West Ham (H) pre match

[Ricey]

Pretty clear we play better with a back 4, but our ineffective wide players have been the issue. I'd be tempted to try something new:

 

Schmeichel

 

Justin - Evans - Soyuncu - Chilwell

 

Tielemens - Praet

 

Ricardo          Maddison        Barnes

 

Vardy

 

Not keen on Tielemens and Praet together, but Hamza and Mendy have offered little in the last couple of matches and it feels like playing around the press is going to the name of the game for a few weeks at least.

 

Alternatively I'd be tempted to put Albrighton in, if only for his energy and the fact he doesn't dwell on the ball like Perez and Gray.

[StanSP]

David Coote is ref. Same ref we had for the December game as well as the Huddersfield victories last season and the Fulham games. 

 

Interesting to note that the 4th official is Jarred Gillett from Australia. Done a lot of EFL games this season and now stepping up to PL games... 

[Finnegan]

I'm so bored of reading stupid suggestions on here that call for us dropping our best players. 

 

We have no depth. It's time for people to just accept an off form Tielemans or Maddison is still better than Praet or Mendy. 

 

Our best players need to play whenever they're fit, how anyone can watch our last two games and not realise our first choice midfield is completely irreplaceable is beyond me. 

 

What does benching Madders achieve? You "put a rocket up his arse", we lose without him, it just reinforces any belief he may have had* that he's undroppable anyway. 

 

 

 

(*complete and total guess work from bored Internet trolls assassinating the character of a young guy anyway.)

[Dahnsouff]

 

Well, even their fans can see the 3 mile wide chink in our armour. 

 

Head down bums up again

[mabrah]

12 hours ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

Ok. Thanks for lecturing me about my own team.

It's called fansplaining. 

[foxfanazer]

Maybe some have started to believe their own hype but that's on Brendan to cut that out. These are the same players that have got us into this position so it's not a question of quality

[MC Prussian]

Can the team please put in a shift again? We've looked mostly disinterested and careless as of late. Sharpness gone astray for some odd reason.

 

Would the midfield please turn up once more? Maddison and Tielemans have had little impact in the past few matches. Maddison especially has come across as a little bit too greedy lately.

 

Will Chilwell be able to focus on his defensive duties again?

 

Can we stop giving the ball away so cheaply? It's become really infuriating how carelessly we lose possession because our players have ceased to think about their teammates and are much more easily put under pressure.

 

Who can replace Ndidi better for the time being? Choudhury or Mendy? I'd tend to agree with the latter.

 

Can our manager find a way out of the current malaise with regards to us faltering when opposing teams use pressing against us? Our gameplan has been very stale, the manager practically unable to cope with a change of tactics since mid-December.

 

Will the real Jamie Vardy please make a comeback? The penalty against Burnley was a pathetic excuse for a dead-ball situation. No goals in the past three matches. Eek.

 

Can we address all these problems looking ahead to Wednesday's game? We shall see...

Edited 20 January 2020 by MC Prussian

[Deeg67]

17 hours ago, hejammy said:

Drop Madders for YT for him to play number 10 role and have Praet at the bottom of the diamond. Vardy and Nacho as a 2 upfront. Gray and Albrighton wide 

I like this, except the Gray and Albrighton part.  Youri has had a couple of games to rest and feel slighted, and he should come back with a chip on his shoulder.  Praet has certainly done enough to stay out there.  Maddison has been mediocre for a few weeks now and it wouldn't be the worst thing to give him the same chance to reset Tielemans has had.

 

I think Kelechi up front should be a given - he's the most in-form attacker we have.  We're not getting enough from the wide players anyway so the formation needs to change.  Barnes was pretty decent yesterday but Perez simply doesn't work on the wing. 

Edited 20 January 2020 by Deeg67

[mabrah]

18 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Well, even their fans can see the 3 mile wide chink in our armour. 

Yep, it's been leaked. I blame whats-his-face of wherever-it-is.

 

Rodgers likes to play front foot. High intensity, press and possession based. We thought our problem was unlocking defences that sat deep - and 1st half of the season we seemed only to be getting to grips with that. Then someone rumbled us (either by chance or design) Turns out that if teams turn the tables on us and press back, and higher, then we're struggling. We no longer have the space and time for our clever midfield youngsters to do their thing. Almost as if tactically we've only ever worked on trying to break the lines and get behind a parked defence.  This has been further exacerbated by Ndidi's absense, and our lack of midfield fight and bite is exposed.

 

Maybe a clever window signing would be a battle hardened defensive midfielder, both for the experience they possess and the control they can exercise. 

Edited 20 January 2020 by mabrah

[Katy]

25 minutes ago, mabrah said:

Yep, it's been leaked. I blame whats-his-face of wherever-it-is.

 

Rodgers likes to play front foot. High intensity, press and possession based. We thought our problem was unlocking defences that sat deep - and 1st half of the season we seemed only to be getting to grips with that. Then someone rumbled us (either by chance or design) Turns out that if teams turn the tables on us and press back, and higher, then we're struggling. We no longer have the space and time for our clever midfield youngsters to do their thing. Almost as if tactically we've only ever worked on trying to break the lines and get behind a parked defence.  This has been further exacerbated by Ndidi's absense, and our lack of midfield fight and bite is exposed.

 

Maybe a clever window signing would be a battle hardened defensive midfielder, both for the experience they possess and the control they can exercise. 

Completely agree with the last bit particularly. I wasn’t mad keen on the guy but remember what happened when we signed Cambiasso during the Great Escape season?

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, StanSP said:

David Coote is ref. Same ref we had for the December game as well as the Huddersfield victories last season and the Fulham games. 

 

Interesting to note that the 4th official is Jarred Gillett from Australia. Done a lot of EFL games this season and now stepping up to PL games... 

If you want to see why VAR works, then watch the video from this mans games. Excellent.

[lcfcsnow]

I hope the light show curse isn't planned again.

[ARM1968]

I think we should play Nacho in the 10 role myself. Other than that I’m pretty much Brendan - at a loss. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Not looking forward to this at all. We're so easy to play against at the moment, Moyes just needs to whip his lads up in the dressing room and get them stuck into us and we're in big trouble. Antonio against Chilwell gives me the fear.

 

The place will be absolutely toxic if we're not winning at half time. Someone in another thread said we're dangerously close to replicating the feeling of the end of the Puel era at home games at the moment, they weren't wrong. 

 

Worried on and off the pitch 

[RowlattsFox]

I worry about set pieces again with these, especially if Snodgrass plays. Kasper either stays on his line and players are winning headers on the 6 yard line or he comes out and gets no where near it. We only have Evans and Soyuncu who can attack the ball. We need to gamble and leave a couple forward, probably our best chance of scoring at other end too.

 

[StanSP]

29 minutes ago, Ashley said:

If you want to see why VAR works, then watch the video from this mans games. Excellent.

Yep, I watch A-League and he was one of the best refs there. Hopefully he can bring some of the good stuff here! 

[Suffolk exile]

Typically the wisdom is that when a team hits poor form, work rate needs to be upped. As I said in another thread, we lack press and intensity. If we are not able to play the expansive football we want (and were playing), then we need to become hard to beat.

At the moment, if things are not going our way we seem to become despondent and lacklustre. Obviously it is easier to press and work hard when you are on top and winning - but we need to get this back and then the results will start to come. We are too easy to turn over. That has to change. 

Edited 20 January 2020 by Suffolk exile

[Guest]

BR tried to make a point dropping Hamza and Ben. He ****ed up! 

 

Neither should have been dropped.

 

Those calling for Maddison to be dropped are even crazier, without him we will create nothing. He's our most important player.

 

Iheanacho should be in for Perez.

[mabrah]

28 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

The place will be absolutely toxic if we're not winning at half time. Someone in another thread said we're dangerously close to replicating the feeling of the end of the Puel era at home games at the moment, they weren't wrong. 

That worries me too. I haven't been to the King Power for many years but I think there's perhaps a new breed of supporter there that turns quite quickly. That said, just watching on the box, the comparison with the final days of the Puel era is there to be seen. In our bid to maintain possession, we do opt for safety with many a square/backwards pass when there's seemingly nothing on ahead.

 

Personally, I think that's one of the disadvantages of the high press game; it compresses both the defence and the space available to exploit. Man City can do it (though even they have their off days) because they have the calibre of players that can find the space. We're not quite in that league, though we try. That's why I feel it's better for us to allow teams to come at us a little, so they leave the space in behind, but we need then to be able to fight more for the ball in the midfield to effectuate the turnover. That's why we miss Ndidi; he's so effective in breaking up attacks and winning the ball back. 

 

Tbh, I thought the Burnley game was shaping up to be exactly the kind of game we needed to win, and at half-time I was optimistic. If we could have weathered their storm and converted the chances we were getting then I thought it'd be a real morale boosting win. Wasn't to be though. 

[Gazza M]

Can Kasper actually come off his line and catch some crosses?!!!

 

Sick of flappy punch rubbish he was doing yesterday. 

[Ric Flair]

4-3-3 with Iheanacho or Gray in for Perez and Tielemans back in for Praet

 

Schmeichel

 

Ricardo

Evans

Soyuncu

Fuchs

 

Tielemans

Choudhury

Maddison

 

Iheanacho

Vardy

Barnes

[tickler28]

                    Schmeichel

Justin.    Soyuncu.  Morgan.    Chilwell

Gray.Tielemans.Choudhury. Albrighton

                       Maddison

                       Iheanacho

 

Subs:

Vardy

Fuchs

Benkovic

Praet

Mendy

Ward

Barnes

 

This gives us 8 fresh starters and is still a strong side with quality on the bench

Edited 20 January 2020 by tickler28

[KrefelderFox666]

1 hour ago, FIF said:

BR tried to make a point dropping Hamza and Ben. He ****ed up! 

 

Neither should have been dropped.

 

Those calling for Maddison to be dropped are even crazier, without him we will create nothing. He's our most important player.

 

Iheanacho should be in for Perez.

Disagree with your first bit. Chilwell and Hamza were poor last game and Fuchs and Mendy are more than worthy replacements. Fuchs gives Barnes a bit more stability and confidence when he plays. Mendy just had an average game, he was good against West Ham in December.

 

Agree with Perez and Iheanacho swap. And as I said above, the other change would be to get Choudhury back in for Mendy for this one.

[Pliskin]

1 hour ago, FIF said:

BR tried to make a point dropping Hamza and Ben. He ****ed up! 

 

Neither should have been dropped.

 

Those calling for Maddison to be dropped are even crazier, without him we will create nothing. He's our most important player.

 

Iheanacho should be in for Perez.

This is bollocks.... Ben was so bad against Southampton there was absolutely no was he should have played this weekend, he has been poor for weeks and weeks and simply had to be omitted, he was becoming a liability. As for Hamza, he is great as an individual, but he is far too naive to play the role he is being asked to do, his need to chase after the ball leaves us open in midfield and makes it easy for teams to play around us. 

 

Mendy wasn't actually that bad so i'd leave him in if WIlf is not available, our main issue this weekend was in front of goal, we created a few decent chances and the finishing was woeful, Maddison firmly in that category. Maddison needs to learn to stay on his feet, he was embarrassing at times at the weekend and he is better than that and needs to start showing it again. 

[Guesty]

10 hours ago, volpeazzurro said:

Think we've learned that that formation isn't working for us. In particular look at Chilwells last performance. He has pace and runs from deep but in that advanced position he doesn't/can't take anyone one on and just passes back and slows things down. Fuchs is a liability at centre half and always has been, gave two goals away in champions league by losing his man and hasn't improved either.

Don't think 3-5-2 is that confusing or out of the box. We used it against Newcastle at the start of the month and won 3-0. Against Villa we drew in the cup with 70% possession and 21 shots (if we'd started Iheanacho we might have scored more). We also revert to it mid-game sometimes. It's not perfect, but let's not say it hasn't worked recently.

 

Chilwell's struggled defensively recently so it gives him a bit more protection. 

 

I wouldn't call Fuchs a liability at centre half. He did fine against Newcastle.

 

This formation is more just to get Iheanacho in the team and to help Vardy. I'd have maybe gone with the diamond if Chilwell hadn't looked like he'd lost confidence recently. Sometimes it's just worth trying something different.

Edited 20 January 2020 by Guesty