What is happening???

[Bevan]

I am seriously concerned about our form now but I just can’t put my finger on why we have become so poor. I refuse to believe it is fatigue. They had two weeks off not long ago. Have teams sussed us out? Is something not right behind the scenes? There must be a reason for such a nosedive in form

[Aus Fox]

Personal thought is pure confidence, before Christmas we were winning every week. Even in games like Everton where we maybe weren’t the best side.

Then getting rolled by Liverpool and Man City and players knew they weren’t quite as good as they thought.

They haven’t recovered since.

[old koppite]

Think it was my fault. First time I’ve been in a few seasons. Sorry . 

[Stadt]

Lack of movement and invention, we're not moving the ball well centrally. When was the last time Tielemans and Maddison ran a game apart from West Ham?

[Albert]

1 hour ago, Bevan said:

I am seriously concerned about our form now but I just can’t put my finger on why we have become so poor. I refuse to believe it is fatigue. They had two weeks off not long ago. Have teams sussed us out? Is something not right behind the scenes? There must be a reason for such a nosedive in form

It’s called the Wilfred Ndidi effect 

[Stadt]

1 minute ago, Albert said:

It’s called the Wilfred Ndidi effect 

Too simplistic. Our attacking play is terrible and he isn't the difference in that regard 

[DerbyshireFox]

7 minutes ago, Stadt said:

Too simplistic. Our attacking play is terrible and he isn't the difference in that regard 

True in a sense, but his presence and ability to win the ball gives Maddison and Tielemans licence to move up the pitch where they can influence the game better

[urban.spaceman]

I found a hole in my lucky pants and I’m worried it’s getting bigger. 

[deep blue]

10 hours ago, Albert said:

It’s called the Wilfred Ndidi effect 

Our form degraded a long time before Ndidi's absence, though it hasn't helped. Several players have been discussed as suffering from a lack of confidence. Another theme is the lack of captains on the pitch, and I certainly think that's showing - for example when our goal was disallowed last night and even more so after their goal. We need one or two players who can grab the team and the game by the scruff of the neck and drive them on.

[Gubbins]

There's multiple reasons but a big one for me is we are way too reliant on younger players who are naturally gonna be inconsistent and don't have the experience or mentality/bottle to pull themselves out of this nosedive. Not dissimilar to Spurs over the past few seasons who would have plenty of good young players and would inevitably bottle it when the crunch came. I know there are many Foxestalk posters wedded to the idea that we should only sign youngsters and that any player over 27 is past it or not value for money but more good quality experience in the squad would go a long way right now.

Edited 29 February 2020 by Gubbins

[Dan LCFC]

Can't even put it all on Ndidi being out now. We were equally as awful with him on - arguably even worse though I don't blame him as he's clearly not the issue.

[hackenbacker]

What a great start to my weekend......

I bet I catch coronavirus now too. WHAT IS HAPPENING?????????

[nnfox]

The players need to get their focus back.  At the beginning of the season they were itching to get going, see what they could achieve.  During the first half of the season it went better than they thought and I genuinely think that some of them, maybe just three or four of them, thought that they'd "made it" and could cruise the rest of the season.  They've let their standards drop and the team has suffered.  Getting those high standards back is difficult.

 

It's the old adage, it's difficult to get to the top, but it's even harder to stay there.

[Mike Oxlong]

We’re lacking intensiteee

[Gamble92]

1 hour ago, Dan LCFC said:

Can't even put it all on Ndidi being out now. We were equally as awful with him on - arguably even worse though I don't blame him as he's clearly not the issue.

Did you actually log on to type that cos it was as worthwhile as Ndid coming on

[foxfan92]

I think the players are becoming overwhelmed by the number of almost identical threads that keep emerging on foxestalk.

[Matt]

We've been sussed out.

 

However I made the point the other week, why do we seem to be the only team that always seems to be worked out?

 

The counter attacking style or style we won the league with 'got found out' so we had to change, fine, i understand that and as much I despise the shitty style I do understand there is a time and a place for this god awful passive shit, pissing about with it at the back, sideways and backwards passes, what I don't understand and what drives me up the wall is the insistance that it's the only way to play. Add a few strings to your bow, mix it up, play in several styles that change - even during games!!

 

We are so predictable.

 

So, we got found out playing in an effective style, counter attacking, or at least moving the ball forward with speed, it got found out - we changed.

 

This shitty passive style has never been effective, ever, and we've been found out, so when do win bin it off? Because it better be sooner rather than later.

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

Also this is a young team - who will be inconsistent. Everyone is inconsistent this season, apart from Liverpool. No reason to panic.

[kristianity77]

Thing is this nice patient passing play at the back waiting for openings is all well and good if you have world class players in multiple positions who can spot the gaps, make the runs or have the skill to take players out of the game to create openings. We don't.  So we pass the ball around he back with no idea as to what we are doing.  Then when a pass is spotted, it's likely to be under or over weighted, telegraphed or simply off target.  Or if a player makes a run, it's not spotted etc.  It just constantly leads to something that looks disjointed and lacking in ideas. 

 

When we slowly play around with the ball at the back all its doing is giving the opposition time to get themselves sorted and take a breather as a bonus because they know we very rarely will work anything of note from that passage of play because we don't have the players to do so anywhere near regular enough. It's absolutely horrible to watch

Edited 29 February 2020 by kristianity77

[Hammo]

Too many players are off form at the same time - and have been for a while. And, worse, they don’t seem - visibly at least - to care about our Champions League aspirations slowly evaporating. Certainly not as much as we do.

 

Who, apart from Evans, looks like they actually give a shit? Where’s the fight, the steel, the anger, the bloody effort?? The likes of Barnes, Maddison, Perez and especially Chilwell come across as lily-livered and half-hearted buck-passers when things are not going well. Someone needs to give them a kick up the proverbial.

[Matt]

19 minutes ago, bmouth_fox said:

Also this is a young team - who will be inconsistent. Everyone is inconsistent this season, apart from Liverpool. No reason to panic.

I think we've been consistent all season, there has been a switch but we were fairly consistent before December and fairly consistent since, make of that what you will.
 

18 minutes ago, kristianity77 said:

Thing is this nice patient passing play at the back waiting for openings is all well and good if you have world class players in multiple positions who can spot the gaps, make the runs or have the skill to take players out of the game to create openings. We don't.  So we pass the ball around he back with no idea as to what we are doing.  Then when a pass is spotted, it's likely to be under or over weighted, telegraphed or simply off target.  Or if a player makes a run, it's not spotted etc.  It just constantly leads to something that looks disjointed and lacking in ideas. 

 

When we slowly play around with the ball at the back all its doing is giving the opposition time to get themselves sorted and take a breather as a bonus because they know we very rarely will work anything of note from that passage of play because we don't have the players to do so anywhere near regular enough. It's absolutely horrible to watch

There is absolutely nothing 'nice' about it. Not one thing about it.

 

It's like we're trying to be Man City and bore the opposition into submission except it doesn't work because we're not very good at it but the point remains it's a boring style.

 

Edited 29 February 2020 by Matt

[PaddyS]

We should have kept Nacho in the team 6-7 games ago when he was playing well, linking up with Vardy and the other attacking players, and scoring and assisting. It was giving us a new dynamic and was giving our other players different options. It was freshening us up at just the right time, but instead we took him out and went back to looking a bit stale and uncreative.

[Happy Fox]

When we were intensive with and without the ball we looked like title winners but alas that style of play has regressed some watch the way we are playing is quite turgid now and players aren’t producing the goods. Brendan needs to do something, this passing game every side has sussed us out

[Plastik Man]

2 hours ago, Mike Oxlong said:

We’re lacking intensiteee

And mentaliteee

[Always Next Year]

Last night we where taking between 15 and 25 touches to even get in the Norwich box, when they had the ball it too them as little as 5 touches before our keeper was having to make a save.

What dose that tell you about our style of play!!!!!!!