched. I doubt this manager will bin that system off like the previous one did. 

[murphy]

5 hours ago, Foxxed said:

Strengths are only strengths because we built them up. If Bren wants us to develop in ways we're currently weak then I'm game.

 

I disagree with this.  Playing to JVs strengths is an early ball behind the defence because he is quick and can finish.  It is not to float a dozen crosses over 8 feet in the air.  Obvious really.

 

Wilf is a ball winner not a playmaker.  That's his game.

 

It is not a question of strengths that we have built up but playing to the natural attributes of the players we have.

[Babylon]

12 hours ago, smitha said:

The difference in performances since Brendan arrived has been so impressive and you can see he is a good tactition. For me the major factor in the improvement is that he is playing a system that suits the strengths of the players, it is no coincidence that Wilf has suddenly turned into a beast, Vardy is looking like his old self and Maddison is showing signs of his early season form.

 

All to often managers try to turn players into roles or systems that are not suited to them and have the stubbornness to continue until the inevitable happens. Brendan has implemented good tactics, played players in their best positions, given them some love and hey-ho we look like a team going places again.

 

What has impressed me is that in his first game he played Barnes closer to Vardy to give him more support, a role that did not really work which he addmited, ever since Barnes has been back on the wing and looks like the real deal. He saw it didn't work did not percivere for weeks and changed it to benefit not only the team but the player. His man management skills are second to none you could see it after the game yesterday, despite not playing many minutes recently even Wes was happy and the embrace with the gaffer was great to see, as it was with all the players.

 

The summer is going to be exciting with potential new arrivals hopefully not too many that it effects the development of the younger players. There are a couple of big decisions to be made, for me I would love to have Tielemans permanently. Luckily we have got rid of most of the dead wood but I'm interested to see what happens to Slimani and Silva . I was so excited by there arrival like so many but both have been a disappointment for various reasons (Slimani doing himself no favours at present), what are people's views on what will happen with them, will Brendan be able to work his magic on them or are they surplus to requirements, did we play to their strengths or were they just bad signings? Does anyone know how long left they have on their contracts?

Way too early.

 

I'm glad we've got Rodgers over Puel don't get me wrong, the high press is going to help Vardy and that's the most obvious change and benefit so far as it gets us closer to goal and creates space for a quick ball, but better teams will exploit that if we don't get it right.

 

N'didi looked better the second he wasn't lumbered with all the creative responsibility (prior to Rodgers). Tielemans is going to benefit Vardy because he's got the ability and the vision, Ndidi because he can just focus on defending and Maddison as he gets a bit more support and the burden isn't all on him to support the forwards. I don't think we can overlook how much he adds to the team. We played some unreal stuff at Spurs, It was our loose and sloppy defending that let us down again and that's not gone away. See some of the laughable defending against Watford, Fulham and Burnley.

 

The slow starts to games were chucked at Puel and his training intensity, yet we've managed to let in a goal and get a man sent off within the first 5 minutes of two of his games. I think people need to face up to the fact that it wasn't all on Puel and that we do have issues with some of our players concentration.

 

We haven't put together a complete performance, another day we could have lost against Burnley quite easily. Deflected cross into our players path, penno not given, great save. But for some unreal finishing from Vardy (a man who has missed a shed load under Puel this season) we could have ended up drawing against Fulham, because they were on top for a period second half and we didn't look great. Watford was a crap performance as well.

 

There are some encouraging small signs, I think we'll be more open in attack and at least the entertainment value will go up and that was one of the biggest issues.

 

I'm looking forward to next season and I think he'll be great for us!!

 

[les-tah]

2 hours ago, SheppyFox said:

Yes, I’m not convinced people realise how much of a dick Slim is to be around.

Purely judging a book by a cover here ....but Slimani looks like the type of person to spit on you in an argument .. 

 

 

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

10 hours ago, Aus Fox said:

Harsh that I’ve seen a lot of criticism of him playing 3 CB vs Watford - something many on here have been crying out for for a long time. Sometimes you have to try new things to see what works and what doesn’t.

the sign of a good manager is one that recognises that something doesn’t work and fixes it without being stubborn, which BR did and we’ve had three wins since.

Agreed, I wanted to see us play 3 central defenders, partly because Harry seems so comfortable in a back 3 for England and our 2 full backs are so good going forward, I hope to see us play this way again, we need many strings to our bow to adapt to different situations which we seem to be doing now under BR.

[SheppyFox]

15 minutes ago, les-tah said:

Purely judging a book by a cover here ....but Slimani looks like the type of person to spit on you in an argument .. 

 

 

He’s an absolute nightmare. 

[Ric Flair]

30 minutes ago, Babylon said:

Way too early.

 

I'm glad we've got Rodgers over Puel don't get me wrong, the high press is going to help Vardy and that's the most obvious change and benefit so far as it gets us closer to goal and creates space for a quick ball, but better teams will exploit that if we don't get it right.

 

N'didi looked better the second he wasn't lumbered with all the creative responsibility (prior to Rodgers). Tielemans is going to benefit Vardy because he's got the ability and the visions, Ndidi because he can just focus on defending and Maddison as he gets a bit more support and the burden isn't all on him to support the forwards. I don't think we can overlook how much he adds to the team. We played some unreal stuff at Spurs, It was our loose and sloppy defending that let us down again and that's not gone away. See some of the laughable defending against Watford , Fulham and Burnley.

 

The slow starts to games were chucked at Puel and his training intensity, yet we've managed to let in a goal and get a man sent off within the first 5 minutes of two of his games. I think people need to face up to the fact that it wasn't all on Puel and that we do have issues with some of our players concentration.

 

We haven't put together a complete performance, another day we could have lost against Burnley quite easily. Deflected cross into our players path, penno not given, great save. But for some unreal finishing from Vardy (a man who has missed a shed load under Puel this season) we could have ended up drawing against Fulham, because they were on top for a period second half and we didn't look great. Watford was a crap performance as well.

 

There are some encouraging small signs, I think we'll be more open in attack and at least the entertainment value will go up and that was one of the biggest issues.

 

I'm looking forward to next season and I think he'll be great for us!!

 

My sentiments exactly, the biggest difference Rodgers will bring though is the attacking support. I can't forgive Puel for failing to fathom out that to break down stubborn defences you have to overload them with movement and attacking options. I can't work out whether it was his plan to remain cautious and slowly work the ball in and around the defences, probing for an opening or if the whole regime as well as the players ran out of ideas and the lack of movement kicked in as a result. The team stopped pressing long before Puel arrived, it seemed to be the biggest downfall for Ranieri and you're right that better teams will suss it out just like the lesser teams sussed out the pure counter attack and sat back. This is where you need a manager who simply won't be bogged down by the mistakes and failures and will keep his players all in on his methods and the team bond that is built. We will need many different ways to beat opposition and if Rodgers has learnt anything from what he's inherited here it's that we can dig in and be patient against the better teams, the in your face Leicester City will be ready to pounce. I welcome his statement that training will always be intense and hard so that when the players go out and play a match that autonomy kicks in, it makes a lot of sense, especially when you consider how lacklustre they appeared to be under Puel when starting games.

 

I think Rodgers is a very good coach and he already has the fans hanging off his every word, it seems the players too. You only have to see the celebrations of fringe players like Fuchs, Morgan and Okazaki when we have scored goals and they aren't on the pitch. Compare that with the bench vs Wolves away when emotion and passion should have been running high and Puel was out there on his own celebrating the comeback goals. Players have to motivate themselves and the only way you do that is by providing an environment that will make them want to, this is where I think Rodgers earns his bunce.

 

There is a lot to look forward to under Brendan, I hope it works out for him and us.

[Nick]

11 hours ago, murphy said:

This is very true.

 

I bought in to the Puel project.  I thought that slowly we would grow into the team and the system that he wanted.  Eventually.

 

I still think that there are things that we should be grateful to Puel for such as the recruitment and youth policy but the early signs under Rogers have shown me that I was wrong to want to persevere with Puel.

 

When we have one of the best strikers in the league, it was wrong not to play to his strengths and ask him to adapt to become a shadow of himself.  We have seen that we can still get him in behind with a possession side.  Wilf again is being utilised to his strengths as you say and we look like we have our edge back.

 

Puel was unlucky that he never got to use Tielemans and his reign was littered with individual errors that were hardly his fault, but overall, it was the right decision to let him go and I am feeling optimistic for next season.

Fair play. 

[Foxxed]

1 hour ago, murphy said:

 

I disagree with this.  Playing to JVs strengths is an early ball behind the defence because he is quick and can finish.  It is not to float a dozen crosses over 8 feet in the air.  Obvious really.

 

Wilf is a ball winner not a playmaker.  That's his game.

 

It is not a question of strengths that we have built up but playing to the natural attributes of the players we have.

If we always played to strengths we would have converted Chilwell into a winger this time last year when his defending was appalling. I'm not against playing to strengths but it must go hand in hand in pushing players out of their comfort zone and developing them - the same goes for our tactics.