Observations from Preseason

[StriderHiryu]

53 minutes ago, Bordersfox said:

 

Lack of wide options - Perez and Albrighton are not the solution.  Maddison playing behind Vardy is my preferred role for him. He can absolutely do a job out right but he influences the game more linking between midfield and up top, even dropping deep at times to collect he looked good today.  Frankly I'm excited about watching Maddison tear it up next season.  If we can add a ball carrying right winger then honestly my excitement might well morph into full blown arousal.  As a middle aged man that's saying something.

 

 

 

Great point, eloquently put

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, Shane said:

What are your thoughts on Callum Wright? Do you think he will be included in the 25 man squad

I think (and someone might correct me on this) that as an under 23 and homegrown he would not count against the squad limit.

 

That said I think he will be sent out on loan for at least the first half of the season to the Championship and think that would be the right decision. Compare him to KDH from last season and he's nowhere near that level at he moment. Of the potential loan returns, Iversen could be the one that stays here as the cup goal keeper. But he made a few mistakes preseason and think another one at Preston as first team keeper might still be the right choice for him. But I suppose if we don't start blooding keepers in the cup games now, we never will.

 

Wright and Braybrooke look quite good and think both have the potential to make it there. But they need to go the Barnes / Chilwell / KDH route first. To be honest I think that would also help out Luke Thomas who is in that weird place of being too good for the Championship but not quite good enough for the first team. But with 5 subs perhaps he still quit a few games this season or at least minutes. We will have to see.

[coolhandfox]

Whisper it quietly we haven't conceded from a set pieces for a few games........   

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, lgfualol said:

Almost every player just looks like they have some confidence back to me. There doesnt seem to be hiding from the ball and it's all just looks a lot calmer. Maybe it's just because it's preseason, but hopefully it's all taken into the season. 

 

Agree with this, everyone seems happy and in a good place. Soumare was the one that looked a bit nervous and even he's started to look more confident. Look at how happy Callum Wright was to score, and then look at how happy Patson Daka was for him! That's a really good sign to see in any team or group collective.

 

1 hour ago, Scotch said:

On the subject of Soumare...

 

He has looked decent but IIRC he looked decent last pre season too. This would play into what we already know about him in that he plays better at the slower tempo of pre season games, or the french league. The minute the tempo hits PL level, that's when we will see if he's finally settled into the team (which I sincerely hope he has). 

I want to be careful not to hype him too much, which I was largely responsible for last time round . But I will say a few things about him. He's doing noticeably more running, he's releasing the ball WAY faster (possibly even too fast), he's getting stuck in, his positions are much better and he's not trying to dribble past everyone all the time. He's playing more like a Premier League player than a Ligue 1 player, and that could make all the difference.

 

51 minutes ago, Shane said:

I wonder if we will create a bit of a siege mentality next season? Eventually the media are going to write us off if we make zero signings, highlight our ‘problems’, etc.
 

The players might want to prove a few of the doubters wrong.. 

Definitely possible and the sort of thing I'm hoping for. However, mentality aside, this is a team that finished 5th twice AND won the FA Cup AND got to the semi finals of both the League Cup and the Conference League. We have a good team that is largely unchanged and has upgrades in depth. Vardy also somehow seems to have the Duracell rabbit longevity. Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic also prove you can keep going till quite old if you have the quality.

 

51 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

What I'm most worried about is this was a similar picture to the end of last pre season. Everything was just starting to click together, and that Fofana injury cut us back hugely. Not only last season, but this season too with that goddam awful decision to buy Vestergaard.  

 

Sssh! Don't jinx it!

 

43 minutes ago, lcfcdamo said:

Id say we need 1 new player a top class right winger then i will be confident of a good season i honestly think we are good in every other positions 

Preaching to the choir here, of which there are many converts! It's hard to find a good one though, Madueke is rough around the edges for example. I think the winger from Rennes would actually be a great signing despite his age TBH, because I think he would make an immediate difference and could play both sides, even if he won't have resale value.

[StriderHiryu]

4 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Whisper it quietly we haven't conceded from a set pieces for a few games........   

 

I feel like 7 is some kind of record for us...

[Ric Flair]

17 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

I think (and someone might correct me on this) that as an under 23 and homegrown he would not count against the squad limit.

 

That said I think he will be sent out on loan for at least the first half of the season to the Championship and think that would be the right decision. Compare him to KDH from last season and he's nowhere near that level at he moment. Of the potential loan returns, Iversen could be the one that stays here as the cup goal keeper. But he made a few mistakes preseason and think another one at Preston as first team keeper might still be the right choice for him. But I suppose if we don't start blooding keepers in the cup games now, we never will.

 

Wright and Braybrooke look quite good and think both have the potential to make it there. But they need to go the Barnes / Chilwell / KDH route first. To be honest I think that would also help out Luke Thomas who is in that weird place of being too good for the Championship but not quite good enough for the first team. But with 5 subs perhaps he still quit a few games this season or at least minutes. We will have to see.

They have to be under 21 on 1st January of the year you are in not to count in the 25 man squad. That's why Thomas won't have to count but Fofana will, even though both are 21. Fofana born in 2000 and Thomas 2001. Wright will take up a space if he gets one.

[majaco]

Can we move on from Nigel Preseason?

[MarriedaLeicesterGirl]

40 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

They have to be under 21 on 1st January of the year you are in not to count in the 25 man squad. That's why Thomas won't have to count but Fofana will, even though both are 21. Fofana born in 2000 and Thomas 2001. Wright will take up a space if he gets one.

Thank goodness the U23's is changing to an U21's...it will help end that confusion!

[Adrian]

Mendys is really growing on me

 

We will leave some excellent midfielders on the bench 

 

Thomas will be 4th choice 

 

Not gonna make same mistake as last year and get all excited about prospects 

 

[LinekersLugs]

Have to be honest and say I think the squad looks very together and that’s a good sign 

 

less pessimistic than I was 

[Tom12345]

Good post @StriderHiryu.

 

I agree we have a decent team, despite Rodgers stating that he wanted a squad refresh and 5 or so new players.

 

Remember how excited we were before Fofana’s injury last season with the same squad before we added Vesty (waste of squad space) though minus Lookman (he will be a loss)?

 

Also, we could fill two full squads with senior players!!

 

I think the club is right to demand that we don’t add to our squad unless we sell. Rodgers was the one who signed players who he no longer wishes to play last season.

 

For me, I like to add to your observations:

- Maddison looks fantastic as you implied and we must keep him

- But what about KDH? He supplied so many good forward passes including assists! How good was his through ball to Vardy for yesterday’s first goal? I feel we are ready to lose Tielemans who has been inconsistent last season

- We really need to offload Hamza. He is just not good enough and apart from his defensive skills he has nothing to offer in anything going forward. We already have Ndidi and Mendy so he must go to free up space

- Mendy was great again and what about his long ball to Daka? He is so much better than Hamza and if not for his height he is better than Ndidi

- Ndidi may be coming back from injury but with the other midfielders playing so well and his continuing lack of adequate ball controlling / forward passing skills hampering our free flowing football as you mentioned, I am not sure he should be a regular in our first team anymore even when he is back to full fitness. Contrast the game between Derby and PNE, we scored 3 in the former but we were a bit our old selves in terms of boring backwards and sideway passing with Ndidi and Hamza. But what a great player (Ndidi) to have available

- We also have Praet back who looked great. Rodgers, why don’t you use what we have instead of always looking?

- Soumare played well last two games as you said. Either him or Praet can play instead of Ndidi/Tielemans.

- To sum up, as we need to trim the squad to fit the squad size and FFP, I hope we sell Tielemans (he does not want to be here anyway) and Hamza, and please make sure we have Mendy and (if we don’t sell) Praet in the squad.

- Vardy looking sharp.

- Barnes is getting better but he needs to learn to be a little less selfish this season after getting some selfishness into him last season

Edited 24 July 2022 by Tom12345

[StriderHiryu]

@Tom12345 KDH looked monstrous yesterday. In fact despite it being preseason, all our best performers from last season seem to already be in form. 
 

Trimming the squad and adding to it would be lovely and I’m sure it will happen, just most likely near deadline day. It might also be just loans that come in rather than permanents. 
 

As it stands the squad looks competitive though, which bodes well for us. 

[davieG]

We need to decide whether we want Barnes to cover Justin or to stay up the pitch, if we decide the later we need to come up with some one to support Justin on the left as he was badly exposed a few times when they pushed an extra man down that side, which led to a goal with Barnes ambling back in no mans land.

[Claudio Fannieri]

My observations we look like 4-2-3-1 is our formation of choice, this could easily transpose to 4-1-4-1. Full backs are pushing on which makes us look insanely dangerous when attacking however we do wide open when teams counter us at pace. 
 

some of the football we played yesterday was sublime and we looked like we could score or create a quality opportunity every time we attacked. 
 

interestingly I feel the ‘reconnect’ has actually done just that, I was sceptical at first when I heard it but actually the whole club and squad seem to have a real togetherness again, I think we will do well this season. 

[Bluebazooka]

Has George Hirst featured in any pre season matches? 

[TonyN11]

13 hours ago, Shane said:

What are your thoughts on Callum Wright? Do you think he will be included in the 25 man squad

Age-wise I don't think he needs to be in the named 25?

[Aus Fox]

18 minutes ago, Bluebazooka said:

Has George Hirst featured in any pre season matches? 

No, hasn’t been involved at all since he returned. Must either be injured or have a move lined up. I think someone mentioned he’s going to Ipswich but haven’t seen this officially any where.

[Simoken]

Where all the doom and gloomers at..

[st albans fox]

Pre season doesn’t mean much to me but it has shown we have too many first team squad players ……

[CosbehFox]

As a note, people are misunderstanding ‘Shop Window FC’. The split has been caused that the players within that team are nearly all internationals who came back later than the rest of the squad. Therefore at a different place in their pre season programme 

[CosbehFox]

35 minutes ago, Bluebazooka said:

Has George Hirst featured in any pre season matches? 

No. He doesn’t appear to be even training with us. 

[Guest TaggertvsWise]

14 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

We are almost done with preseason now and I think there’s a number of interesting observations and topics to discuss. So let’s do that here!

 

Tactics

 

Last season we predominantly used a 433 with Maddison as RW and 3 Central Midfielders. But so far in preseason we’ve seen two lineups, a 352 and back to the 4231 with Maddison as a 10. And the 4231 has looked very good, despite not featuring Ndidi or Tielemans.

Why are we doing this? We’ve looked at our best in either 4141 or 4231 so that’s easy enough to understand. I also think it’s because we have fewer games to play this season, meaning we can play a higher line and high press more often. 433 under Rodgers was more controlled whereas Maddison behind Vardy is tough for anyone to deal with. But am I reading too much into it?
 

Tons of Firepower

 

Daka has 3 in 3. Vardy a brace. Nacho on the scoresheet, Maddison and Barnes too. This team has goals in it and it’s unreal that we have 3 excellent strikers. I bet Brighton wished they had one striker as good as any one of ours. The XG merchants can get in the bin, this team has goals galore in it. However…

 

Lack of Wide Options

 

Albrighton’s not getting any younger. Perez is Perez. Lookman is back at Leipzig even though I bet Rodgers would have him back here in a heartbeat. Maybe that’s why we have the 352 as our alternative system - because we have options at wingback and Striker but not at wide forward. 
 

Soumare or Tielemans 

 

He’s responsible for one of our iconic moments of all time but Tielemans is running his contract down. Soumare was awful last season and started preseason awfully this time round. But whisper it quietly but has our master plan of buying Youri’s replacement one year early to bed him in and then take over actually worked? Well to claim so would be maximum hyperbole but he’s looked quite good in the last two games? Difficult picturing him starting ahead of Ndidi and Tielemans but maybe?

 

Will they Stay or Go?

 

We’ve been putting out two teams and it’s noticeable that one has players like Praet, Soyuncu, Vestergaard, Tielemans in it and the other doesn’t. Castagne has also been in that team too, who would be a disappointing player to lose. Praet has looked good in his appearances, Soyuncu too. So in a season with 5 substitutes even if we sign no one we’d have decent cover and options. I personally like the decision not to play Youri in the main team whilst his future is undecided, but I bet he comes back in against Sevilla.

 

Are we actually quite good?

 

Sure we haven’t played anyone good yet, but we didn’t play anyone good in the entire 15/16 season . In the last few games we’ve been scoring goals, making lots of chances and played good football. KDH, Vardy, Barnes and Maddison all playing well. Is it possible that a game every 3 days during Covid with no break due to international football plus an injury crisis was a decent excuse after all? We still don’t know what we’ll be like defending set pieces but we’ve put some excellent halves of football together so far. 
 

 

All in all I’m feeling much more optimistic about this season from what I’ve seen. I worried we might have become stale… players not motivated and just going through the motions. But that’s definitely not the case. Teams around us have strengthened, we have not and that’s a worry. But the team we have is a proven one and know how one another play. 
 

What’s your take on these topics and more? Let me know!

 

 

Excellent post. I have been saying it all preseason and will say it again. We have had a lot of work to do to get our own house in order before making new signings akin to pouring water on an oil fire.

Last season, everything stemmed from our horrendous injuries. It lost us energy, leadership, tactical nouse and knocked players’ confidence.

 

List our team. Now imagine them all at their best, we have a hell of a squad bursting with experience, talent & youthful energy. Playing established players will give everyone confidence they are not about to be replaced and gives Rodgers a clear tactical mindset knowing that everyone is on board.

It doesn’t surprise me we are starting to click, I think we are going to get off to a great start and hopefully can maintain it post World Cup.

[Bozman]

Most impressed with Praet his movement and finding space in behind gives us another dimension, that's what I've noticed from the games.

[lcfcsnow]

Compared to last pre season we are far more switched on and focused, it all seemed a bit of a mess last year. It's bothering me what our plan is if Barnes is unavailable though, I'd have said if we were not signing Lookman we'd need two wingers, to go into the season with just Barnes is plain stupid. I can also see us ending up with Maddison on the RW again as we all know Perez and Albrighton are a weak link for a good few years now.

[coolhandfox]

Comparing this pre-season and the last two is like comparing chalk and cheese, 20/21 we had only 3 friendlies, 21/22 we had 4, we just look better prepared and more organised. 

 

First time in 3 season we will be going into a season with no major injuries 

 

The morale looks high, lots of smiling and happy faces.

 

A few in (RW, CB) and we could be in a really good place. (subject to a few out)