League Cup versus Brighton, 27th October 7.45. Pre match thread.

[StanSP]

9 hours ago, TK95 said:

Think everyone is agreement of playing Danny Ward.

 

Which means Brendan will troll us and start Kasper 

Wouldn't be the worst bit of trolling  

[BKLFox]

4 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Not necessarily, we could go 3-4-3 which may well happen given Perez looked to be struggling and Maddison won't be risked.

Not sure that works as wing backs occupy the same space as Barnes n Lookman but more importantly the centre of front 3 would be Daka more than likely, which means there’s not really a feeding/hold up style player to feed either side, Nacho probably could do it.
If relying on the centre 2 to do this as well as fight the midfield puts an awful lot on them especially as it’s probably not going to be Youri in there.

433 would make more sense in this scenario to allow fringe players like Thomas/KDH, 1 maybe 2 from DVS and Barnes n Lookman to get  a run also and allows a 3rd more attacking midfielder. 🤷‍♂️ 

Edited 25 October 2021 by BKLFox

[lcfc sheff]

1 hour ago, weller54 said:

Nelson might get 45 minutes.

A half Nelson.

NOT THIS AGAIN 

[weller54]

5 minutes ago, lcfc sheff said:

NOT THIS AGAIN 

I know!!!..

Gives you the Willies doesn't it!

[Stevosevic]

Win this. 

 

Its the quarter finals next - i want to win everything we can while we have a squad capable of lifting trophies 

[NaijaFox]

9 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Not suggesting we throw the game, but this season if you win the League Cup, you only qualify for the Conference League, not the Europa. So although it's still a trophy, it's lost even more of it's allure and is a far cry from when MON had us competing in finals for the competition regularly. So in terms of priorities it's at the bottom of the list.

 

Brighton I could see going full strength. They would be in with a great chance of winning the thing and without European football and looking already safe in the league, why not go for it? Whereas for us with things still on a knife-edge in Europe we should protect players, especially with Arsenal up next in the league.

Doubtful, as they have Liverpool away at the weekend and would likely be looking to avoid a drubbing at Anfield.

Meanwhile, agree with you on our relative priorities but there’s no reason to think (or any sort of ‘guarantee’) that if we lose this we would then go on and do well in other competitions. My sentiment is to simply try to win one-game-at-a-time.

 

Losing (or winning) can quickly become a habit, and frankly as good as we potentially could be this season (and despite being optimistic by nature), we could still end up trophy-less and out of European positions in the league, without being poor.

 

Let’s just try to win anything we can - one game at a time. 

 

Edited 25 October 2021 by NaijaFox

[An Sionnach]

1 hour ago, MarriedaLeicesterGirl said:

Yes, but if Fofana comes back in form, and Cags sees a sports psychologist, and Evans gets a good pair of orthopedic shoes, four at the back might not be suicidal again. The Manager wants a 4-1-4-1, but hasn't been able to force it quite yet.

Personally I think he is becoming less and less enamoured by " wingers" particularly those who do not defend. The only players who can be excused for not getting back are the two strikers and even they should press hard. If Harvey wants to get back in Rodgers's good books he had better start defending when we are not in possession. Ricardo, Tim and JJ are excellent wing backs anyway so why not make use of that?

[MarriedaLeicesterGirl]

12 minutes ago, NaijaFox said:

 

Losing (or winning) can quickly become a habit, and frankly as good as we potentially could be this season (and despite being optimistic by nature), reality is that we could also just as easily end up trophy-less and out of European positions in the league.

 

I agree, to some extent (despite my 9 change suggested line up). I wouldn't be giving Mendy and Benko starts, or handing something as a reward to the U23's. At the same time, the team looked tired on Sunday, especially after the flight to Moscow and back, and we have the early game on Saturday against Arsenal..

I wonder what the strongest reasonable team is? Could we play a 3-4-1-2 with Barnes up top with Daka or in the hole? Can we plan on giving Youri and Soumare 60 minutes before brining in KDH and Hamza? Madison is probably not knackered. 

Also, beginning with this round, there are five substitutions, so, as they say in Rome: Boh!

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, BKLFox said:

Not sure that works as wing backs occupy the same space as Barnes n Lookman but more importantly the centre of front 3 would be Daka more than likely, which means there’s not really a feeding/hold up style player to feed either side, Nacho probably could do it.
If relying on the centre 2 to do this as well as fight the midfield puts an awful lot on them especially as it’s probably not going to be Youri in there.

433 would make more sense in this scenario to allow fringe players like Thomas/KDH, 1 maybe 2 from DVS and Barnes n Lookman to get  a run also and allows a 3rd more attacking midfielder. 🤷‍♂️ 

Many teams adopt a 3-4-3 with wide forwards and wing backs, as it stands it requires elite wing backs to run the whole flanks on their own, we've seen how Castagne and Ricardo can struggle at times with no support, there's only a handful of players that play it consistently well in my opinion.

[NaijaFox]

32 minutes ago, MarriedaLeicesterGirl said:

I agree, to some extent (despite my 9 change suggested line up). I wouldn't be giving Mendy and Benko starts, or handing something as a reward to the U23's. At the same time, the team looked tired on Sunday, especially after the flight to Moscow and back, and we have the early game on Saturday against Arsenal..

I wonder what the strongest reasonable team is? Could we play a 3-4-1-2 with Barnes up top with Daka or in the hole? Can we plan on giving Youri and Soumare 60 minutes before brining in KDH and Hamza? Madison is probably not knackered. 

Also, beginning with this round, there are five substitutions, so, as they say in Rome: Boh!

Personally, I would be resting Evans, Youri and Vardy in any case. 

Conversely, Daka, Barnes and Lookman deserve game time here (which would mean resting Nacho), just as Ward should start.

 

Think we could make as many as 5/6 changes and still field a relatively strong team for this game - a benefit of adding depth over the summer.

It also helps that Brighton would more likely field a relatively weakened side for this game, given it has a tough away fixture at Anfield this weekend.

 

Edited 25 October 2021 by NaijaFox

[An Sionnach]

9 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Many teams adopt a 3-4-3 with wide forwards and wing backs, as it stands it requires elite wing backs to run the whole flanks on their own, we've seen how Castagne and Ricardo can struggle at times with no support, there's only a handful of players that play it consistently well in my opinion.

3-4-1-2 seems to be our most solid set up . It gives us a stronger core. If Barnes wants to get back in I can only see it as one of the front two and  at the moment he is 4th in line.

[Paninistickers]

433 

 

Ward

Amartey (rb)

Vestergaard 

Cags

Bertrand

 

Kdh

Hamza

Soumare

 

Barnes

Daka

Lookman

 

[Foxes96]

Mental that we can field a “reserve” front 3 of: 

Lookman - Daka - Barnes.

 

Personally would probably pick all 3 of those over anything Brighton have (Welbeck, Maupay, Trossard etc.) Not meant as a slight on Brighton think they have a decent team with some good players but shows our improvement in depth at the top of the pitch at the minute. 

[BKLFox]

1 minute ago, Paninistickers said:

433 

 

Ward

Amartey (rb)

Vestergaard 

Cags

Bertrand

 

Kdh

Hamza

Soumare

 

Barnes

Daka

Lookman

 

That’s kinda what I’m thinking although I’d go further and swap RB/LB with Thomas and VDC and even think about Benkovic and Mendy in also maybe for Cags and 1 of Soumare or Hamza. 
we would then have those 1st team fringe + DVS players on the bench.

If we want to act like 1 of the big boys we need to do as they do, rest all 1st team we’ve a big game Saturday morning which if we lose just puts us back and the negativity raises its ugly head sgain.

@Ric Flair mentioned earlier theres a lack of academy players getting starts we need to use the Milk cup to blood non 1st team starters otherwise we will always be at a disadvantage to the clubs we are going after.

[sacreblueits442]

On 24/10/2021 at 19:40, An Sionnach said:

I agree ,we should stick with this formation, Castagne to RWB, Thomas to LWB, KDH for Youri and Daka for Vardy. I would keep the three CBs together , the more they play , the stronger they should get.

....we really should not be playing Evans continuously now he is available!!!

We need to entrust some kind of belief in Amartey and Soyuncu working in a back four. We should be looking for rotation and bringing back Barnes and Lookman into the team will give us and them a lift.

[Aus Fox]

Win this! I imagine Chelsea and Liverpool will go through, though got a feeling Man City will go out. 
The QF are in December when Klopp has his hissy fit about fixtures and plays the youth team and sits sulking why they get thrashed away at Leeds.

It’s then all open for us to go and complete the domestic treble within a period of time where some of the big six have won feck all!

Also, the defeat away at Brighton pissed me off more than any other result for a long time - Either spank them or a dodgy 1-0 from a penalty that never was or an offside missed by the officials 

[Paninistickers]

1 hour ago, BKLFox said:

That’s kinda what I’m thinking although I’d go further and swap RB/LB with Thomas and VDC and even think about Benkovic and Mendy in also maybe for Cags and 1 of Soumare or Hamza. 
we would then have those 1st team fringe + DVS players on the bench.

If we want to act like 1 of the big boys we need to do as they do, rest all 1st team we’ve a big game Saturday morning which if we lose just puts us back and the negativity raises its ugly head sgain.

@Ric Flair mentioned earlier theres a lack of academy players getting starts we need to use the Milk cup to blood non 1st team starters otherwise we will always be at a disadvantage to the clubs we are going after.

The Milk Cup. Love it. 

[KrefelderFox666]

I would imagine a fair bit of rotation. Something like:

 

Ward

 

Thomas

Vestergaard

Soyuncu

Amartey

Castagne

 

Soumare

Tielemans

 

Barnes

Daka

Perez

 

I think it will be a tight game, depends what Brighton's bench is like. They will want to be full strength at Anfield on Saturday.

[NasPb]

Ward 

Ricardo 

Vestergaard 

Evans 

Thomas 

 

Mendy a soumare 

Kdh 

Lookman daka Barnes 

Edited 26 October 2021 by NasPb

[goose2010]

Would expect Lamptey to start for them as he came on the other day for his first appearance in 10 months. For me he has potential to be one of the best full backs in the league, attacks well and defends to. 

 

Who ever plays left back will have a tough job keeping him quite. 

[Ric Flair]

Barnes needs a huge performance, I feel he's heading for the doldrums if not as this new system leaves him in no man's land. At least Maddison when he was crap would always get chances in any system being a creative central midfielder but Barnes skill set is prohibited and he's gone from being arguably our most important player in a 4-2-3-1 to not playing any minutes in the last 3 games. Unheard of.

[Ryy]

6 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Barnes needs a huge performance, I feel he's heading for the doldrums if not as this new system leaves him in no man's land. At least Maddison when he was crap would always get chances in any system being a creative central midfielder but Barnes skill set is prohibited and he's gone from being arguably our most important player in a 4-2-3-1 to not playing any minutes in the last 3 games. Unheard of.

Barnes is a thing of the past now Maswanhise is in town 🤤

[An Sionnach]

12 minutes ago, Nannypig7 said:

Barnes is a thing of the past now Maswanhise is in town 🤤

Barnes and Lookman will need to reinvent themselves . Playing wide will be less necessary if we continue with wing backs so upping their goal threat is the way to go. Harvey can do that I am sure but I don't know about Lookman.

[Webbo]

Systems come and go. Barnes will get plenty of game time this season. 

[messerschmitt]

15 minutes ago, An Sionnach said:

Barnes and Lookman will need to reinvent themselves . Playing wide will be less necessary if we continue with wing backs so upping their goal threat is the way to go. Harvey can do that I am sure but I don't know about Lookman.

Some wingers have made excellent wing backs, if they can learn the art of defending they have an attacking flair to go past players that full backs converting to wing backs can't.