When everyones fit ?

[dorsetboy]

so been having this conversation with my boys and with how certain players have stepped up and the new lads , with a fully fit squad how would you play and with what line up . 

 

i went with the following 

 

4-2-3-1 

 

-----------------------------------kasper--------------------------------------

 

       ricardo-----------fofana ---------soyenchu----------castangne

 

------------------ndidi----------------mendy/tielmans-------------------------

 

under-------------------maddison------------------barnes

 

---------------------------vardy---------------------------------------

 

rotate mendy and tielmans depending on opposition 

 

 

[foxile5]

Where is a Matty James

[Leeds Fox]

15 minutes ago, dorsetboy said:

so been having this conversation with my boys and with how certain players have stepped up and the new lads , with a fully fit squad how would you play and with what line up . 

 

i went with the following 

 

4-2-3-1 

 

-----------------------------------kasper--------------------------------------

 

       ricardo-----------fofana ---------soyenchu----------castangne

 

------------------ndidi----------------mendy/tielmans-------------------------

 

under-------------------maddison------------------barnes

 

---------------------------vardy---------------------------------------

 

rotate mendy and tielmans depending on opposition 

 

 

Thank the Lord you don’t work in the club shop printing shirts! 
 

Good line up though... harsh on Evans who is hard to drop. I think it’ll be apparent he’s the one who brings the best out of both of our young CBs. 

 

Great to have good options in most areas of the pitch.

[Danny Clender]

Guessing the line up is a lovely game to play and a nice way to think about the team.

 

With the amount of games this season, the versatility of this squad and Brendan wanting to play different systems, even if the squad is fully fit and available, the days of seeing an ongoing regular first choice starting 11 will be rare. 

 

Obvious individual players will get more games than others over the season, but I have a feeling Brenno will be down the the charts for managers picking the same starting 11. 

 

 

[mozartfox]

I thought this was going to be about Liverpool.

 

Amazing how the Big 6 Press Machine go on endlessly about Liverpool's injury problems.

 

 

[Aus Fox]

6 hours ago, dorsetboy said:

so been having this conversation with my boys and with how certain players have stepped up and the new lads , with a fully fit squad how would you play and with what line up . 

 

i went with the following 

 

4-2-3-1 

 

-----------------------------------kasper--------------------------------------

 

       ricardo-----------fofana ---------soyenchu----------castangne

 

------------------ndidi----------------mendy/tielmans-------------------------

 

under-------------------maddison------------------barnes

 

---------------------------vardy---------------------------------------

 

rotate mendy and tielmans depending on opposition 

 

 

If everyone is fit and ready Tielemans is streets ahead of Mendy.

[Jazzy_Jeff]

I think it’s very dependant on who we are playing.

 

When everyone is fit we will play 3 at the back at times & Praet will play his fair share of games.

 

The biggest plus for me so far this season is how well the likes of JJ, Mendy, Fofana and Under have done which means when everyone is fit we can rotate. Our lack of squad depth last year is what cost us our champs league place, everyone was knackered towards the end 

[StanSP]

I'd genuinely go with Fofana and Evans. Might be harsh on Soyuncu but oh well. 

 

 

[Stuntman_Mike]

I just wanted to get our best players down and didn't really focus on a system that might work haha

We really do have some serious quality.

 

                                        Kasper 

 

                           Fofana   Evans   Caglar 

 

           Ricardo                  Ndidi            Castagne

 

                          Youri      Madders  Barnes

 

                                          Vardy

 

         

 

 

 

[coolhandfox]

First time in a while for me that the first 11 doesn't pick its self. 

 

The way Mendy, Praet have played so far its hard to leave them out, combined with the arrival of Under and Fofana. 

Edited 28 October 2020 by coolhandfox

[Ashley]

Op is probably right with that selection. Evans is hardest one to decide. Id go as far as saying we have the second best defence in the league if not the best with everyone fit

[Deeg67]

No way Tielemans isn’t a regular starter, and it’s hard to bench Praet too.  Fofana will be the 3rd CB this season if all three are healthy - Evans is our best defender and can’t be demoted to the bench.

 

If we’re still alive in Europa this isn’t a big problem.  You play 3 matches every 10 days or so, each of the CBs plays twice.  You could probably rotate Tielemans, Praet, Under and Mendy for three spots, maybe Maddison as well.  If we’re out of Europe and the FA Cup, I could see guys being unhappy with their playing time.  But it would be a nice problem to have.  How often is everybody healthy at the same time, really?

[Vestan Pance]

Just wondering why Castagne is assumed to move over to the left? If he is a better in that position than Justin then you'd think it would be, Justin right and Castagne left currently, also settling Castagne into that position so no reshuffle is needed when Ricardo returns?

 

I suppose with modern football it's pretty safe to assume it will be a constant rotation between the 3?

Edited 28 October 2020 by Vestan Pance

[TiffToff88]

7 hours ago, foxile5 said:

Where is a Matty James

On loan at the Northern General, from the LRI

Edited 28 October 2020 by TiffToff88

[ealingfox]

There will be no 'everyone is fit' this season imo.

[The whole world smiles]

7 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

There will be no 'everyone is fit' this season imo.

Agreed we are actually in quite a good position right now (considering the circumstances of this season) with Maddison, Praet and hopefully vardy coming back to near peak fitness we only have 3 injuries all of which have a logical replacement. 

 

Soyuncu > Fofana

Ndidi > Mendy

Ricardo > Justin

 

Of those 3 only Justin is a massive downgrade. This might be as good as it gets for us this season. 

[Blue ROI]

N'Didi + Mendy in the same team has never really worked out for us. 

[Scotch]

30 minutes ago, Vestan Pance said:

Just wondering why Castagne is assumed to move over to the left? If he is a better in that position than Justin then you'd think it would be, Justin right and Castagne left currently, also settling Castagne into that position so no reshuffle is needed when Ricardo returns?

 

I suppose with modern football it's pretty safe to assume it will be a constant rotation between the 3?

I think we all assume he will move to the left because he regularly plays there for the number one ranked national team in the world. Him currently playing on the right might have something to do with us having no stand out RWer in the early games. He can offer that attacking threat from a deeper position whilst Barnes does it on the left with JJ behind him. 

 

As for when everyone is fit.... No matter what we do, it's going to be harsh on some of the players who have stepped up but the two formations I would go with depending on opposition are....

 

                           Kasper

Ricardo     Fofana      Soyunc   Castagne

                            Ndidi

             Maddison    Tielemans

Under                                              Barnes

                            Vardy

 

Or...

 

                            Kasper

            Fofana    Evans   Soyuncu

Ricardo                                        Castagne

                   Ndidi     Tielemans

Under                                              Barnes

                             Vardy

[foxfanazer]

I don't think the Soyuncu + Fofana partnership would be quite ready to go yet. Evans is so important to both of their development imo

 

I'm also not sure on how successful Tielemans and Maddison will be as a partnership. Youri seems to thrive off Praet starting 

Edited 28 October 2020 by foxfanazer

[Xen]

1 hour ago, StanSP said:

I'd genuinely go with Fofana and Evans. Might be harsh on Soyuncu but oh well. 

Hopefully we'll qualify for Europa/CL for the next few seasons, which'll give us plenty of games and the perfect opportunity to rest and rotate between those 3 as needed. After all, Evans is no spring chicken and 50+ games a season (plus internationals) is probably asking a bit much of him. I'd agree that Evans/Fofana would probably be first choice on recent showings, although I'd be more than comfortable with any combination we choose to play. It's a great position to be in.

 

For the whole squad, I think its hard to argue against:

 

Schmeichel

Ricardo - Evans - Fofana - Castagne

Ndidi

Ünder - Tielemans - Maddison - Barnes

Vardy

 

With imo the only debatable ones being Ünder (bit early for a judgment) and then the two trios-into-pairs at CB (Soyuncu missing out) and CM (Praet missing out).

 

And we're slowly getting to the point where the backup in every position is top-half-prem standard (and good enough for Europa), which bodes very well for the future and allows us to rotate/rest without too much of an impact on our overall quality.
 

[murphy]

For me Evans has to be first choice unless he is rested at times due to this season's workload.

 

Not only is he a great player himself and vastly experienced but he also brings out the best in whoever he is paired with.  He would be great for the development of either Cags or Fofana.

 

 

[Wolfox]

Ooh blimey - I love the fact that this is a real head scratcher!

 

That old football cliche feels quite apposite “it’s a nice problem to have”

[surrifox]

2 hours ago, mozartfox said:

I thought this was going to be about Liverpool.

 

Amazing how the Big 6 Press Machine go on endlessly about Liverpool's injury problems.

 

 

So true .

 

I see Pickford has had to hire bodyguards for his family following death threats after his challenge on VVD

[Finnegan]

Kasper

Castagne, Evans, CB*, Ricardo**

Tielemans, Ndidi, Maddison 

Under, Vardy, Barnes 

 

*bit undecided at the moment. Fofana has been in better form the last two games than Cags has since we came back from the covid break. They're both young and inconsistency is to be expected. I'd probably say Evans is out best CB for now though. He makes both of them better. 

 

**Regards Ricardo on the left, some of his best runs are runs that cut inward, diagonally from full back in a way that confuses the hell out of defenders. He's fairly two footed but cutting in on to his stronger foot would be good. I also think Castagne does his best work overlapping, while Under will be best when cutting in giving a good combination. 

[davieG]

Rodgers seems to me to be too conservative to play both Under and Barnes from KO, I suspect it'll be one or the other unless we're getting desperate for a goal in the 20mins or so.