Wilfred Ndidi

[Fox42]

Just now, moore_94 said:

Balls, will miss Leeds, Fulham, Wolves and possibly Brighton

 

 

Could’ve been so much worse. I’m more than happy with Mendy for those fixtures coming up.

[happy85]

Phew not bad at all 

[Simmo86]

Not the end of the world

 

He'll be back for Wolves

[StanSP]

Could have been worse. We will manage. 

 

[ParkerPen]

23 minutes ago, MGLCFC said:

Not appropriate. The bloke is being treated for cancer.

shit I didn't know - he was the first chap that came to mind when talking about inappropriately shoe horning defenders into midfield.

certainly wasn't meant to be inappropriate

[casablancas]

26 minutes ago, MGLCFC said:

Not appropriate. The bloke is being treated for cancer.

Probably more appropriate that the joke made in the post Everton match thread...

Edited 29 January 2021 by casablancas

[turlo]

10 days at the most is not too bad and could've been much worse. would be good if he's back for the wolves game, if not he'll be back for the liverpool game he following week

[ktfox59]

2 hours ago, ParkerPen said:

is Sol Bamba available ? 

Wtf?😡

[surrifox]

12 minutes ago, turlo said:

10 days at the most is not too bad and could've been much worse. would be good if he's back for the wolves game, if not he'll be back for the liverpool game he following week

I'm surprised it's only 10 days - tears are usually a bit problematic , but I expect if you're a super fit machine like our Wilf you just get on with it 

[AjcW]

Assume we will go back to a 5, which will also accommodate the re-integration of both Ricardo and Soyuncu into the starting line up.

 

Ricordo, Soyuncu, Evans/Fof, Justin, Castagne          

 

Could be worse couldn't it  

[Detroit Blues]

4 minutes ago, AjcW said:

Assume we will go back to a 5, which will also accommodate the re-integration of both Ricardo and Soyuncu into the starting line up.

 

Ricordo, Soyuncu, Evans/Fof, Justin, Castagne          

 

Could be worse couldn't it  

 

I think a back 3 makes sense vs Leeds, to allow our fullbacks to push upfield in an end-to-end game. I just wonder about whether Justin or Soyuncu makes more sense in that CB role. 

 

 

[AjcW]

1 minute ago, Detroit Blues said:

 

I think a back 3 makes sense vs Leeds, to allow our fullbacks to push upfield in an end-to-end game. I just wonder about whether Justin or Soyuncu makes more sense in that CB role. 

 

 

Yeah I was the same. I just can't take justin out of any line up, which is mental isn't it when you look at his competition on the wings  

[ParkerPen]

15 minutes ago, ktfox59 said:

Wtf?😡

yes - apologies for this I didn't realise he was ill

[Detroit Blues]

4 minutes ago, AjcW said:

Yeah I was the same. I just can't take justin out of any line up, which is mental isn't it when you look at his competition on the wings  

Totally agree. I don't think it makes sense, when healthy, to sit Ricardo, Castagne, Justin or Evans, Fofana, or Soyuncu. Yet we can't play with a back 6, so...

 

[Simonb]

9 minutes ago, Detroit Blues said:

 

I think a back 3 makes sense vs Leeds, to allow our fullbacks to push upfield in an end-to-end game. I just wonder about whether Justin or Soyuncu makes more sense in that CB role. 

 

 

personally id go with Timmy Soyuncu Evans Fofana Justin

 

Bring Riccy on for 30 mins second half, still think might be a bit too early to start him in a premier league game. Still a week or two away for me

 

Either that, or stick JJ up front so they all get a game 

 

[Lesterlad]

5 hours ago, fuchsntf said:

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....

Leave him alone he has feelings for Ndidi the likes we cant talk about before the 9pm watershed 

Edited 29 January 2021 by Lesterlad

[RowlattsFox]

Hopefully the Brighton game gives an opportunity to give some minutes to Ndidi and Vardy before the Liverpool game. 

[Lesterlad]

8 hours ago, deanolegend1989 said:

 

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.

 

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.

 

 

 

If I didn’t know better I would say you don’t like Mendy

[Tuna]

Quite a relief it's not a long term injury but does show how packed out schedule is that a 10 day injury rules him out of potentially 3 games.

[st albans fox]

3 hours ago, surrifox said:

I'm surprised it's only 10 days - tears are usually a bit problematic , but I expect if you're a super fit machine like our Wilf you just get on with it 

Brendan said a slight tear and 7/10 days out. I would have thought that would be the time for a strain. I’m thinking that ten days out is with no training at all so could be another week once back before he is able to play 

 

maybe back in Prague (but would they want him on a three hour flight and in freezing cold )  but I really doubt he will make Liverpool if it is a slight tear 

[deanolegend1989]

7 hours ago, HighPeakFox said:

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  

I will be disappointed but not suprised as it’s unlikely he will try anything out the ordinary. I don’t know how Fofana would work in that role but he has all the attributes to do it and would be worth a go, only Fofanas positioning and understanding would be the worry, but especially vs a team like Leeds, where it’s less about the shape and more gun ho, pace power speed type game that I believe his strengths would be better for this.

 

6 hours ago, Line-X said:

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. 

That’s my point though. Whether it’s a case of being pro Mendy or not, it’s pretty much accepted by everyone that he would struggle in a 433.

We are poor to watch in a 5 at the back. I understand why BR does it due to Mendys lack of quality to be a screener alone, but there’s no denying it goes against our strengths as a team in general and in the long term we will win some scrappy games occasionally and lose a lot more too. We play into teams hands. Fulham and Everton at home were absolutely the case of being beaten by awful performances from the opposition but they really didn’t even need to be good or get out of 1st gear due to how poor we were.

It’s no coincidence how much better we have been since in every single game. I’ve loved watching us play since Spurs away(Palace away being the exception, which coincidentally was when Wilf was out).

 

7 hours ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

@deanolegend1989 you're making some really interesting and well argued points, but the crux of it, that Mendy doesn't have an engine isn't true IMO.

The truth is closer to that he's an above average PL player in his position but he doesn't match up to Wilf in the same role, because we are spoilt with how good Wilf is.. the fact is, Mendy is the 2nd best in our squad to play the spoiler role and there is no shame in not being able to match Wilf's influence as he's one of the stand outs in the league.

I know that I’m being harsh on Mendy probably because I’m comparing him to 1 of the very best in the world and it’s unfair to expect him to be anywhere near that standard, however the problem is, we are going for top 4/title push. We are as good as anyone with our best 11 and we may never get a better chance.

Wilf, Tielemens and Fofana will probably not be here much longer , especially if we don’t get CL. Vardy, Kasper and Evans havnt got much longer left. This team and situation won’t be here much longer so we need to maximise our chance that I believe our quality should reach.

Chelsea, Arsenal and to a lesser extent Spurs are quite poor this year. Liverpool are a mile off what they were and Utd have some quality but some really poor squad players. Top 4 has to be achieved if we want to consistently challenge. I don’t want to be the nearly men like the Newcastle or Blackburn’s of the 90s that drop like a brick after a few years of being close.

 

We have 3 huge games that have got even tougher now.

We have a tough run of Liverpool, Villa and Arsenal after the next 3! If we drop lots of points here and then we get Vardy and Wilf back vs the better teams we could be on a bad run for 6 games!!

The next 3 we have to be getting 6/7 points absolutely minimum really. However with Mendy in I’m nowhere near as confident and

 

I’m expecting us to go on a bad run and then everyone will wonder why our team is suddenly sh*t.

 

[HighPeakFox]

2 minutes ago, deanolegend1989 said:

I will be disappointed but not suprised as it’s unlikely he will try anything out the ordinary. I don’t know how Fofana would work in that role but he has all the attributes to do it and would be worth a go, only Fofanas positioning and understanding would be the worry, but especially vs a team like Leeds, where it’s less about the shape and more gun ho, pace power speed type game that I believe his strengths would be better for this.

 

That’s my point though. Whether it’s a case of being pro Mendy or not, it’s pretty much accepted by everyone that he would struggle in a 433.

We are poor to watch in a 5 at the back. I understand why BR does it due to Mendys lack of quality to be a screener alone, but there’s no denying it goes against our strengths as a team in general and in the long term we will win some scrappy games occasionally and lose a lot more too. We play into teams hands. Fulham and Everton at home were absolutely the case of being beaten by awful performances from the opposition but they really didn’t even need to be good or get out of 1st gear due to how poor we were.

It’s no coincidence how much better we have been since in every single game. I’ve loved watching us play since Spurs away(Palace away being the exception, which coincidentally was when Wilf was out).

 

I know that I’m being harsh on Mendy probably because I’m comparing him to 1 of the very best in the world and it’s unfair to expect him to be anywhere near that standard, however the problem is, we are going for top 4/title push. We are as good as anyone with our best 11 and we may never get a better chance.

Wilf, Tielemens and Fofana will probably not be here much longer , especially if we don’t get CL. Vardy, Kasper and Evans havnt got much longer left. This team and situation won’t be here much longer so we need to maximise our chance that I believe our quality should reach.

Chelsea, Arsenal and to a lesser extent Spurs are quite poor this year. Liverpool are a mile off what they were and Utd have some quality but some really poor squad players. Top 4 has to be achieved if we want to consistently challenge. I don’t want to be the nearly men like the Newcastle or Blackburn’s of the 90s that drop like a brick after a few years of being close.

 

We have 3 huge games that have got even tougher now.

We have a tough run of Liverpool, Villa and Arsenal after the next 3! If we drop lots of points here and then we get Vardy and Wilf back vs the better teams we could be on a bad run for 6 games!!

The next 3 we have to be getting 6/7 points absolutely minimum really. However with Mendy in I’m nowhere near as confident and

 

I’m expecting us to go on a bad run and then everyone will wonder why our team is suddenly sh*t.

 

Cheer up mate, it needn't necessarily all go pear-shaped  

[Dahnsouff]

Would imagine that when we are thrown issues like this, and we are on a good run, Brendan would prefer to change as little as possible. 
we can tweak our system to offer support for whoever deputises for Wilf, but go back to basics seems a bit rash.

Same sort of deal with not having Barnes deputise for Vardy.

[deanolegend1989]

9 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

Cheer up mate, it needn't necessarily all go pear-shaped  

I really hope your right but It will be a huge struggle I fear.
I think at least 1 of the next 3 games will be us conceding first and looking like we can’t get score even if we played for a week. This happens every time so can’t help but think it.

Would be happily proven wrong.

 

I will say this though, without JV, EVEN if Mendy plays I’d rather us stick in a 433, despite the risk of pressure on us.

I don’t think I can bare 5 at the back and Mendy ‘shadowing’.

Tielemens having to control everything, Madders being icolated, Barnes running trying to hard because teams can sit deeper and double up on him easier, and worst ever Perez in that role of plucking something out of nothing!!

I mean that is so painful, and whilst I don’t care if we scramble wins until Wilf/JV is back, we’re more likely not going to if we’re relying on knicking wins riding out luck like vs Wolves and Arsenal.

[HighPeakFox]

Just now, deanolegend1989 said:

I really hope your right but It will be a huge struggle I fear.
I think at least 1 of the next 3 games will be us conceding first and looking like we can’t get score even if we played for a week. This happens every time so can’t help but think it.

Would be happily proven wrong.

 

I will say this though, without JV, EVEN if Mendy plays I’d rather us stick in a 433, despite the risk of pressure on us.

I don’t think I can bare 5 at the back and Mendy ‘shadowing’.

Tielemens having to control everything, Madders being icolated, Barnes running trying to hard because teams can sit deeper and double up on him easier, and worst ever Perez in that role of plucking something out of nothing!!

I mean that is so painful, and whilst I don’t care if we scramble wins until Wilf/JV is back, we’re more likely not going to if we’re relying on knicking wins riding out luck like vs Wolves and Arsenal.

I would have thought 5atb to be highly unlikely.