LCFC vs. Palace Post-Match Thread

[escape2victory]

59 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

The only way we can play 2 strikers is if we play 3 at the back or we need our 2 wide players to be good enough footballers to play narrower, work harder to fill the spaces. Or we play with no wide players at all and that brings other problems. 

 

For me, the way to get Iheanacho band Vardy in the team currently is to play Kel from the right-ish with Barnes/Lookman on the left and then a midfield 3 with Maddison or Soumare depending on the opposition. 

Yep, either 1 central striker with 2 wingers or 2 strikers and a system behind to properly balance it (3-5-2 etc). Something has to give, no way can we rock up to another PL game with 2 wingers and 2 strikers…..suicide !

[DennisNedry]

4 hours ago, wardyfox86 said:

Yes. And most of us have seen Greg Cunningham and Elvis Hammond run out in a Leicester shirt. Disappointing based on potential, yes. But worst performance ever. Get a grip. 

Agree with the sentiment entirely but I remember Cunningham looked a great signing at the time until his leg break! And Hammond (ankle) was rapid but wasn't a footballer, a bit like James Vaughan

[turkish14]

Im Sure others would have already said…

 

but where is our midfield? This despite (IMO) Hamza having a blinder! Him aside we were non existent. The amount of times they ran through us, with little challenge is worrying.

Youri gave the ball away so many times today, players dallying on the ball, and we were out fought and out muscles all

acriss the pitch.

 

not sure what’s going on, but it’s concerning.

[Blueman1967]

regardless of the result 2 - 0 up, you should be winning most games

[Langston]

Wether we're good or bad makes no odds to me really, I've never been so apathetic with us. Maybe a result of seeing us win everything we'll conceivably win in my lifetime, maybe a result of the ESL bollocks and falling out of love with it all a bit, I don't know. I just really struggle to get bothered now.

[Dan]

It was another totally abject display in a season that seems to just get worse by the game. Have we actually played well once all season? We've had a couple of borderlines but I'd say not really. Community Shield probably but you can debate if that's even particularly competitive.

 

We've had a relatively generous run of fixtures, we've gotten just 8 points from them, and performance wise I think we're lucky to be on as many as that.

 

When Vardy was down injured with what looked like potentially broken ribs I was starting to fear a possible relegation battle. I don't think it will hit that low but we've been absolutely dog shit this season. We are far better than this. Just shit and a load more shit on top.

[trabuch]

3 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

It was another totally abject display in a season that seems to just get worse by the game. Have we actually played well once all season? We've had a couple of borderlines but I'd say not really. Community Shield probably but you can debate if that's even particularly competitive.

 

We've had a relatively generous run of fixtures, we've gotten just 8 points from them, and performance wise I think we're lucky to be on as many as that.

 

When Vardy was down injured with what looked like potentially broken ribs I was starting to fear a possible relegation battle. I don't think it will hit that low but we've been absolutely dog shit this season. We are far better than this. Just shit and a load more shit on top.

We played well for a bit after the 2nd goal today - about 15mins. Bertrand and Barnes is a disaster - why does BR do that? Why is Ricardo benched? Why did Evans play 90 mins v Millwall? What has happened to Soyuncu? Why has Praet gone? Why doesn't Nacho start every game and why was he subbed? I'm confused and disillusioned.

[burbage12]

What concerns me most is the way we never hardly win a second ball..

We can't string 4 or 5 passes together.

Build up play us so slow.

[Mickyblueeyes]

1 hour ago, turkish14 said:

Im Sure others would have already said…

 

but where is our midfield? This despite (IMO) Hamza having a blinder! Him aside we were non existent. The amount of times they ran through us, with little challenge is worrying.

Youri gave the ball away so many times today, players dallying on the ball, and we were out fought and out muscles all

acriss the pitch.

 

not sure what’s going on, but it’s concerning.

This exactly. Yes, the defence is atrocious but what we needed in that second half was someone just to hold it up, be a nuisance and slow down their play. Take the pressure off. No one stood up. Given we’ve got a player in their who openly admits he is considering his options in case something better comes up, is it too much to ask for the superstar to try and slow the game down. Pick it up and knock it about a bit. 
 

A poor defence is always going to frustrate but if they get wave after wave of attacks, any defence is going to concede. It happens every bad run, no one in that midfield can keep hold of the damn thing.

[Blue-fox]

3 minutes ago, trabuch said:

We played well for a bit after the 2nd goal today - about 15mins. Bertrand and Barnes is a disaster - why does BR do that? Why is Ricardo benched? Why did Evans play 90 mins v Millwall? What has happened to Soyuncu? Why has Praet gone? Why doesn't Nacho start every game and why was he subbed? I'm confused and disillusioned.

He plays Bertrand because he doesn’t trust Thomas. He’s hoping Barnes hits form by continuing to play him. 
 

I think Castange is our best right back currently which is why he isn’t playing. 
 

I can see the logic in Evans playing at Millwall IF he did 60 mins and then was available for the league, other than that it was poor judgement. 
 

Soyunco is in poor form but can’t be dropped as we have no one else. 
 

I imagine Praet was sick of not getting a fair chance so wanted first team football. 
 

brendan can’t fancy Ian as he should be one of the first names on the team sheet based on form. 

[Fox in the North]

8 minutes ago, trabuch said:

We played well for a bit after the 2nd goal today - about 15mins. Bertrand and Barnes is a disaster - why does BR do that? Why is Ricardo benched? Why did Evans play 90 mins v Millwall? What has happened to Soyuncu? Why has Praet gone? Why doesn't Nacho start every game and why was he subbed? I'm confused and disillusioned.

Knowing Evan’s foot condition, plantar fasciitis can come and go. I had a mate who had it in in my local rugby team, some days he could play, some days he could barely walk. It’s that fickle.

[trabuch]

1 minute ago, Fox in the North said:

Knowing Evan’s foot condition, plantar fasciitis can come and go. I had a mate who had it in in my local rugby team, some days he could play, some days he could barely walk. It’s that fickle.

That's interesting. So rest doesn't help?

[The boy Linacre]

2 hours ago, Jazzy_Jeff said:

With Ndidi out for a month or so now I’d like to see us try Iheanacho (right) and lookman (left) behind Vardy. Tielemans, Soumare and Choudhury in a 3.

 

Barnes isn’t cutting it and Maddison has offered very little so far this season.

 

We need to take this point and move on. Not a great performance but a result to build on and learn some lessons from. The biggest negative for me is definitely our left hand side. Can’t wait for JJ to be back. Would go with Timmy there next time with Ricardo RB 

I think Nach proved as he did last season, that he can create, score and generally make us a better side.

The only league game I have missed live this season is Brighton,

Barnes is indeed not cutting it, not attacking defenders, v limited goal threat, no support defensively.  If you pick him and its not working he has to be the one taken off.  Lost as to why Hamza went today, the best two players were Hamza & Timmy (by far).

Bertrand (currently) can't defend, can't get forward, has limited fitness and no engine (shot!!), get JJ back as fast as possible with Luke as cover, then actually we might get more out of Vestergaard, if Jonny is continually not fit, Cags was much better and calmer today.

Tielemens needs help, & generally Soumare has quality, is strong and has an engine & imo Choudury played himself until Wilf is back.  Lookman was great first half but close to non-existent 2nd.

But this is where Brendan earns his money as he needs to sort it out quickly.  Probably our best ever squad and SO MANY are totally underperforming or just being plain lazy, or lacking appetite/desire, letting their teammates down.  Play on form now Brendan not reputation.

Much as Maddison has been pants for 6 months, get Barnes off now if he continues to not perform and play Maddison for 2 or 3 games and see if he still wants to make a go of it.

[Adrian]

Useful point today considering..can't really be surprised with our performance 

 

Nothing gets won at this time of year so nil desperandum...

 

FA cup repeat I tell you but gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette 

[trabuch]

1 minute ago, Adrian said:

Useful point today considering..can't really be surprised with our performance 

 

Nothing gets won at this time of year so nil desperandum...

 

FA cup repeat I tell you but gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette 

But you've only got to break one leg to make a complete dog's breakfast of our defense.

[Fox in the North]

15 minutes ago, trabuch said:

That's interesting. So rest doesn't help?

It can do, but it’s a non muscular heel

injury. It can go with treatment but certain people can be prone to it. I’m glad I’ve never had it!

[TAFKA Castroneves]

A proper bizarre game of football frankly. 

 

Vards and Nacho worked hard and won the ball high up the pitch to create the goals and ultimately they both did very well and it was good to see two back up top. 

 

Referee had an absolute shocker - summed up by Tielemans getting a yellow for a perfectly executed tackle 🤷‍♂️ Palaces support seemed to influence him into some dodgy decisions, second half he even started to give us dodgy decisions almost as an attempt to make up for his mistakes, very bizarre! 

 

Our defence wasn’t great - but jeez where did Palace find this attacking threat from? They were relentless for a long time and it wasn’t surprising they snatched a point as they overperformed for what their general standard is. 

 

Ironically walking away with a point wasn’t a disaster in the circumstances, disappointing yes because we took a decent lead but we weren’t the better team. 

 

I think like a lot of people have already alluded to - it’s the new defensive lads who haven’t really got bedded in yet and seem to be causing us to make errors at the back. No one really wants to write them off but Vestergaard and Bertrand have both been underwhelming so far.

 

My biggest concern still remains though how rubbish we are at set pieces, that’s something where I will call Brendan out and say it’s not good enough, how can’t we ever score from a corner?!? We have enough of them, if it’s gonna be this bad don’t even bother trying to win them 🤷‍♂️ we get one of those in and we’d have got through this tough game with three points in more of a s house fashion.

[gerblod]

6 hours ago, adam said:

And what was the point in signing Daka. We're not a club that can afford to sign blokes for a fortune just for them to sit on the bench. If he wasn't ready for the first team we shouldnt of signed him. We needed players to come in and improve the side.  

The spending has been questionable. There have been arguments about Thomas ever since he had "greatness forced upon (him)" in the latter half of last season. There was the camp who couldn't wait to see Bertrand chosen over him because he "was young and lacked experience".

Saints must have been sniggering up their sleeves at getting shut of two average players for good money.

Viera is giving Palace confidence - Rodgers is draining ours. Iheanacho finally gets the nod, gets a class goal and gets subbed. Barnes has lost his mojo and had eventually taken his frustration to doing petty fouls. Tielemans needs a case of Red Bull or summat similar.

Choudhury wasn't bad - neither was Cags. Castagne was the pick of the bunch after Nacho and Vards.

They've lost confidence and hence cohesion. They can't build from the back and they can't defend. It's not often, over the Brendan management, that I've felt that a 2-0 advantage wasn't going to be enough, but this season 4 feels the minimum we'd need to walk away with a win. We owed those goal to defenders' mistakes and not the excellence of our work.

Frankly we're demotivated and hence sloppy.

We've bought large this summer yet I don't see any strength-in-depth - just a bunch of disparate players unable to work together.

 

 

 

 

 

[Leeds Fox]

Nacho and Vardy up top and Fofana, Evans, Soyuncu fit… we’re laughing. Unfortunately that isn’t happening and we’re going to lose our (maybe bar Fofana) World Class player in Tielemans. That will shape our future and unfortunately he is destined for better things. 

[beepee1984]

10 games in and I still think we haven't deserved a win once. I will give him credit for trying a different approach today, but it clearly didn't work.

 

Defensively we are very poor, they are poor with the ball at their feet, they are poor when the opposition have the ball and awful at dealing with crosses or Set-Pieces. If we can't hold on to a 2-0 lead against palace then we are going to struggle.

Yes we will be better with Evans, Fofana and Justin in the team, but these are all long term issues that should have been rectified - bringing in half the back four of last seasons 2nd worst defence clearly didn't work. (Worth pointing out all 3 wins have been when we played Amartey and Thomas)

 

The same players look like they are not interested.

 

I think Rodgers had picked his subs before the match started, taking off the players that played with any credit,

I hear Choudhury had to come off as he wasn't match fit, do we not have a Under 23s team where players can maintain match fitness

 

Vardy and Iheanacho continue to be plus points

 

 

[Leeds Fox]

We’re like a crack addict who gets clean… then for absolutely no reason chases the dragon again. 

[Dan]

Regarding the "have we played well once all season" which I put in earlier, I've done a bit of research, based on the FT match ratings of all places. They're getting probably an average of 150 votes per game and obviously, this is judged against last season. Depends how much you trust the wisdom of crowds.

 

Anyway, the findings are quite telling. So last season we played 53 games in all competitions.

 

Our best performance so far this season was Manchester City in the community shield, which got rated 7.0. This performance is level with 6 games last season which were ranked 13th-18th (the games were WBA (a), Burnley (h), Newcastle (a), Aston Villa (a), Liverpool (h) and Zorya (h) - all six were wins).

 

The next highest is Wolves at home on the opening day, which we got given a 6.5. This is equal to the 1-2 win at AEK Athens last season, which was ranked 29th out of 53.

 

So according to this, our best competitive performance so far has been actually below last seasons average.

 

The others, compared with last season, out of 53...

 

West Ham (a) - 54th (yes, worse than literally any last season)

Norwich (a) - 37th

Man City (h) - 30th

Napoli (h) - 34th

Brighton (a) - 37th

Burnley (h) - 38th

Legia Warsaw (a) - 50th

Crystal Palace (a) - 46th

 

The long and short of it - we've been total shit.

[Hoopla10]

Our defense don't work as a unit. They chase the same ball, they don't communicate, they're headless at times. Soy obviously needs a steady hand beside him to pull him into shape (as was clear from their second goal where he was all over the place). Vestergaard is useless. At times he looks like a non-league player. That "clearance" that led to their goal was staggering. I have zero idea what BR saw in him (if it's true that he'd wanted him for a while). I don't know whether Thomas isn't fit yet but Bertrand isn't good enough for a first team start and looked physically tired half way through the game. Thomas has to play if/when fit until JJ is back. Castagne isn't doing much better. The entire back line is broken. Then there's no Ndidi. And I think that's a massive problem for the rest of the team. We constantly gave the ball away and I think a big reason for that is they're double thinking what to do, there's no confidence and they fear giving the ball away means the opposition get a run at a defense that could let a goal in any moment. So that's what they end up doing. If they push up and press then they'll fear a few balls through or over the top and the opposition will be at our sieve of a defense. 

 

I seriously don't think anything changes until that defense is fixed. We can play around with formations but it doesn't matter. Whatever midfield formation we choose still need the confidence that the defense behind them is solid(ish) so they can be brave on the ball, make those passes and moves. And I don't know what that will take other than some shaman laying on hands and fixing Evans and ideally Fofana. Whatever defensive coach we have must work with these guys over the next couple of weeks to get them working as a unit. I can't believe any international team want them at this point but if they're being recalled I'd seriously ask them not to go. 

 

On the bright side (not that there's much) Maddison looks good when he's come on in the last two games. I get people like to hate on him but he actually looked more like his old self. Oh and we didn't lose. Every point counts. 

Edited 4 October 2021 by Hoopla10

[turkish14]

7 hours ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

This exactly. Yes, the defence is atrocious but what we needed in that second half was someone just to hold it up, be a nuisance and slow down their play. Take the pressure off. No one stood up. Given we’ve got a player in their who openly admits he is considering his options in case something better comes up, is it too much to ask for the superstar to try and slow the game down. Pick it up and knock it about a bit. 
 

A poor defence is always going to frustrate but if they get wave after wave of attacks, any defence is going to concede. It happens every bad run, no one in that midfield can keep hold of the damn thing.

It was wave after wave of attack. If the ball got to Kasper it was launched forward to our strikers whom didn’t have the height to compete. Or dinked to the wings where in most occasions we were static and not responding to the ball. Every time it kept coming back.
 

we have 2 players in the middle of the park, I don’t understand how it was so easy? Maybe others can Explain? It was as like they were not there.

 

some say youri head has been turned, bad performance yesterday (how many balls did he give away) but I don’t see a player not fighting for the cause, so I’m not sure I agree with this. 
 

Im perplexed how to how bad we have become 

[wardyfox86]

9 hours ago, DennisNedry said:

Agree with the sentiment entirely but I remember Cunningham looked a great signing at the time until his leg break! And Hammond (ankle) was rapid but wasn't a footballer, a bit like James Vaughan

I'm getting him confused with Ryan McGivern. Both LBs on loan from Man City in an era my brain is trying to blur for me 

 

Edited 4 October 2021 by wardyfox86