Europa League: v Spartak Moscow (H) Pre-Match Thread

[Chocolate Teapot]

6 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Do you not think the chances he has been given are crap though? In general in those games the whole squads played poorly, he isn’t going to play his best when everyone around is also playing poorly

 

How is a young player ever going to get into a rhythm where they can play to their best when they get 1 appearance a month?

Who's he playing ahead of and in which games? Play him tomorrow night and it has to be at the expense of a Soumare / Maddison or Tielemans - last time that happened he played really poorly against Warsaw.....play him Sunday in an important match that we really need to win? I can't see it. I don't understand where these chances are going to come from - it's a results business and his last outing suggested that Hamza should be ahead of him.

 

We can't afford to just give him chances with how the season's going - he needs to prove he can do it against lesser opposition first, and so far hasn't.

[StriderHiryu]

47 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Would be fascinating if the said set piece coach supports zonal marking, I'd be staggered if they did given how bad we are at it. There's a mild improvement in us attacking set pieces IMO, we are getting better.

Man United also have a zonal marking system at set pieces and are equally bad at it.

 

On paper there is nothing wrong with the system and it can work effectively. You have a clear structure and defend your zone, whereas with man-orientated systems, it can be chaotic and often times it's easier for people to get free of their man with the mess that is going on.

 

But we've been awful at set pieces for a long time now, especially defensively and adding Soumare and Vestergaard hasn't improved it and I would favour a different setup personally. 

 

All that said even in 15/16 we conceded a lot of goals to set pieces till about Christmas time. Then something changed, but I don't think it had anything to do with the system we used, we just seemed to have better concentration. It's also possible as others have mentioned in the past, that having Mahrez and Vardy standing off corners for the counter attack meant that teams deliberately didn't over commit on them against us. So maybe that's something we should look to be doing because teams target Vardy on our defensive corners because of his height, and have been getting results from it.

[lgfualol]

44 facking 2

 

Schemichel

Castagne Evans Soy Thomas

Perez Tielemans Ndidi Lookman

Nacho Daka

[filbertway]

1 hour ago, turlo said:

needs bloody sacking then!

Jesus christ Brendan, don't admit to that.

 

I'm 100% convinced it's still Stowell.

 

There is no way a specialist is advising that every man comes back for defend a corner. Then tell the CBs to stand like Statues on the 6 yard box while our tiny players mark the other teams danger men and inevitably lose them and allow the player to get a running jump on our best headers of the ball.

 

If they are, then they need sacking. Honestly Rodgers winds me up sometimes with the rubbish that comes out of his mouth. He's still David Brent deep down.

Edited 3 November 2021 by filbertway

[Blue and white]

1 hour ago, turlo said:

needs bloody sacking then!

Whoever it is has been fine with Maddison strolling over to every corner for the last few years, leads me to wonder who made the decision to take him off set pieces since around April until the last few weeks. Made me laugh when we became a threat from set pieces once he went off against Man Utd but since then he's been on them for the entirety.

[Ross 'LCFC' Turner]

1 hour ago, Blue and white said:

Whoever it is has been fine with Maddison strolling over to every corner for the last few years, leads me to wonder who make the decision to take him off set pieces since around April until the last few weeks. Made me laugh that were became a threat from set pieces once he went off against Man Utd but ever since then he's been on them for the entirety.

The only recent time I can marginally think of us of being half decent at set pieces is when Albrighton started taking them against last season. Can think of Amartey scoring away at Brighton & Kelechi at home to Man Utd in the FA Cup. 

[KrefelderFox666]

21 minutes ago, Ross 'LCFC' Turner said:

The only recent time I can marginally think of us of being half decent at set pieces is when Albrighton started taking them against last season. Can think of Amartey scoring away at Brighton & Kelechi at home to Man Utd in the FA Cup. 

Who took the one against Brighton in the FA Cup where Iheanacho scored, Tielemans?

 

Just checked, it was a short corner to Tielemans who crossed. Wasn't the Ndidi vs Chelsea one a short corner too? There was also Evans against WBA last season. Eventually scored a few after not scoring for half the season.

Edited 3 November 2021 by KrefelderFox666

[Incognito]

51 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Man United also have a zonal marking system at set pieces and are equally bad at it.

 

On paper there is nothing wrong with the system and it can work effectively. You have a clear structure and defend your zone, whereas with man-orientated systems, it can be chaotic and often times it's easier for people to get free of their man with the mess that is going on.

 

But we've been awful at set pieces for a long time now, especially defensively and adding Soumare and Vestergaard hasn't improved it and I would favour a different setup personally. 

 

All that said even in 15/16 we conceded a lot of goals to set pieces till about Christmas time. Then something changed, but I don't think it had anything to do with the system we used, we just seemed to have better concentration. It's also possible as others have mentioned in the past, that having Mahrez and Vardy standing off corners for the counter attack meant that teams deliberately didn't over commit on them against us. So maybe that's something we should look to be doing because teams target Vardy on our defensive corners because of his height, and have been getting results from it.

It is seriously doing my head in how we bring everyone back to defend corners. It allows the opposition to push numbers onto us, and in the meanwhile we have no outball if we do successfully defend a corner.

 

I really want to see Vardy, and maybe Barnes or Iheanacho, pushed up to the halfway line when we are defending corners.

 

I loved Ranieri's experiment of leaving 3 up, it was certainly bold!

[Ross 'LCFC' Turner]

5 minutes ago, KrefelderFox666 said:

Who took the one against Brighton in the FA Cup where Iheanacho scored, Tielemans?

Under (I think) played it short to Tielemans, we took it quickly as it was literally last kick of the game wasn't it and they completely switched off! 

[moore_94]

44 minutes ago, Ross 'LCFC' Turner said:

The only recent time I can marginally think of us of being half decent at set pieces is when Albrighton started taking them against last season. Can think of Amartey scoring away at Brighton & Kelechi at home to Man Utd in the FA Cup. 

I was looking forward to seeing Bertrand on corners and crossing free kicks, pre-season his set pieces were great

 

Shame they have looked poor during the actual season when he has taken them

[Ross 'LCFC' Turner]

Just now, moore_94 said:

I was looking forward to seeing Bertrand on corners and crossing free kicks, pre-season his set pieces were great

 

Shame they have looked poor during the actual season when he has taken them

Agreed, I even put him in my Fantasy Team based on what I had seen  

[StriderHiryu]

26 minutes ago, Incognito said:

It is seriously doing my head in how we bring everyone back to defend corners. It allows the opposition to push numbers onto us, and in the meanwhile we have no outball if we do successfully defend a corner.

 

I really want to see Vardy, and maybe Barnes or Iheanacho, pushed up to the halfway line when we are defending corners.

 

I loved Ranieri's experiment of leaving 3 up, it was certainly bold!

Well as the entire league found out, Leicester City where often at their most dangerous when our opponent's had a corner in our box!

 

Ranieri's side had probably the best counter attack the league has ever seen, and we could easily incorporate the corner threat aspect of it into our game.

[TheStig]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

Man United also have a zonal marking system at set pieces and are equally bad at it.

 

On paper there is nothing wrong with the system and it can work effectively. You have a clear structure and defend your zone, whereas with man-orientated systems, it can be chaotic and often times it's easier for people to get free of their man with the mess that is going on.

 

But we've been awful at set pieces for a long time now, especially defensively and adding Soumare and Vestergaard hasn't improved it and I would favour a different setup personally. 

 

All that said even in 15/16 we conceded a lot of goals to set pieces till about Christmas time. Then something changed, but I don't think it had anything to do with the system we used, we just seemed to have better concentration. It's also possible as others have mentioned in the past, that having Mahrez and Vardy standing off corners for the counter attack meant that teams deliberately didn't over commit on them against us. So maybe that's something we should look to be doing because teams target Vardy on our defensive corners because of his height, and have been getting results from it.

I completely agree. Keep Vardy right up front at opposition corners. That´ll tie at least 2 of their defenders and an extra benefit less own goals And if Kasper by chance comes out an collects the corner (wishful thinking I know) an immediate counter attack could be the result  -  so a win/win situation.

[SuperMike]

42 minutes ago, TheStig said:

I completely agree. Keep Vardy right up front at opposition corners. That´ll tie at least 2 of their defenders and an extra benefit less own goals And if Kasper by chance comes out an collects the corner (wishful thinking I know) an immediate counter attack could be the result  -  so a win/win situation.

Very, very wishful thinking. Any team bigger than the under-8s and he's TERRIFIED of being clattered.

[Vacamion]

35 minutes ago, TheStig said:

And if Kasper by chance comes out an collects the corner (wishful thinking I know) 

 

I think this has happened maybe once or twice in about 5 years.

 

Kasper has been a terrific servant to the club, has seen us through the best and worst of times, seems to be a right proper bloke and a world class shot stopper (if you close your eyes, you can probably still hear the SLAP of that ball that he kept out in the FA Cup final as it hit his palm), but, in the minus column, Kasper never comes out and claims the ball from crosses or corners.

 

It wasn't such a major issue when we had Huth, Morgan and even Maguire meeting the ball more often than not, but it now seems to be a bit more of an issue, when the box is packed and our lads are marking spaces and letting the opponent get a header, or when Vardy is flicking it goalwards from the near post.

 

 

[sacreblueits442]

5 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

It took Kai Havertz at Chelsea a good 3 or 4 months to get over it.

...I think he is super special!!!

I hope he continues to under perform so we can pick him up for peanuts.

[Bert]

4 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

...... ?

We’ve got a set piece coach  

[Bert]

Kasper 

 

Timmy Soyuncu Evans Bertrand 

 

Ndidi Tielemans Soumare

 

Perez Daka Lookman 

[volpeazzurro]

Schmeichel 

 

Ricardo Evans Soyuncu Thomas 

 

Soumare Ndidi 

 

Tielemans 

 

Daka Iheanacho Barnes 

 

Vardy and Lookman could be good impacts. No place for Maddison or Perez. No place for 352!

[MalletFox]

20 hours ago, NaijaFox said:

Absolutely no one thought we would win the PL either. 

Anyway, remind me never to embark on a venture with you. 

 

BTW, we did NOT prioritize the EL last season.

Thus, we largely played our reserves and focused instead on cracking Top 4.

 

I hear ya Naija and apologies for being a party pooper! 🤣 

 

Agreed we didn’t prioritise the EL last season too, that said, I think we will have similar pressures this season as so much rides on the Premier League too. It’s a lot to throw all your eggs in the EL basket if the risk is to sacrifice final league position (would Europa Conference League qualification still be deemed a successful season?). I would say so personally!

 

Last season Man Utd, RB Leipzig, Ajax & Shakthar all dropped down into the EL, we would have to be at the absolute top of our game for 180mins to beat those teams, even then, account for a silly ref decision, a moment of immature petulance in a massive European game for our inexperienced team and the exit sign hits us on the way out. Very small margins but I just genuinely don’t think we have a chance at all of winning it, I hope I’m wrong!

[volpeazzurro]

3 hours ago, filbertway said:

Jesus christ Brendan, don't admit to that.

 

I'm 100% convinced it's still Stowell.

 

There is no way a specialist is advising that every man comes back for defend a corner. Then tell the CBs to stand like Statues on the 6 yard box while our tiny players mark the other teams danger men and inevitably lose them and allow the player to get a running jump on our best headers of the ball.

 

If they are, then they need sacking. Honestly Rodgers winds me up sometimes with the rubbish that comes out of his mouth. He's still David Brent deep down.

Whilst I don't agree with quite a bit Danny Murphy says, I do agree with his stance on this. If you need several specialist coaches why are you employing all your other coaches? What purpose are they serving, what do they do?

 

If Kolo Toure, an ex defender can't be both a defensive and set peice coach, why the hell are we employing him, what are his duties? If he can't give good input from his professional career as a footballer then it's up to him to study and work on coaching those aspects of the game. If he can't fulfil those duties, get a new one. 

 

St George's Park and Seagrave are merely expensive buildings with brilliant indoor and outdoor facilities. Both are utterly pointless in terms of financial outlay I would suggest unless you have top quality coaches working within them as well. 

[MalletFox]

18 hours ago, iancognito said:

It really depends who drops out of the Champions League groups and who we get in that draw. I fancy us in a one-off game with everyone focussed - FA Cup final style - but I also see the flaw in the logic that we have to go for the EL win because our defence can't cope in the PL right now. If we struggle against mid-table Prem sides, then there's a few in the EL that will give us a proper rogering.

 

Spot on sir! 👍🏻

[MalletFox]

Here’s my guess at the team for what it’s worth …

 

                         Ward

 

          Amartey  Evans  Vesty

 

Ricky P     Youri   Hamza    Thomas 

 

                      Madders

 

                  Nacho   Daka

[MrsJohnMurphy]

Will there be any Covid checks at the ground tomorrow?

[MalletFox]

3 hours ago, KrefelderFox666 said:

Who took the one against Brighton in the FA Cup where Iheanacho scored, Tielemans?

 

Just checked, it was a short corner to Tielemans who crossed. Wasn't the Ndidi vs Chelsea one a short corner too? There was also Evans against WBA last season. Eventually scored a few after not scoring for half the season.

We went through a spell where we had 2 or 3 short corner routines that worked pretty well. Not necessarily scoring directly from them but pulled the defence out and put dangerous balls in. 
 

Feels like we need to mix it up again as tbf, Madders put some decent corners in against Arsenal but Gabriel pretty much gobbled every single one up! We’re just sh*t at attacking the ball in both boxes!