Choudhury

[volpeazzurro]

7 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

There was one part where he lost the ball on the edge of the box being outmuscled. Something we’ve seen before costing us goals. 
 

Yesterday I felt he would do one good thing followed by a poor thing. Inconsistent really 

There was one part? There was more than one part where all of them except the front two completely ballsed it up yesterday. Vestergaard, for all his size looks a complete cowardly lump at times and was a disgrace, it's no surprise we shipped 9 passed him and Bertrand. My overall point is that Choudhury, who seems to be singled out by some for special criticism is because he's an easy target. There were far worse players than him on the pitch. 

[Finnegan]

4 minutes ago, volpeazzurro said:

you do start to wonder how much appropriate coaching actually gets done at that multimillion pounds training facility

 

At the end of the day, some people are just never going to get it. 

 

I think it's easy to under estimate the football intelligence of guys like Ndidi, Kante, Fabinho, Fernandinho, Gaye, etc. Even someone like Papy Mendy has an awareness for the game that can probably only be partly coached. 

 

Hamza is a good athlete and a really hard working pro but it's possible there's not a coach in the world that will ever teach him to read a game, hold a better shape and pick his moment. If it was that straightforward we'd all be world class footballers. 

[TJB-fox]

Just now, volpeazzurro said:

There was one part? There was more than one part where all of them except the front two completely ballsed it up yesterday. Vestergaard, for all his size looks a complete cowardly lump at times and was a disgrace, it's no surprise we shipped 9 passed him and Bertrand. My overall point is that Choudhury, who seems to be singled out by some for special criticism is because he's an easy target. There were far worse players than him on the pitch. 

I’ve seen plenty of positivity towards Choudhury’s performance yesterday

[The boy Linacre]

1 hour ago, coolhandfox said:

Great engine, but poor footballer.

 

 

Yep.  But will say he was excellent yesterday, I actually think without him we would have lost, as we kept winning the ball off them in the first half in good positions.  Distribution and passing v limited but we need that ball winner, of defensively we'll get swamped.

2nd best player on the pitch yesterday after Timmy who was excellent and did a great job on Zaha.

[st albans fox]

8 minutes ago, volpeazzurro said:

There was one part? There was more than one part where all of them except the front two completely ballsed it up yesterday. Vestergaard, for all his size looks a complete cowardly lump at times and was a disgrace, it's no surprise we shipped 9 passed him and Bertrand. My overall point is that Choudhury, who seems to be singled out by some for special criticism is because he's an easy target. There were far worse players than him on the pitch. 

From a pedant’s perspective, Bertrand was sent off as we scored the first and vester was hooked at 0-5 ….

[Chocolate Teapot]

Thought he was one of our best players in the first half. Some people have just got it in for him.

[sm1]

1 hour ago, Scotch said:

I remember that one but the more concerning ones for me (I remember two suslch instances in the first half) were he was stripped of the ball in our final third. Just straight outmuscled near our box. 

 

This stuck out to me too. Several times Palace players just came and pushed him off the ball, whilst he was standing wondering what to do with it. That part of his game has to improve considering Ndidi will be absent with injury and Afcon for a long time. Also refs are letting much more go now, so you cant just fall on the floor if you feel a touch.

[Countryfox]

[Claudio Fannieri]

I like Hamza, he brings a real energy and tempo to the side, where I think he does struggle and it’s a similar issue for Amartey is that he never gets a run of games to build some form, confidence and momentum. Yesterday he played well and yet was pulled, despite looking like he had plenty left in the tank. 
 

I know he is far from the finished article but given more opportunities I think he could be a more than useful squad player but I don’t think Brendan trusts him in the slightest. 

[Countryfox]

Let’s face it Hamza shouldn’t even be here if Newcastle had pulled their finger out ..  unfortunately he is sub standard. 

[An Sionnach]

2 minutes ago, Countryfox said:

Hamza will be delighted to be compared to one of the greatest players of all time.

[drumbeat]

As an aside, because it has been touched on, one of the things I most like about Mendy is his game reading. I think he was once described as a 'tick over' player. That is, he enables a team to maintain a momentum. He does that by being in the right place at the right time, i.e. by reading the game. Nothing he does with the ball is technically breathtaking but he knows where to be, both to make himself available and to disrupt opposition passing. 

 

If you/we ever get the chance again, watch his movement. It's often very simple; to give a team mate an easy pass. He'll then move the ball on to someone more creative. It's selfless and not at all glamorous. I can see what was meant by tick over.

 

This is probably for another thread but I think we've a problem with balance at the moment. I think BR is trying to find a balance between form players and tactics/shape, all from a reduced pool. Ndidi's injuriy has further complicated matters. 

 

It's arguably BR's worst situation since he joined us. The season's plans are probably in tatters and we're somewhat limping from game to game. I just hope all players on international duty come back fit and OK. I don't want to think about what will happen if Soyuncu or Veste pick up an injury.

 

[Sharpe's Fox]

Never been good enough and never will be. He has been shown the door twice this year and not managed to get through it. Posters are are not experiencing reality when they watch him, they see what they want to see becuase he's from Loughborough and has a funny haircut. He's pony.

[baldeagle]

38 minutes ago, Countryfox said:

Yeah but if you noticed this you’ve just got it in for him .😂😂

[LcFc_Smiv]

The reality is his performance yesterday was on par if not slightly better than the average showing of a number of the multi million pound players around him. Slate him as much as you want but he showed some desire and intent that many others have been lacking this season.

[moore_94]

 

[Scotch]

I do find the "people just have it in for him" comments a little weird. 

 

He's a local lad who has been at the club his whole career and from a young age. I don't think there is a single poster here who wouldn't want to see this kind of player flourish at the club, become captain and retire a legend but at the end of the day, it's his performances that count and they are consistently poor in his case (even if I don't take into consideration yesterday's game where admittedly I was probably too eager to overlook his contribution off the ball because of his frailties on it and thus was overly harsh). I don't think anyone here would want him to fail. In an ideal world, we would have a whole squad of local lads who obviously care about the club as much as he does. 

 

On the other side of that same coin, I do wonder if some of the folk here who defend him continuously would do so if he was from Spain and came through Valencia' academy?

 

I'm sure there are many who don't care either way but there are definately those who defend more because of his background whilst claiming that others have a vendetta against him. 

[Chocolate Teapot]

19 minutes ago, Scotch said:

I do find the "people just have it in for him" comments a little weird. 

 

He's a local lad who has been at the club his whole career and from a young age. I don't think there is a single poster here who wouldn't want to see this kind of player flourish at the club, become captain and retire a legend but at the end of the day, it's his performances that count and they are consistently poor in his case (even if I don't take into consideration yesterday's game where admittedly I was probably too eager to overlook his contribution off the ball because of his frailties on it and thus was overly harsh). I don't think anyone here would want him to fail. In an ideal world, we would have a whole squad of local lads who obviously care about the club as much as he does. 

 

On the other side of that same coin, I do wonder if some of the folk here who defend him continuously would do so if he was from Spain and came through Valencia' academy?

 

I'm sure there are many who don't care either way but there are definately those who defend more because of his background whilst claiming that others have a vendetta against him. 

 

He didn't play badly at all yesterday and was one of our best players, which several if not all of the stats back up (yes, his ball retention could have been better but youris was worse in the first half). Judging him on that alone how else can you justify some of the nonsense that's been said?

 

48 minutes ago, Sharpe's Fox said:

Never been good enough and never will be. He has been shown the door twice this year and not managed to get through it. Posters are are not experiencing reality when they watch him, they see what they want to see becuase he's from Loughborough and has a funny haircut. He's pony.

 

I mean how can I not say some people have got it in for him when someone writes stuff like that?

Edited 4 October 2021 by Chocolate Teapot

[Leicester_Loyal]

4 hours ago, hejammy said:

 

Case and point. I think some people just do not get football. He was put on to be the destroyer and not the creator. Youri, Lookman and Barnes we're there to be the creators, Youri and Barnes we're awful but the hate is pointed at Hamza even though out of the 3 he did his job the best. I wonder why? 

Spot on.

 

Hamza hasn't got points in the bank from previous like those two, so fans go for him rather than them. Barnes was absolutely shocking yesterday and hardly anyone is calling Tielemans out even though his passing completion probably wasn't much better than Hamzas.

 

Hamza did exactly what we needed him to yesterday, he hassled Palace for every minute he was on the pitch. The lad deserves more minutes after that performance IMO.

[Munshi]

He was good yesterday, put himself about winning headers and winning fouls at important times. He had a presence in the middle of the pitch that we honestly look like we've been missing.

 

If you don't agree just go and watch what happened to our midfield after he went off.

[moore_94]

15 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Spot on.

 

Hamza hasn't got points in the bank from previous like those two, so fans go for him rather than them. Barnes was absolutely shocking yesterday and hardly anyone is calling Tielemans out even though his passing completion probably wasn't much better than Hamzas.

 

Hamza did exactly what we needed him to yesterday, he hassled Palace for every minute he was on the pitch. The lad deserves more minutes after that performance IMO.

Both had 71% pass completion

 

Hamza:

34 passes, 24 completed (15 own half, 9 their half)

3 long passes, 2 completed

0 key passes

 

Youri:

45 passes, 32 completed (17 own half, 15 their half)

9 long passes, 5 completed

1 key pass

 

[Leicester_Loyal]

2 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Both had 71% pass completion

 

Hamza:

34 passes, 24 completed (15 own half, 9 their half)

3 long passes, 2 completed

0 key passes

 

Youri:

45 passes, 32 completed (17 own half, 15 their half)

9 long passes, 5 completed

1 key pass

 

Was relying on a stats nerd to bail me out, cheers

 

Point stands really then, not much difference yet Hamza put himself about, blocked, hassled and stopped loads of attacks.

[volpeazzurro]

2 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

At the end of the day, some people are just never going to get it. 

 

I think it's easy to under estimate the football intelligence of guys like Ndidi, Kante, Fabinho, Fernandinho, Gaye, etc. Even someone like Papy Mendy has an awareness for the game that can probably only be partly coached. 

 

Hamza is a good athlete and a really hard working pro but it's possible there's not a coach in the world that will ever teach him to read a game, hold a better shape and pick his moment. If it was that straightforward we'd all be world class footballers. 

Whilst I understand and agree with what you're saying, I wonder at times whether Rodgers actually allows our players to use this football intelligence you mention?

 

How do we explain how the same players started the previous two seasons playing fast flowing fluid football only later to get turned into backwards and sideways passing robots? Was that their football intelligence kicking in or were they being micro-managed?

Watch some of our younger players and there seems a fear to go off script and who can blame them, if you don't do as ordered, there's always seemingly a managers favourite to take your place regardless of form or ability. 

 

 

[volpeazzurro]

2 hours ago, TJB-fox said:

I’ve seen plenty of positivity towards Choudhury’s performance yesterday

Yes in fairness so have I. 

[volpeazzurro]

2 hours ago, st albans fox said:

From a pedant’s perspective, Bertrand was sent off as we scored the first and vester was hooked at 0-5 ….

Could have been 11 if not then 🤣🤣