Leicester 0-2 Man Utd post match

[Beechey]

3 hours ago, Mapperleyfox said:

Anyone else annoyed Rodgers spoke about 'getting to the last drinks break'?

 

Why not go for it early doors, try to get in front and then maybe shutting up shop instead of having a strategy of throwing the kitchen sink at them in the last 20 minutes?

 

Very strange attitude, and it's concerning he's almost grateful to be on level terms with these teams. I think it breeds an inferiority complex that we can't compete when it should be the opposite, at least give it a go and show no respect, even if you end up losing.

Nah, not really.

Ideally, you want us to go flying out of the blocks, but United have shown they're one of the best counter attacking teams in Europe.

 

I reckon the tactic was to get to HT/drinks break, see how Chelsea were doing, then if needs be, go all in.

This was a game we couldn't lose, so there were permutations where a draw could have been useful.

[CosbehFox]

4 minutes ago, Guest said:

He can't win at the moment. I get why people are annoyed with him and the team but anything he says or does is picked apart and used against him. If we'd have gone out yesterday guns blazing and tried to kill them in the first ten minutes against one of the best counter attacking teams in the league it'd be "typical naive Rodgers, can't adapt, too stubborn, not pragmatic enough."

Unpopular opinion - I actually don’t think we’ve been that bad recently - just prone to twenty minutes spells of madness 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

10 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Unpopular opinion - I actually don’t think we’ve been that bad recently - just prone to twenty minutes spells of madness 

We've been awful. Think about the last 3 defeats - Bournemouth, Spurs, United. 9 goals conceded. How many of those 9 goals did the opposition really have to work hard for? We practically gift wrapped all 9 goals through sheer stupidity.

Edited 27 July 2020 by SouthStandUpperTier

[CosbehFox]

3 minutes ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

We've been awful. Think about the last 3 defeats - Bournemouth, Spurs, United. 9 goals conceded. How many of those 9 goals did the opposition really have to work hard for? We practically gift wrapped all 9 goals through sheer stupidity.

And that’s kind of the point to an extent. It’s been bad decision making by individual players defensively. 
 

I know it’s an unpopular opinion.

[Countryfox]

28 minutes ago, Guest said:

He can't win at the moment. I get why people are annoyed with him and the team but anything he says or does is picked apart and used against him ..

 

Sounds much like that chubby chap who runs the country ..

[volpeazzurro]

6 hours ago, FerrisBueller said:

Got to admit I did enjoy seeing Kelechi laughing at Wes missing that volley. Sums up what he must have been feeling, we all knew after that great first half he was getting hooked off for Perez.

Absolutely, my son son and I commented 5 minutes before the break that we thought we'd done well and Rodgers, with what he'd got available, had picked a good side with pace on the bench should we require it second half. My son commented that just watch him cock it up within minutes of the restart, I bet he'll take the goal threat of Iheanacho off and stick the wimp Perez on like he usually does. The irony of when Morgan missed a chance and Iheanacho beamed a smile. Wonder where Iheanacho may have been standing had he been on the pitch?

Edited 27 July 2020 by volpeazzurro

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Unpopular opinion - I actually don’t think we’ve been that bad recently - just prone to twenty minutes spells of madness 

I think you're right. I thought we were genuinely very poor in the first few games back after the break but in the last few we've been ok as a collective. Sadly we've also been incredibly wasteful in front of goal and incredibly generous in front of ours, which does tend to hinder your chances somewhat. 

[Vulpine Victor]

27 minutes ago, Countryfox said:

Sounds much like that chubby chap who runs the country ..

To compare Brendon to that lazy, lying, fraud that acts as Cummings puppet is an insult to our manager and our football club.

[Jonezy]

We are injury ravaged and played against an elite team with some of the most expensive players in world football in their line up. Their scary fast and free scoring attacking players live of quick transition attacks, which give them space and is also part of the reason they get so many penalties. We learned last week how world class strikers can hurt you in space, so I have absolutely no problem with our gameplan and I thought that we handled the game really well until we made the mistake and got punished. Kelechi had the ball at his feet in 2 very good counter attack situations and wasted both; Ndidi had a free shot at the edge for their box and skyed over as usual, Vardy came close from a cross and hit the bar with a looping header; Barnes shooting straight at De Gea; Morgan hitting air free in the box and Gray wasting 2 freekicks in promising positions. We created enough, but the quality was missing.

 

 

 

 

[MonmoreStef]

5 minutes ago, Jonezy said:

We are injury ravaged and played against an elite team with some of the most expensive players in world football in their line up. Their scary fast and free scoring attacking players live of quick transition attacks, which give them space and is also part of the reason they get so many penalties. We learned last week how world class strikers can hurt you in space, so I have absolutely no problem with our gameplan and I thought that we handled the game really well until we made the mistake and got punished. Kelechi had the ball at his feet in 2 very good counter attack situations and wasted both; Ndidi had a free shot at the edge for their box and skyed over as usual, Vardy came close from a cross and hit the bar with a looping header; Barnes shooting straight at De Gea; Morgan hitting air free in the box and Gray wasting 2 freekicks in promising positions. We created enough, but the quality was missing.

 

 

 

 

Perfectly sums up what I would have put. 

[Countryfox]

11 minutes ago, Vulpine Victor said:

To compare Brendon to that lazy, lying, fraud that acts as Cummings puppet is an insult to our manager and our football club.

Give it a rest ...

[UniFox21]

I don't understand what any pundit saw Ferandes do that was of any brilliance. He was managed out of the game and wasn't a real threat

 

 

[Ricey]

5 hours ago, Mapperleyfox said:

Anyone else annoyed Rodgers spoke about 'getting to the last drinks break'?

 

Why not go for it early doors, try to get in front and then maybe shutting up shop instead of having a strategy of throwing the kitchen sink at them in the last 20 minutes?

 

Very strange attitude, and it's concerning he's almost grateful to be on level terms with these teams. I think it breeds an inferiority complex that we can't compete when it should be the opposite, at least give it a go and show no respect, even if you end up losing.

I think it made perfect sense. He had to be realistic about the defence we had available. We couldn't afford to play a high line again like we did against Spurs and potentially have the game out of reach early on. The priority was to stop their attacking players but limiting Pogba and Fernandes. We did that really really well.

 

I also think we did go at Man Utd in that first half when we had the chance. We countered pretty quickly when we won the ball and if it wasn't for Iheanacho squandering a couple of good opportunities it could have been a different story. I don't think you can say we didn't give it a go.

 

Had we made it to the drinks break the players would have been content that they executed the pre-match plan, whilst Utd would have been nervous that their CL place was one goal away from being lost.. From there onwards there was nothing to lose and we could have been more attack minded, but instead the goal deflated us. I'm gutted we didn't get a chance to see how that final quarter would have turned out at 0-0.

[Ricey]

42 minutes ago, Jonezy said:

We are injury ravaged and played against an elite team with some of the most expensive players in world football in their line up. Their scary fast and free scoring attacking players live of quick transition attacks, which give them space and is also part of the reason they get so many penalties. We learned last week how world class strikers can hurt you in space, so I have absolutely no problem with our gameplan and I thought that we handled the game really well until we made the mistake and got punished. Kelechi had the ball at his feet in 2 very good counter attack situations and wasted both; Ndidi had a free shot at the edge for their box and skyed over as usual, Vardy came close from a cross and hit the bar with a looping header; Barnes shooting straight at De Gea; Morgan hitting air free in the box and Gray wasting 2 freekicks in promising positions. We created enough, but the quality was missing.

 

 

 

 

That's the key thing from this season and something Rodgers is fully aware of by the sounds of it. Most games we create enough chances to win it, but we have too many players that need lots of chances before they score. Barnes, Gray, Ndidi, Tielemans, Albrighton and even Maddison waste a lot of good chances. That has to be our focus in this window.

[WigstonWanderer]

Really frustrated with this style of play. No urgency until the last 20 mins (and sometimes not even then) when it’s often too late. It’s as if every time we start to get a little momentum going forward we suddenly remember that the plan is to stay back, and we start passing side to side again.

 

Oh for the good old days of 2015/16 when things were so much simpler and the players knew which direction the opposition goal was. So much more exciting to watch.

[HighPeakFox]

And yet we made clear chances......people tend to base their assessments around whether a) we won and b) we scored.

[That_Dude]

19 hours ago, Line-X said:

It seemed to go tits up in December, starting with the disappointing performance at home to Norwich - just after Brendan was awarded his new contract to fend off advances from Arsenal. Prior to that, it genuinely looked as though we were title challengers, staving off Man City and remaining in contention with Liverpool. I honestly think the way that we were dismantled at the Etihad and then a stubborn Brendan subsequently suicidally set us up for further humiliation at home to Liverpool on Boxing Day and astonishingly refused to make changes as his tactical naivety quickly unfolded. Since then, with the exception of Villa in the league it's been largely woeful.  We also blew two cup opportunities. I'll remember this season for the spectacular capitulation as opposed to the sublime football that we were playing throughout the first half of the season. And that's tragic.

 

There was even a thread on here debating whether this side was better that the title winning team of 2015-16. Technically, I still maintain that it is. In terms of fortitude and spirit, nowhere close. 

 

Strange that I feel so ambivalent and unenthusiastic about the prospect of Europa football, when qualification for the UEFA cup was such a massive event in 1997 and 2001. Perhaps it's our lack of depth, our current form and the toll that it can take on a domestic season. After all, there were no expectations back in the UEFA days. That's part of the problem...for the first time in the many, many years that I have been supporting this club, we have owners with genuine ambition. Perhaps then the media can finally bring themselves to refer to us as a top five club? When the Srivaddhanaprabha family stated that they would gatecrash the so called big six and transform us into a top five finishing club, they laughed. After 2016, it's hard to accept anything that can be remotely construed as a disappointing season. 

 

I/we should be grateful...but big changes are needed over the next seven weeks. 

 

 

That's a great post, really.

[WigstonWanderer]

2 hours ago, BKLFox said:

Nope, gone for it in minute 1 & conceded it would have been 4, 5, 6 nil as they would have sat & picked us off on the counter.

Your suggested tactic of scoring 1 & then sitting for how ever long is not a good 1 & if he had done that you would have been slating him once we conceded.

& finally whilst the main objective was to get to the last break if all square before going banzai it wasn't combined with a seat deep with 10men behind until then, we actually had the better play & chances up to that point & if 0:0 after last break there was a good chance we would have done it.
 

Unfortunately this tactic (stay in the match, and go all out at the end) never seems to work though

Edited 27 July 2020 by WigstonWanderer

[Ric Flair]

4 hours ago, Haywood_6 said:

We tried our best but we just didn't look like scoring. Lost our heads at the end with Hamza's backpass, Schmeicel getting caught, Evans getting sent off. We've been hit with injuries to crucial players, and we've slipped down the table. The Bournemouth game was the worst point in the season for me. I knew we'd ruined our chances then. I've got mixed emotions today. Because it's actually been one of our best seasons in history, and yet it feels like a disappointment.

baring in mind our game management vs Spurs the week before and this game being a winner takes all game, I do understand his approach yesterday. I thought we played OK too, but as per usual made errors in defence and attack. Bored of that cycle of play right now and hope this can be broken and improved on, but I hoped the break from the pandemic would have done that and it didn't. 

[filbertway]

I'm surprised how many people were happy with us sitting deep and launching the ball forward to 2 isolated attackers in the hope of getting something. I mean, you can't have watched Man U's last 2 games if you thought that was the way to go. They looked like a team bereft of fitness and confidence. To play a tactic that gave us very little chance of scoring, I find that hard to swallow. It's sad that football has become this way in general "aim not to lose" rather than trying to win games. Especially hard to grasp why people love it so much when it's a game you need to win.

 

About 2 minutes before Hamza made his mistake sky were pointing out how shattered united looked, Tielemans ran away from Fernandes with ease. They were there for the taking and we handed them the initiative. I'll always prefer attacking football so I wish we'd have put out an attacking team and hope we outscore them.Unless a team is built on a boring defensive foundation and used to playing that way. Asking your team to suddenly become that team, it's not gonna happen.

 

I don't blame the players selected at all, they looked like they were giving it there all. I just didn't give us much chance of scoring considering we had 2 players on the pitch that have demonstrated a goal-scoring ability. In a game we needed to win.

 

 It's all about tactical preferences I think. I can't stand watching a team defend and have very little intention of getting bodies forward, I like entertaining football. 

[Ricey]

Just now, filbertway said:

I'm surprised how many people were happy with us sitting deep and launching the ball forward to 2 isolated attackers in the hope of getting something. I mean, you can't have watched Man U's last 2 games if you thought that was the way to go. They looked like a team bereft of fitness and confidence. To play a tactic that gave us very little chance of scoring, I find that hard to swallow. It's sad that football has become this way in general "aim not to lose" rather than trying to win games. Especially hard to grasp why people love it so much when it's a game you need to win.

 

About 2 minutes before Hamza made his mistake sky were pointing out how shattered united looked, Tielemans ran away from Fernandes with ease. They were there for the taking and we handed them the initiative. I'll always prefer attacking football so I wish we'd have put out an attacking team and hope we outscore them.Unless a team is built on a boring defensive foundation and used to playing that way. Asking your team to suddenly become that team, it's not gonna happen.

 

I don't blame the players selected at all, they looked like they were giving it there all. I just didn't give us much chance of scoring considering we had 2 players on the pitch that have demonstrated a goal-scoring ability. In a game we needed to win.

 

 It's all about tactical preferences I think. I can't stand watching a team defend and have very little intention of getting bodies forward, I like entertaining football. 

Man United struggled in their recent matches often because the teams they were up against did good jobs of stopping their creative and attacking players. Southampton pressed Pogba intensely and West Ham man-marked Fernandes out of the match. With our threadbare defence we had to make sure we did that first and then looked to attack.

 

We know Vardy is our only goal threat and we know their central defenders aren't the quickest. Trying to hit them on the counter was wise.

 

It's madness to suggest that we set up not to lose. We had plenty of chances throughout the game, but didn't take any. The plan was to push higher and be more attack minded in the final quarter when Man Utd would be at their most fatigued. That plan was sound, but individual errors at the last minute ruined it.

 

If we'd set up how we did yesterday in more matches against the top 4 I'm sure we would have picked up more than 2 points out of the 18 available that we ended up with.

[Foxaholic ME]

27 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

baring in mind our game management vs Spurs the week before and this game being a winner takes all game, I do understand his approach yesterday. I thought we played OK too, but as per usual made errors in defence and attack. Bored of that cycle of play right now and hope this can be broken and improved on, but I hoped the break from the pandemic would have done that and it didn't. 

At least if we had beaten Bournemouth we would still have failed to get in the champions league

[Ric Flair]

8 minutes ago, filbertway said:

I'm surprised how many people were happy with us sitting deep and launching the ball forward to 2 isolated attackers in the hope of getting something. I mean, you can't have watched Man U's last 2 games if you thought that was the way to go. They looked like a team bereft of fitness and confidence. To play a tactic that gave us very little chance of scoring, I find that hard to swallow. It's sad that football has become this way in general "aim not to lose" rather than trying to win games. Especially hard to grasp why people love it so much when it's a game you need to win.

 

About 2 minutes before Hamza made his mistake sky were pointing out how shattered united looked, Tielemans ran away from Fernandes with ease. They were there for the taking and we handed them the initiative. I'll always prefer attacking football so I wish we'd have put out an attacking team and hope we outscore them.Unless a team is built on a boring defensive foundation and used to playing that way. Asking your team to suddenly become that team, it's not gonna happen.

 

I don't blame the players selected at all, they looked like they were giving it there all. I just didn't give us much chance of scoring considering we had 2 players on the pitch that have demonstrated a goal-scoring ability. In a game we needed to win.

 

 It's all about tactical preferences I think. I can't stand watching a team defend and have very little intention of getting bodies forward, I like entertaining football. 

I think the Spurs game forced a change in approach to the game yesterday and as I've said I think it was the right way to play in the first half, but after 55-60 mins we should have been turning the screw and thats the frustrating thing. 1st half we created or should have created 3 good opportunities, the Iheanacho shot rather than passing to Justin was horrendous. Tielemans and Ndidi went close too but 2nd half we didn't take the opportunity to step it up and we seemed to want to try and pinch something as the game went on which was a mistake. 

[CosbehFox]

8 minutes ago, filbertway said:

I'm surprised how many people were happy with us sitting deep and launching the ball forward to 2 isolated attackers in the hope of getting something. I mean, you can't have watched Man U's last 2 games if you thought that was the way to go. They looked like a team bereft of fitness and confidence. To play a tactic that gave us very little chance of scoring, I find that hard to swallow. It's sad that football has become this way in general "aim not to lose" rather than trying to win games. Especially hard to grasp why people love it so much when it's a game you need to win.

 

About 2 minutes before Hamza made his mistake sky were pointing out how shattered united looked, Tielemans ran away from Fernandes with ease. They were there for the taking and we handed them the initiative. I'll always prefer attacking football so I wish we'd have put out an attacking team and hope we outscore them.Unless a team is built on a boring defensive foundation and used to playing that way. Asking your team to suddenly become that team, it's not gonna happen.

 

I don't blame the players selected at all, they looked like they were giving it there all. I just didn't give us much chance of scoring considering we had 2 players on the pitch that have demonstrated a goal-scoring ability. In a game we needed to win.

 

 It's all about tactical preferences I think. I can't stand watching a team defend and have very little intention of getting bodies forward, I like entertaining football. 

Well it was literally what West Ham did but with a front three. Push the ball out wide to Man United's full-backs. 

 

Man U had 57% possession against them and completed around 170 more passes than West Ham. West Ham had three shots on target including their goal from a penalty. 

 

By comparison, Man U had 54% possession yesterday - 80 more passes than Leicester. Three shots on targets from ourselves. 

[st albans fox]

3 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I think the Spurs game forced a change in approach to the game yesterday and as I've said I think it was the right way to play in the first half, but after 55-60 mins we should have been turning the screw and thats the frustrating thing. 1st half we created or should have created 3 good opportunities, the Iheanacho shot rather than passing to Justin was horrendous. Tielemans and Ndidi went close too but 2nd half we didn't take the opportunity to step it up and we seemed to want to try and pinch something as the game went on which was a mistake. 

Brendan already said before the game that the second half drinks break was the point at which he would make a change in approach if needed ..... we were seconds away .......