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StriderHiryu

Wilfred Ndidi

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19 hours ago, FOXSE said:

It's amazing how people say that they can't believe we lost to the likes of Fulham,  villa, west ham and Everton at home. Go and have a look at the line ups.  Go and look at our results when we have two preferred Centre backs (2 out of Evans,  Fofana or soyuncu) with ndidi and tielemans ahead of them. Ndidi enables so much.

 

Really happy with how mendy has done,  but ndidi is very important. 

 

20 hours ago, martyn said:

If we are going to play 4-3-3, then Ndidi is that important, it's as clear as day. His qualities allow Maddison and Tielemans to do damage further up the pitch, whilst reducing the threat of getting exposed on the counter like we have done in our worst performances so far this season.

 

Mendy is a very valuable player for the squad, and I was a vocal advocate of him staying when many were saying we should get rid, but he lacks mobility and the ability to disrupt play. What he is good at is retaining possession under pressure. Whilst he played well when he came on, I wouldn't put too much stock in Mendy's overall influence last night, Everton had 2 statues in central midfield and didn't have the legs to pressure us enough to turn over the ball in dangerous areas.

 

We got to 3rd whilst Ndidi and others were out by often reverting to 5 at the back and looking to soak up pressure and hit on the break - Mendy played an important role in that, especially away from home - but i wouldn't want to rely on him too much as the sole screener/protector of a back 4.

 

 

These posts are both on the lines of how I see it. The bits in bold are very much spot on for me.

 

I know it’s quite a common thing I hear on this site about how Mendy ‘recycles possession’ or he’s been ‘a valuable back up’ and all other throw away comments and rolled out cliches, but the reality it, that the stats and performances suggest he limits us in a way that Wilf doesn’t.

In a back 4 it’ll be very tough always with Mendy as @martyn also stated above. He’s not good enough to be a sole screener/protector and I also mentioned it often in the past how we get run over nearly every game, even in games we won like Wolves(H).

 

@martyn also wrote(the bit I highlighted in italics), is on the nail. I heard people say he’s ‘waspish’ but again he doesn’t harass anyone. He just stands off and ‘shadows’ people and doesn’t break up play. We’re too easy to play against with him as Wilf is horrible to play against.

 

We were SO much better than Everton, yet we still looked vulnerable as **** near the end because of how open we looked and a team with more ambition would counter us hard in the future. Everton were very defensive and lacked Docoure and Allan in the middle.

 

If Mendy plays and we play a 4 we’ll lose a lot of games and be inconsistent and will get nowhere near the top 4 imo. We have to play 5 at the back and change the entire system to cope as much because he hasn’t got the engine to get around the park. However doing this makes us horrible to watch and lack of creativity going forward.
It’s no coincidence we have come from behind vs Utd Everton Burnley and Palace in a 433 but with 5 at the back only a freak City game have we came back, with a gift of a pen and a hugely weak city team has it happened.

5 at the back = score first or it’s over.

This would be EVEN more the case now we havnt got Vardy as the lone forward as he often was the key to ‘knicking’ a sh*those win with these tactics by his clinical finishing and pulling defences around with his threat.
With Perez or Nacho? Not anywhere near the same threat. Which would mean that we need our midfield to join attacks even more than usual and 5 at the back would be absolutely shocking for this.

 

We will see if the next 3 or so games we really need 7/9 points minimum to push hard for top 4. Without Wilf, I could see us getting 4 absolutely max and that’s not good enough. The longer Mendy is in over Wilf the more we’ll drop points and the same people will still say ‘how come we have played so well and then lose to Leeds/Fulham/Wolves’ as if they don’t see the line up and wonder why...

 

If Wilf is out, I would try Fofana next to Tielemens and Soyuncu and Evans at CB vs Leeds. Leeds have so much energy, we will get slammed by them with Mendy in a 433.

Fofana has the engine, physicality and height to battle in the middle better and it also gets Soyuncu and Evans behind them but not so deep in a 5 at the back system.

It also gives us extra height for set pieces that we’ll miss.

 

21 hours ago, Sampson said:

He's only played half our league games this season - and 3 more at centre back - in total about 7.5 of our 20 PL games this season have had Ndidi playing as a defensive midfielder for us - and we're 3rd in the league.

Don't get me wrong, we do look better with Ndidi in the team and he's an important player for us, but this idea that he's our most important player and we're nothing without him and will tumble down the league has been shown to be rubbish already this season. 

We looked fine with Mendy earlier in the season. We'll cope fine for a few weeks with Ndidi out again as well. We're not going to suddenly be "nowhere near the top 6" without him - people used to say the same about Ricardo being out as well and we coped fine without either.

The games with Wilf in DM we have looked fantastic nearly every game. Unbeaten and only vs Utd have we not won. 8 wins 1 draw 0 losses

With Mendy we are a shadow of the team. The City game was a freak, they were super weak at the time No Diaz, Laporte, Stones, Aguero, Jesus and Fernandinho taken off just after HT. We also were losing 1-0 and could of been 2/3 and then got given a ridiculous penalty from a nothing situation that changed the game. That game was probably the biggest freak of this premier league season so far.

Other than that, a decent performance vs Leeds aside, we have looked like a huge struggle with him in the team.

We scraped past a poor off form arsenal team who had a goal wrongly disallowed, Wolves was painful to watch and got run over all game by a poor wolves team this year, lucky we got an early pen to sit deep.

I won’t even mention his shocking performances vs West Ham, Villa, Liverpool, Everton and Fulham where he looked painfully out of his depth in every single one of them.

 

Ndidi is our most important player or without a doubt in the top 2. Youri is arguably the only other choice for this debate. Without either or both of these 2, we are very much a mid table team with the likes of Arsenal Southampton etc. We can easily drop to 9/10th and these 2 are the reasons we have a little edge in quality in terms of where we are in the table.

 

 

 

Edited by deanolegend1989
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18 hours ago, les-tah said:

I’m not one for putting square pegs in round holes but how do we think Fofana would fair in a DM role if Mendy/Ndidi was injured?

He apparently used to play there and reads the game incredibly well. Like I say I’m not trying to change his position just wondered how we thought he could do.

Yes. I’d love to see him in there this weekend if Wilf isn’t available!

 

Kasper

Castange Soyuncu Evans Justin

             Fofana Tielemens

                 Maddison

       Under Nacho Barnes

 

Would love to see that team if Wilfs sadly out. 

Edited by deanolegend1989
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8 minutes ago, Bptiger said:

I think if u put fofana into the midfield in front of Mendy u my wreck his confidence, not saying fofana wouldn’t do a good job , but mendy has done a great job , he deserves his chance

Think for Leeds energy and fitness levels , in a 433, Itll be another one of those games we get run over. Fofana would be a better choice.

 

Going to 5 at the back would also lose all our momentum.

We were in trouble going into the Spurs game if we lost, we went back to 433 and have pulled clear because of it.
 

Let’s not go back to scrambling with 5 at the back(even worse with no JV) and limiting the potential of this team...

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If Wilf is out, there's no way he's going to not play Mendy, in much the same way as he's not going to stick Under up front. Fofana has played every minute he's been on at CB, and if this were remotely a plan, he could have tried it out on Wednesday when Wilf went off. 

 

I look forward to being quoted to death when he does both, of course... 

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2 hours ago, deanolegend1989 said:

Yes. I’d love to see him in there this weekend if Wilf isn’t available!

 

Kasper

Castange Soyuncu Evans Justin

             Fofana Tielemens

                 Maddison

       Under Nacho Barnes

 

Would love to see that team if Wilfs sadly out. 

I wouldnt..!!

Fofana is a CB...!!

 

You carry on having a downer on Mendy....Makes for Light hearted reading when I get up in the morning....

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13 minutes ago, GorlestonFox said:

Fofana in CDM instead of Mendy?

 

It's 10am and I've had enough foxestalk for the day.

In defence of Deano.... he argues his case well - he just would rather play anyone in midfield than Mendy. Look beyond that and there's a man who clearly thinks about his football and is passionate about Leicester too. I just worry that he will be constantly disappointed, as BR isn't taking his advice regarding CDM :) 

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4 minutes ago, Peckfortonfox said:

Ricardo could do a job

great at recovering the ball

can pick a pass

can beat his man

Great idea 😂..

He's just coming back from a long term, serious injury..so let's play him in a demanding position that he's never played in before 😂😂

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3 hours ago, deanolegend1989 said:

Think for Leeds energy and fitness levels , in a 433, Itll be another one of those games we get run over. Fofana would be a better choice.

 

Going to 5 at the back would also lose all our momentum.

We were in trouble going into the Spurs game if we lost, we went back to 433 and have pulled clear because of it.
 

Let’s not go back to scrambling with 5 at the back(even worse with no JV) and limiting the potential of this team...

The 'five' at the back, was basically three centrebacks - actually, two CBs (and one converted full back) and a wing back system, as opposed to a flat five. To reiterate, this was a makeshift formation was effected in the absence of half our defence and our first choice DM who excels at breaking up play and winning the ball. Brendan's preferred tactic is four at the back, but he did not have the available and preferred personnel to set up that way. 

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On 28/01/2021 at 09:21, Lesterlad said:

He has played really well since coming back and is quality. 
But there will be someone on here having a melt down if Wilf is out for more then an hour. 

Glad we have Mendy as a replacement though

The reality is that, in the Prem, your weaknesses will be found out - physical and technical. That Wilf is so good is the proverbial double-edged sword. He's picked up one serious injury and it appears that he's not fully recovered. The necessity has been to get him back doing his remarkable job, but it risks these 'niggles' (if it be a niggle). And every player at his level and unexpendability (?) in every team either bidding for a CL or EL place or fighting relegation is going to be called upon to give more than the doctor ordered.

Mendy has begun to impress me - there's no sulking or moping about the guy. He's stepped up to try to fill that gap.

While 'deanolegend' has pointed out N'Didi's vital part in this campaign and bemoaned Mendy as his substitute, injuries are always going to happen. Had we N'Golo as backup then wouldn't everything be tickety-boo? But nobody is going to like playing reserve when they know they're good enough to be first pick - a problem BR now has with Cags and li'l Wes. So we adjust and we're a good enough outfit to keep on getting results while Wilf is out. Someone suggested putting li'l Wes in that role yet I suspect 'Mr. Do-it-all' might make a fist of it. Stick Ricky on the right and Castagne on the left. Are you listening Bren?

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53 minutes ago, gerblod said:

The reality is that, in the Prem, your weaknesses will be found out - physical and technical. That Wilf is so good is the proverbial double-edged sword. He's picked up one serious injury and it appears that he's not fully recovered. The necessity has been to get him back doing his remarkable job, but it risks these 'niggles' (if it be a niggle). And every player at his level and unexpendability (?) in every team either bidding for a CL or EL place or fighting relegation is going to be called upon to give more than the doctor ordered.

Mendy has begun to impress me - there's no sulking or moping about the guy. He's stepped up to try to fill that gap.

While 'deanolegend' has pointed out N'Didi's vital part in this campaign and bemoaned Mendy as his substitute, injuries are always going to happen. Had we N'Golo as backup then wouldn't everything be tickety-boo? But nobody is going to like playing reserve when they know they're good enough to be first pick - a problem BR now has with Cags and li'l Wes. So we adjust and we're a good enough outfit to keep on getting results while Wilf is out. Someone suggested putting li'l Wes in that role yet I suspect 'Mr. Do-it-all' might make a fist of it. Stick Ricky on the right and Castagne on the left. Are you listening Bren?

I am very positive about mendy's

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4 minutes ago, Strokes said:

Mendy has been nothing short of outstanding in filling in for N’didi whilst he has been injured this season. 
Brendan Rodgers will have no hesitation in putting him into that slot and rightly so.

Yes I agree, horses for courses. No one could really argue about all that's been said about how important Ndidi is to us. The problem is, he's probably one of the very best in the Premiership at what he does so no matter who covered for him, they're unfortunately never going to come up to standard, only Kante as someone mentioned comes close. Mendy has been excellent as cover but could never be a replacement and it's unrealistic to expect him to be. He is however good and very experienced in that position so, to suddenly expect a young untried Fofana to step into a very specialised unfamiliar position and be better than Mendy seems a very big ask and equally as unrealistic. Whilst it may be quite wrong to judge all centre halves as big and lumbering, just because we've seen the likes of Fofana, Soyuncu and Maguire venture forward with the ball, it doesn't necessarily equate to the fact that they'd be that good in another quite specialised role, mobility being a key issue. I've heard some very decent professional centre halves  in the past like John Terry say that is can even be quite difficult to change from a left sided centre half to a right sided one so, using that maxim, a change to a completely different role into midfield at the highest level is surely too much of a risk. I doubt Rodgers would even consider such an idea.

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