LCFC 2-0 Southampton - Post-Match Thread

[Alan Frost]

38 minutes ago, shen said:

Vardy could and maybe should've done the same with his chance that was saved by McCarthy. Barnes was open for a tap-in.

Vardy is usually unselfish for a striker. I  hope BR has a quiet word with Perez. It was a glaring example of selfishness IMO in contrast to the goals at Stoke.

[RowlattsFox]

If Perez scored noone would question his selfishness. His mistake was his woeful finish. 

 

Barnes could have passed to Iheanacho but it didn't matter. 

[OntarioFox]

4 hours ago, Danny Clender said:

I do think it's default these days that opposition teams are instructed to batter us early doors in terms of possession, second ball, press, energy etc, but last night showed how much we've learned to deal with it. Schmeichel, Evans and Fofana, in those opening 15 minutes did really well under the circumstances. Southampton smothered us. 

It's definitely a sea change in our game compared to last year. Our ascendency in 19-20 was from us playing front-foot stuff and it was brilliant to watch when we turned it on - Southampton away goes without saying, but we also spanked the likes of Newcastle and Villa playing exciting stuff too. But arguably, we just got worked out during the second half of the season once teams had played us and clocked our approach. We had a reputation as a defensively solid unit, but the reality is we hadn't really had any truly stern tests until we came up against Man City and Liverpool back to back over Christmas - and we crumbled, conceding seven in a week.

 

Like you, i'm tempering my expectations until we start playing teams a second time, but the signs are good that we've lost a little of that soft underbelly, even if the trade-off is losing a little of our authority in tighter games.

 

We still have a stinker in us, but on the whole I can't fault our backline, especially given how much we've had to chop and change through injuries this year. Everyone has done a job when called upon, even big Wes.

Edited 17 January 2021 by OntarioFox

[dynamark]

Defenders leg I thought so.

Perez was effective though when called on 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

36 minutes ago, shen said:

That's a bit of an arrogant statement. Rodgers literally said that the common denominator for our drop-off last season was that 'we were missing our best players'. Southampton's squad obviously isn't as strong as ours. They've not had the money or pull to get in the calibre of players we have over the past years (notably Castagne, Fofana and Ünder for us this year), so they will obviously cope differently. Take Vardy or Ings for them out of the side and suddenly it's a rather toothless attack.

It was tongue in cheek to be honest. The stick I took as a 15 year old at a Southampton supporting secondary school when we went down and they stayed up in 2008, I think I've earned the right to gloat a bit when we beat them. 

[filbertway]

11 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

If Perez scored noone would question his selfishness. His mistake was his woeful finish. 

 

Barnes could have passed to Iheanacho but it didn't matter. 

I know I still would, you're forgiven a hell of a lot quicker if you score though. It's the equivalent of taking a panenka, if you're going to take that chance then you have to score.

[OntarioFox]

As an aside, seeing our lads step up yesterday when it mattered did put me at a little more ease that we don't have to rely on Vardy for everything up top. Apart from the stepover for Barnes' first half chance and drawing a couple of saves, he was quiet yesterday.

 

Granted, the angle was ridiculous, but Madders' run for his goal was the sort of textbook forward play we're just not used to seeing from anyone but Vards. And the playmaking from Youri was glorious. Hopefully that encourages more of that sort of running from the rest of our front line. 

[foxinsocks]

so who did bt give the motm to?

[casablancas]

14 hours ago, TheStig said:

I actually disagree. They create nothing up front. They play with tempo and movement - but not impressed

 

We were lucky to have kept a clean sheet?

[Spudulike]

15 minutes ago, foxinsocks said:

so who did bt give the motm to?

Steve Macmanamanamanaman.

[UpTheLeagueFox]

1 hour ago, adejo92 said:

Made hard work of that and it was far from pretty. That said, to be able to play poorly, and still beat a team like Southampton, has to go down as a great result.

Beating teams like these, when playing like we did, is a big positive.. 

I wouldn't say we played poorly at all. Yes, we had some sloppy moments but it wasn't a poor performance.

I really enjoyed the game, both sides going for it, at times we played some very pretty stuff as we often do.

[Dr The Singh]

13 hours ago, Fightforever said:

If Vardy finished half decently today we would have scored at least 5. I don't agree.

Yes

[Dr The Singh]

Woke up this morning and feel so brill, great win yesterday.  First half we were poor but that second half was great against a very good team.  

 

Good to see Cags back, he looked so self assured, I can't imagine what little Wes must be thinking though

[when_you're_smiling]

29 minutes ago, foxinsocks said:

so who did bt give the motm to?

Mcmanaman avoided the question around 88mins. Possibly hoping for a Southampton equaliser given how many times he used the word ‘unfortunately’ every time he made a slight criticism/observation of them.

[messerschmitt]

4 hours ago, RumbleFox said:

Shout out to Albrighton. He’s been dropped by pretty much every new manager then forced his way back in. He’s a proper Leicester legend. Great win, they are a very very good team. Let’s do this. X 

I wonder if he has been told to cut out those awful floated diagonal passes to the opposition CB's. He looks so much better as a player putting decent passes along the floor and we can get on the end of them.

[1972 Fox]

14 hours ago, jim5000 said:

Ndidi MOTD for me, he’s an absolute monster. Best defensive midfielder in the league

Lineker standing down? 

[deanolegend1989]

1 hour ago, OntarioFox said:

It's definitely a sea change in our game compared to last year. Our ascendency in 19-20 was from us playing front-foot stuff and it was brilliant to watch when we turned it on - Southampton away goes without saying, but we also spanked the likes of Newcastle and Villa playing exciting stuff too. But arguably, we just got worked out during the second half of the season once teams had played us and clocked our approach. We had a reputation as a defensively solid unit, but the reality is we hadn't really had any truly stern tests until we came up against Man City and Liverpool back to back over Christmas - and we crumbled, conceding seven in a week.

 

Like you, i'm tempering my expectations until we start playing teams a second time, but the signs are good that we've lost a little of that soft underbelly, even if the trade-off is losing a little of our authority in tighter games.

 

We still have a stinker in us, but on the whole I can't fault our backline, especially given how much we've had to chop and change through injuries this year. Everyone has done a job when called upon, even big Wes.

The thing is , we actually havnt when we’ve had our best team.

Since Wilf have been back we’ve been unbeaten except vs Everton when he was at CB and Mendy was still playing.

When him and Tielemens have been together (Castange for Fuchs also), we are actually a title winning team in the making.

I mean If we had the starting 11 we’ve had now for the whole season, I believe we’d be 5/6 points clear at the top!!

 

We’ve beaten Brighton, Tottenham, Newcastle, Stoke and Southampton and drew to Man Utd 5/1/0 record with our ‘strongest team’, we lose vs Everton because we had Mendy and Fuchs still in and Evans out with Wilf not in the middle, then we drop points at Palace because we didn’t have our best team in.

 

Our squad maybe isn’t strong enough but if we play the first 11 that played last night every game we’d win the league.

If we get an injury to Wilf, Youri, Evans, Fofana, Castange or Vardy, we then arnt as good and drop points. Not really ‘sloppy’ just plainly because our ‘weaker’ players arnt good enough.

Thats the difference between a Man City and us, however it’s not so much us being sloppy, we just rely heavily on Wilf/YT partnership. We dominate games with them 2 and allow the rest to flow. Like a Keane/Scholes. This combination dovetail perfectly and make us elite, without them teams can run us over.

 

Southampton last night first 30, run us hard, pressed us high and really went for it. We would never win that game before Wilf was in there, 1-0/2-0 down then a 2nd half failing to break down a parked bus.

I think it’s clear it’s a case of unlike ‘average’ teams who are just ‘average’ or top teams that have deeper squads, we have a squad of polarised talent - some of the best in the world in their positions or poor back up players. This means results will fluctuate if we can’t keep that spine on.

 

[SpacedX]

1 hour ago, shen said:

That's a bit of an arrogant statement. 

I agree with this and it's something that we have to guard against in respect of the unprecedented success that we have enjoyed through the Srivaddhanaprabha / King Power ownership and remember who we are and where we came from. There's definitely an arrogance breeding within our contemporary support - a team I originally started supporting because I always favoured the underdog. I recall beating Newcastle in 1996 2-0 at home the year Newcastle finished second and Terry McDermott, who was then Assistant Manager to Keegan with his derogatory post match comments that "we shouldn't be losing to the likes of Leicester". Any team in the Premier League can claim a scalp on its day. Yeah, the loss to Fulham was avoidable and we were tactically at fault, but respect to them. It's the sort of opportunistic smash and grab that we used to delight in pulling off over the so called 'bigger clubs'. 

[sacreblueits442]

15 hours ago, hejammy said:

Great win but not Vards beat game as highlighted by this. Ah well I supposed he's allowed 1 bad game. Bet he better not have another! 

....isn't there some stat that Vardy has not scored against Southampton at home..all have been away!!!

  Perhaps explains why nothing happened for him and it was not going to happen today.

[Guest StevieLynex]

2 hours ago, RowlattsFox said:

If Perez scored noone would question his selfishness. His mistake was his woeful finish. 

 

Barnes could have passed to Iheanacho but it didn't matter. 

Think that Nacho may have been offside if Barnes had passed to him

[Spudulike]

I'm scratching my head about the impression that we were poor first half. I thought it was two high quality teams playing at fast energetic pace with some moments of skill. Fascinating seeing the tactics unfold with neither side giving an inch. Brilliant stuff and even better in the second half when Southampton started to tire and unravel. 

 

Probably most enjoyable match this season. We are a very good team. 

[Blue ROI]

We were a bit slow to settle but as with the Brighton game we started to gain the upper hand after 30 minutes and we looked a constant threat from that point on.

 

Some of our play was very sharp at times and the second half was very good from us missed chances notwithstanding.

 

We all had a sense of 'here we go again' when Shane Long was introduced and thats with Walcott another thorn in our side beside him. Bar them hitting the crossbar we dealt with them quite well and the second goal was a fair reflection of our dominance.

 

Albrighton has been exceptional the last month. Not likely to grab the plaudits the way Vardy and Kasper have done over the years but he's been a great signing.

 

N'Didi a huge addition once again and despite not scoring Vardy had a decent game.

 

Southampton looked threatening early doors and although there has been a lot worse teams we've played this season they faded out of the game which will be a concern for them.

 

Chelsea will be a tough game but we're in fine fettle going into this game. Vardy and Praets injuries a concern no doubt but our bench looks as strong as its ever been.

 

Looking like another European campaign awaits us next season. Well done to all.

 

Edited 17 January 2021 by Blue ROI

[winteriscoming]

I thought Southampton were the better side first half and were unfortunate to go in 1 nil down. Second half we stepped it up and we were the better side. We had enough chances to of been 3 or 4 nil up. Although Southampton still looked dangerous. The game showed how tactically both managers are clued up and know what their doing. How hassenhuttl set up in the first half was impressive but credit Rodgers how he responded second half. 

[Alan Frost]

2 hours ago, happy85 said:

Onside!

If you want to convince us he was off side why chose a photo that shows him onside? I'm inclined by common sense to say he 's offside and all linesmen would give him offside but VAR says he's onside. Either you or I need an eye test. I think the point is he should have passed, offside or onside.. It was n't a knee capping offence but BR should have a word. Strikers reluctance to pass costs a lot of goals and Perez IMO never looks around enough so he might have erred in ignorance  instead of selfishness. Vardy by contrast is often selfless ,and has earned the right to be selfish occasionally  For Perez another offence should result in at least a knee capping,and for a further offence, beheading.  

[deanolegend1989]

6 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

I'm scratching my head about the impression that we were poor first half. I thought it was two high quality teams playing at fast energetic pace with some moments of skill. Fascinating seeing the tactics unfold with neither side giving an inch. Brilliant stuff and even better in the second half when Southampton started to tire and unravel. 

 

Probably most enjoyable match this season. We are a very good team. 

Couldn’t agree more, exactly how I saw it at the time ‘2 great teams playing at a high level’. Did anyone really say we were poor first half?

 

The best game we’ve played all season against a team that really went for it early, knowing the best way to beat us is get ahead in the game and sit deep.

It was a great game all round and 2nd half we proved how good we could be the way we overpowered them in the middle.