Choudhury

[Blanchflower78]

He did well enough in a slightly subdued team performance. Thank god we retained him and not brought in Chalabah. 

[gerblod]

8 hours ago, Clever Fox said:

Defensively he done well today especially second Half. However he offers nothing going forward and that's what effected us most today. He never played one forward pass in the game.

It's as if he's afraid to play a forward pass thru fear.

 

We really missed Wilf  pace and that's the challenge to find someone with pace and can pass forward.

 

Same old, same old - negative criticism for a central defensive player because he's not Wilf.

The point was made in the post round-up on RL yesterday that he's still comparitively young and, given that, still able to develop.

 

You use the word "fear". If you were playing at that level, with thousands of eyes evaluating your performance, wouldn't you choose to be cautious about risking losing possession and causing, potentially, a goal?

What you perjoratively choose to label as "fear", appears to me to be a demonstration of good tactical sense.

Tielemans lost possession several times yesterday in attempting to unlock their defence. Do we lambast him for his irresponsibility? No, we praise his technical prowess when that pass comes off.

The whole attacking component in front of Hamza was failing to penetrate Wolves defence, so why single him out for being ineffective in positively affecting the forward play.

Of the core defence only Evans was consistently attempting to carry the ball forward.

 

Do we even need to "find someone" at this time? Wilf should be back soon enough and Praet should return for the latter stage of the season.

 

Had BR the luxury of a mid-table season he might be tempted to try Justin there in the absence of Wilf, and employ Thomas at left back. Justin is the most complete footballer we have. I suspect, though, that there'd be a meltdown on this forum if that tweak didn't go according to plan.

Seems to me that asking anyone to emulate N'Didi is sheer nonsense - unless, of course, the wee man would take a pay cut and Chelsea would be willing to let him go.

 

[deanolegend1989]

2 minutes ago, frany104 said:

How is he getting criticism??? I’ve not been his biggest fan but he was clearly one of our best players yesterday. People saying Mendy passes forward better hamza??? All Mendy does is pass sideways. 
 

give the lad some credit for a good performance. I’m pretty confident without him yday we would have lost.

👏👏. Spot on the money.

 

Hamza and Mendy are both sideways passers and don’t offer much in an attacking sense. However Hamza is a country mile better at breaking up play and getting about the pitch.

 

We lose a lot without Wilf, he’s the perfect destroyer but Hamza is clearly the better replacement as he offers lots of strengths as Mendy is a nothing player.

[daddylonglegs]

15 hours ago, funkyrobot said:

I would expect a central midfielder at the top end of the premier league to show some ability and confidence to try and play some balls that may help bring a goal. Hamza shuffled the ball backwards and it resulted in Evans often having to attempt a percentage pass instead. It’s also slowed our game and allowed Wolves to pretty much leave him alone when we had the ball and focus all of their attention on Tielemans.   

Probably the most balanced way of looking at it. 

 

People saying his performance was 'monstrous' or 'massive' must have such low expectations for the guy. In contrast to this you've got people saying he should be playing KDB like passes against the deepest of deep blocks. 

 

He does his job fine (probably not to a top 6 PL standard, lets be honest). 

[fazzyfox]

For me the key word in the Choudhury / Mendy debate is "Physicality". I wasn't overly keen on Mendy partly down to the Puel era pointless water carrier role next to Ndidi, in fact he does my head in with what I call his "broken toy" manoeuvre where he waddles sideways across the pitch and then passes backwards without even looking forwards as if his heads screwed on the wrong way but covering for Ndidi this season he has put in some very good performances, intercepting, taking the ball off opponents when it doesn't like likely and recycling it, mobile, sharp and looking even looking forwards but in our poorest results and performances we and he have been physically bullied out of games. Whilst Leeds had more than physicality, they have that "Billy Wizz on acid" tempo, there were times when he was unable to put a challenge in as they just armed him off, shoving him off the pitch or out of the way. As our one DM that's not a good enough shield for the back four and I think it was one time too many for Rodgers. I think horses for courses he'd be fine against many opponents but not so against others. Choudhury may be a bit scruffier and hit and miss with his distribution but he won't be bullied out of games. There's also the set piece situations having that one extra big unit in there, not that much seems to change with our record at either end.

Ndidi showed when he returned the difference, he really is top drawer at what he does, forget season statistics he's got too much catching up to do now to be top of the PL list this time but like backing up Vardy what do we expect, to have a second world class DM waiting in the wings for Ndidi's next spell of injury? There will be many games where Mendy will be sufficient and look decent, others where Choudhury will be the better option but hopefully we'll be back to our world class option ASAP and having the option of bringing the others on to see out games will be a bonus.

 

[Simonb]

Not his biggest fan and would like an upgraded version in the summer, but I thought he was decent yesterday.... supported Justin well to double up on Traore, made some good strong 'Hamza' challenges.... wasn't too great on the ball, but to be honest, who was yesterday

 

We're going to need Hamza, whether we like it or not if we are to go far in the cups whilst challenging for top 4, bit unfair to judge when he just gets called in if Ndidi isn't fit as he's never really been given a run in the team to see what he could do if given consistent minutes... maybe he just isn't good enough (which is my current stance), but when you have someone of Wilfs ILK in front of you, you're always going to be second fiddle. And he's not that bad of an option, we've had worse

 

I wouldn't mind seeing him go out on loan somewhere in the EPL for a full season to see what he can do playing week in week out, provided we upgrade on him and don't just snatch at someone like Chalobah. If he performs well, bring him in the following season, if not, offload for what we can get, but he deserves a chance and Wilf won't stick around in sunny ol Leicester forever

[Koke]

16 hours ago, funkyrobot said:

I would expect a central midfielder at the top end of the premier league to show some ability and confidence to try and play some balls that may help bring a goal. Hamza shuffled the ball backwards and it resulted in Evans often having to attempt a percentage pass instead. It’s also slowed our game and allowed Wolves to pretty much leave him alone when we had the ball and focus all of their attention on Tielemans.   

 

Accurate post. 

 

He did OK. On one hand I realise he is a back up CDM but on the other hand I expect a CDM in a top end Premier League team to pass the ball forward and wide to start attacks. All he did was give it back to Evans and Soyuncu. He did the basics well in terms of tackling and blocking but if he is getting heaps of praise for that then people have incredibly low standards and expectations for Hamza. 

 

Hope Mendy plays v  Liverpool if Ndidi isn't fit. All Liverpool need to do to nullify us is press Tielemans and Maddison, and allow Hamza to have the ball. 

 

Ultimately if we wanna be a serious team and consistent top 4 material, this is an area that needs looking at. We have solved our defensive cover well. Now we need to do the same with our midfield. Sell Hamza in the summer for Schlupp type money and try to find someone with higher potential.

[Claridge]

Hamzas positional play is awful,always seems half asleep and then charges in like a mad man. Couple of times yesterday we were nearly caught out by his lack of positional awareness when he should of been aware of traores one on ones. If he plays a significant amount against the better teams we will struggle.

[MPH]

17 hours ago, funkyrobot said:

I would expect a central midfielder at the top end of the premier league to show some ability and confidence to try and play some balls that may help bring a goal. Hamza shuffled the ball backwards and it resulted in Evans often having to attempt a percentage pass instead. It’s also slowed our game and allowed Wolves to pretty much leave him alone when we had the ball and focus all of their attention on Tielemans.   

 

Are you old enough to have watched David Batty playing for England?

[Dr The Singh]

He isn't bad but he isn't to the level that were at.  His strengths and weaknesses are there to see.  For a team that wants to play expansive football and aim for the top 4, he just doesn't quite cut it.  Nor does Mendy, but BR obviously prefers him, and you can see why, he links the play better.

 

I hope the kid moves on and get some playing time in a prem club.  He would be fab at a lower end club that needs a tough tackler.

[Le Renard]

From Sly Sports:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11712/12211358/hamza-choudhury-yan-dhanda-says-fellow-british-south-asian-player-is-a-class-act-and-proud-of-his-roots

 

 

[Koke]

1 hour ago, MPH said:

 

Are you old enough to have watched David Batty playing for England?

 

David Batty last played for England in 1998. A full 23 years ago.

 

Even a thug like Vinnie Jones was once a top flight footballer, unbelievable as it may sound. Thankfully we've moved on from those days and football has improved significantly where we expect more from our keepers, centre backs and defensivemidfielders. Vinnie Jones wouldn't even make it at Championship level today. Even most Championship clubs expect their CDMs to do more than commit GBH on opponents. 

[Brizzle Fox]

Exceptionally limited player but will have to do for now. Won't be at the club longer term as never going to be good enough for us, but as long as he gives his all whilst he is here then that's probably all we can ask for. 

[Foxxed]

14 hours ago, Major Singh Chail said:

It was tatical by Rogers. Needed someone to do a job on Traore.

Mendy would have been a bit light weight.

This.

 

Too many games this season our midfield have been bullied.

 

This doesn’t happen when Ndidi plays. But it does happen when Mendy plays.

 

Hamza needs to improve his passing. And that will improve with game time.

 

[Clever Fox]

6 hours ago, gerblod said:

Same old, same old - negative criticism for a central defensive player because he's not Wilf.

The point was made in the post round-up on RL yesterday that he's still comparitively young and, given that, still able to develop.

 

You use the word "fear". If you were playing at that level, with thousands of eyes evaluating your performance, wouldn't you choose to be cautious about risking losing possession and causing, potentially, a goal?

What you perjoratively choose to label as "fear", appears to me to be a demonstration of good tactical sense.

Tielemans lost possession several times yesterday in attempting to unlock their defence. Do we lambast him for his irresponsibility? No, we praise his technical prowess when that pass comes off.

The whole attacking component in front of Hamza was failing to penetrate Wolves defence, so why single him out for being ineffective in positively affecting the forward play.

Of the core defence only Evans was consistently attempting to carry the ball forward.

 

Do we even need to "find someone" at this time? Wilf should be back soon enough and Praet should return for the latter stage of the season.

 

Had BR the luxury of a mid-table season he might be tempted to try Justin there in the absence of Wilf, and employ Thomas at left back. Justin is the most complete footballer we have. I suspect, though, that there'd be a meltdown on this forum if that tweak didn't go according to plan.

Seems to me that asking anyone to emulate N'Didi is sheer nonsense - unless, of course, the wee man would take a pay cut and Chelsea would be willing to let him go.

 

No he's not Wilf but the difference between winning and losing was Wilfs pace,  You need your midfielders to set the tempo and drive others on. That wasn't the only reason we didn't win.

 

There were plenty of times Hamza could have played forward passes instead chose to pass sideways, funnily the same criticism that's leveled at Mendy. 

I've watched a lot of Hamza at 23 level also and in my opinion he's being used wrong. But I can also understand why Brendan play him there.

As a choice between him and Mendy I'd have Mendy simply because he's a better footballer. Especially if Wilf wasn't available.

 

Losing the Ball is part of the game what's important is when and where the risk is taken. Youri was also having to work twice as hard because he was effectively in there alone. 

Maddison had to even come back to help out.

We've needed another Wilf type Midfielder all season. Brendan had chances to try alternative midfield options yet chose not too.

 What he should have done was signed someone like Doucoure who had another excellent game the weekend for Everton.

Sometimes to open up the opposition you just need the key, Why didn't he bring on Under who just might have  been able to create the opportunity we needed.

Not signing a Midfielder or Striker might just cost top 4 again.

 

As to Hamza, He just isn't good enough if we're going to move to the next level.

[Clever Fox]

9 hours ago, dayday said:

There’s not a lot more he could of done, Wolves low block made us play sideways.

 

If Rodgers had played Under then things might have been different as we would then have 2 wingers who can breakdown the Wolves defence.

 

In the circumstances he played very well.

It wasn't there low block that troubles is. It was their counter attacking forward play. And we know how to beat that is to move the ball quickly from back to front. Yet Hamza chose to play safe passing the responsibility to someone else mostly Evans. If he is going to progress he's going to have to learn how to move the ball quicker.

 

Yes, Brendan could have brought on Under as he would have troubled them with his directness and pace.

 

He done ok with room for improvement. 

[gurru991]

3 minutes ago, Clever Fox said:

It wasn't there low block that troubles is. It was their counter attacking forward play. And we know how to beat that is to move the ball quickly from back to front. Yet Hamza chose to play safe passing the responsibility to someone else mostly Evans. If he is going to progress he's going to have to learn how to move the ball quicker.

 

Yes, Brendan could have brought on Under as he would have troubled them with his directness and pace.

 

He done ok with room for improvement. 

Good post

The nice thing is that the Leicester coaching staff can review the video with Hamza & hopefully talk about making more forward passes.

I think Hamza's confidence took a bit of a kicking with his red cards & the criticism that followed.

Let's hope he can push on with some European footie & more premier league apps.

[Clever Fox]

8 minutes ago, gurru991 said:

Good post

The nice thing is that the Leicester coaching staff can review the video with Hamza & hopefully talk about making more forward passes.

I think Hamza's confidence took a bit of a kicking with his red cards & the criticism that followed.

Let's hope he can push on with some European footie & more premier league apps.

Yes, I totally agree with you. I wasn't criticizing Hamza, He's very good at what he does. It just for him to get to the next level he's going to have to effect the game in some way.

It's with the Ball at his feet he has the problem, He needs to back himself in judging the game at times. that will lift his confidence.

He's definitely still carrying confidence issues since the sending off. He needs to forget about it which is not easy for someone who like to mix it.   

I'd be a little worried about him in Europe where I'm not sure he'd get away with one of his lunges.

As for Here I just think the Team may have outgrown him.

[MPH]

3 hours ago, Koke said:

 

David Batty last played for England in 1998. A full 23 years ago.

 

Even a thug like Vinnie Jones was once a top flight footballer, unbelievable as it may sound. Thankfully we've moved on from those days and football has improved significantly where we expect more from our keepers, centre backs and defensivemidfielders. Vinnie Jones wouldn't even make it at Championship level today. Even most Championship clubs expect their CDMs to do more than commit GBH on opponents. 

 

well,  my only point was that if you thought Hamza had passed sideways a lot you should watch David batty play for England... that’s ALL he did, pass sideways.

[fuchsntf]

Spite all the fans thoughts that we have...

Hamza, Perez Mendy, Nacho,Amartey even Albrighton ( mentioned in negative dispatches ), has low level fringe players....

Its quite pathetic having 8+ Bloody Pages on each ,attacking each Player repeatitivily, week in week out,trying to push errors/mistakes that

even our so called top players also regularly make...

These fringe players are still enabling us since 23 games to compete & hold Top 4.

 

Nothing wrong in putting odd opinions over in individuals delivery of Quality or performances....

What I find debasing and OTT obsessive is the same People just going on about it..& wringing out the same stone....

 

We have Covid-bubbles, we have had chronic-injuries...We are Not going to find the answer in a January transfer window,   

> Covid-sport-situation, & Financial prudencey because of Covid....

Our squad is what it is...playing The same Record getting stuck in the same Groove over the individuals aint going to change it..Bit

Marking & chasing up every Single mistake, is just total nonsense and is Proof itself of unbalanced & quite ill-thought- out agendas.!!

Edited 8 February 2021 by fuchsntf

[sacreblueits442]

On 07/02/2021 at 17:25, funkyrobot said:

I would expect a central midfielder at the top end of the premier league to show some ability and confidence to try and play some balls that may help bring a goal. Hamza shuffled the ball backwards and it resulted in Evans often having to attempt a percentage pass instead. It’s also slowed our game and allowed Wolves to pretty much leave him alone when we had the ball and focus all of their attention on Tielemans.   

...have been saying what you were seeing from Hamza is not his normal game!!!

  Played more like his normal style yesterday and  can play a lot more forward and I am sure we will  see that in due course.  I suspect Rodgers and Hamza have sat down and evaluated his skill set from Hamzas' point of view and not how Rodger's is looking for him to play.

  If it ends up he has to leave to become a good professional then so be it, I feel there has been a turning point in his how he is seen at the club.

[Col city fan]

Hamza gets far too much stick on here. He’s a perfectly adequate squad player at Leicester and at the moment I’d play him above Mendy personally.

We have a SQUAD of players. Not everyone is going to be a clear, first choice starter. 

[majaco]

O the.commentary yesterday, I think it was said that Choudhury's grandad used to take him everywhere to watch Leicester.  I thought I had read he wasn't a fan ( it is possible that both are true and his grandad is more discerning).

 

I believe Barnes and Thomas are fans (Vardy and Scmeichel should have come round by now)

[lcfc sheff]

The most annoying thing is theres loads of little things he could improve on which would make him a decent player. I’m not sure if he’s just not being coached correctly or he’s isn’t being told the right things?

 

clubs love nothing more than a player that gets stuck in, but his constant backwards and sideway passes, (most to be fair to players who are decent on the ball) would be nice to see him with some confidence to make something happen.

[Koke]

42 minutes ago, lcfc sheff said:

The most annoying thing is theres loads of little things he could improve on which would make him a decent player. I’m not sure if he’s just not being coached correctly or he’s isn’t being told the right things?

 

clubs love nothing more than a player that gets stuck in, but his constant backwards and sideway passes, (most to be fair to players who are decent on the ball) would be nice to see him with some confidence to make something happen.

 

 

Unfortunately he just isn't that good. Puel and Rodgers know a thing or two about improving young players. 

 

He made his debut 3 and a half years ago. In that time we've seen so many players his age group improve significantly. Maddison, Barnes, Chilwell, Justin, Soyuncu. Hamza has stood still more or less. He's still the same player that made his debut in September 2017.