Observations from Preseason

[Haywood_6]

I think the team looks together, it looks like it has plenty of goals. Barnes, Maddison, Daka, Iheanacho, Vardy have all looked sharp. KDH and Praet have both really impressed me in midfield too. 

 

There's positive signs but I wish we could move on some players like Hamza, Vestergaard, Amartey, Perez. None of them are up to it IMO. Albrighton has looked poor too. We need to sign someone with quality for the RW. I think it could make a big difference.

[Simoken]

My only observation is Vestergaard needs to go, Countless occasions against Derby i see him putting the def in a difficult scenarios that could of been a disaster if it were a better opposition.

[adejo92]

Well, I mean we have conceded 6 goals in 5 games, all to teams that are, in all honesty,  pretty w@nk.

 

I dont read too much into pre season games but it doesn't give much confidence that we have done much to improve our defence, which, time after time is our achilis heal.

[HighPeakFox]

What is it that @urban.spaceman says?

 

Oh yeah - we're gonna win the league.

[coolhandfox]

6 minutes ago, adejo92 said:

Well, I mean we have conceded 6 goals in 5 games, all to teams that are, in all honesty,  pretty w@nk.

 

I dont read too much into pre season games but it doesn't give much confidence that we have done much to improve our defence, which, time after time is our achilis heal.

We will be better than last season. 

 

Defending is about being a unit, last year we had to chop and change so much.

 

If we can get a settled back 4 with Ndidi in front of them for the majority of the season, we will be fine.

Edited 24 July 2022 by coolhandfox

[Dusty]

5 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

We will be better than last season. 

 

Defending is about being a unit, last year we had to chop and change so much.

 

If we can get a settled back 4 with Ndidi in front of them for the majority of the season, we will be fine.

Yeah completely agree. Out of our strongest back 4, Evans started the most games with 18, not even half the games in the league. Then include wilf being out for large parts, we really were struggling on with a very weak defence for a very long time. IF we can keep them fit this season, we will see immediate and dramatic improvements. However, there’s still work to be done, but reasons to be optimistic imo. 

[Tom12345]

3 hours ago, Simoken said:

My only observation is Vestergaard needs to go, Countless occasions against Derby i see him putting the def in a difficult scenarios that could of been a disaster if it were a better opposition.

We felt so sorry for Southampton that we were willing to pay £12m to take Vesty off them.  What were we thinking?

 

With so many players in midfield, I think we should stick Ndidi as a CB for rest of season if Evan and Fofana cannot play all games.

[TrentFox]

I think we look a bit fitter and sharper than last year. Players seem to be saying the same, too. I think KDH looks like he could really become quite something  this season. A reduced fixture list is probably a good thing, overall, for everyone. None of us know who will actually be here/gone when the transfer window closes, but, (and I hate myself for it), I’m going to stick with my pre-season pessimism. I think we just lack a bit of energy and fight. Suspect we’ll have enough class and know-how to be okay, but I am expecting a bumpy ride and I’m going for 13th. 🤷😞

Edited 25 July 2022 by TrentFox

[Stadt]

Barnes, Maddison, Daka and Vardy have all looked very sharp. 
 

Barnes should be looking at doubling his goal tally 

[Supergray22]

4 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

We will be better than last season. 

 

Defending is about being a unit, last year we had to chop and change so much.

 

If we can get a settled back 4 with Ndidi in front of them for the majority of the season, we will be fine.

Agreed but I fear a few twists before the transfer window closes. Hope nothing that weakens the team. If we get our energy back and avoid injuries after the stop start of the last three seasons we should fare better. Hope to see his knocking on the door of the top six. Anything higher would be great considering the money some of those teams have spent. And they have spent wisely on the whole for once. 

[NaijaFox]

On 23/07/2022 at 14:42, StriderHiryu said:

Good take!

 

Imagine if in 19/20 instead of Perez we had someone who put up numbers like Bowen or even Sarr. We’d have got top 4 IMO. Probably the same with 20/21 too. 

We can’t really take issue with it though. King Power have performed miracles and without Oil / Oligarch / Yank money. 
 

Challenging top 6 might be as good as it gets but that’s pretty impressive. Even Newcastle now have to be watched with their new found wealth. 

I hope you don't mean Ismail Sarr, the lazy injury-prone prima donna who Watford can't wait to rid of?

[NaijaFox]

Injuries (as usual) will determine our season...

 

If we stay relatively injury-free throughout this season, we should be challenging for European places, even without adding anyone new. And if we manage to sign a good inverted RW and a solid CD, we should be pushing for Top 6.

[Bptiger]

I hope we keep PRATT, he is better than most think 

[FOXYTALK]

5 hours ago, NaijaFox said:

I hope you don't mean Ismail Sarr, the lazy injury-prone prima donna who Watford can't wait to rid of?

Rather take Dennis from Watford. 

[Flannel_Fox]

Im going to keep this short. 

 

Were a RW away from looking so dangerous and exciting up top. 

 

Still suspect defensively and i think we'll concede many soft goals.

 

Hopefully will be class to watch

 

 

[StriderHiryu]

15 minutes ago, Flannel_Fox said:

Im going to keep this short. 

 

Were a RW away from looking so dangerous and exciting up top. 

 

Still suspect defensively and i think we'll concede many soft goals.

 

Hopefully will be class to watch

 

 

Pretty good summary TBF!

[Aus Fox]

17 minutes ago, Flannel_Fox said:

Im going to keep this short. 

 

Were a RW away from looking so dangerous and exciting up top. 

 

Still suspect defensively and i think we'll concede many soft goals.

 

Hopefully will be class to watch

 

 

I feel like this one post could replace about 7 or 8 threads on here. Spot on sir.

[Tom12345]

1 hour ago, pmcla26 said:

U wot m8? 

Please refer to the Mendy threads.

[fuchsntf]

3 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

Haha, I rate Mendy but there is no way that he is better than Ndidi, barring height. Not even close. 

I don’t believe NDIDI, as shown or been at what we think is his best, for 2 complete Seasons….

Mendy has been up there with our Top performers, so at the moment, I would go for Mendy…

[Tom12345]

9 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

Haha, I rate Mendy but there is no way that he is better than Ndidi, barring height. Not even close. 

In the last game:

 

Did you see that overhit pass Ndidi made from the center of the backline to Castagne on the right, roughly about 20-30m, that went completely over Castagne’s head while under no pressure?

 

Did they then see Mendy’s long ball to Daka for the goal?

 

I don’t mind Ndidi’s tackling at all, but as well discussed in the Mendy threads, Mendy’s positioning makes players around him better while this silent work actually helps with stopping a lot of the times the opposition from trying to make that pass forward. (Ndidi’s game is different - he stands further away from

the passing lines and then makes that enormous leap with his outstretched long legs to intercept so he is more spectacular to watch but Mendy is not that much lesser effective while he is better in all other aspects of the game, like passing and positioning).

 

Unless you enjoy sideway and backward passing, we need to move on from Ndidi generally except for certain games where we really need a destroyer, unless he drastically improves his passing game and his willingness to receive the ball from his teammates.

Edited 25 July 2022 by Tom12345

[John rayner]

23 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

We will be better than last season. 

 

Defending is about being a unit, last year we had to chop and change so much.

 

If we can get a settled back 4 with Ndidi in front of them for the majority of the season, we will be fine.

Agreed

[Bourbon Fox]

 

Maddison's on form, KDH was born

Top still heads up the board

 

Johnny's made of steel, Fofana's leg has healed

Ieanacho's scored

 

Vardy can still party, promising Soumare

Big Dan Amartey!

 

Castagne's class is showing, Thomas is still growing,

Barnes, Ndidi and Praet

 

Daka's found the net, the window's not shut yet

The whole squad's had some rest

 

Etc etc 

[foxinsocks]

3 hours ago, Flannel_Fox said:

Im going to keep this short. 

 

Were a RW away from looking so dangerous and exciting up top. 

 

Still suspect defensively and i think we'll concede many soft goals.

 

Hopefully will be class to watch

 

 

Who is rw in the dev squad?  Cant we get them in rather than gamble a contract on someone poor?

[Ross 'LCFC' Turner]

We're pressing very high up the pitch and our full backs are playing very high / bombing forwards so we really need Ndidi back to the Ndidi of old where he sits in and shuffles across the line to help cover the full backs and not go chasing, trying to get involved in the game. 

 

I'm happy were seemingly trying to get back on the front foot and be aggressive however I can see us getting caught out on the break a lot next season. 

[filbertway]

52 minutes ago, Ross 'LCFC' Turner said:

We're pressing very high up the pitch and our full backs are playing very high / bombing forwards so we really need Ndidi back to the Ndidi of old where he sits in and shuffles across the line to help cover the full backs and not go chasing, trying to get involved in the game. 

 

I'm happy were seemingly trying to get back on the front foot and be aggressive however I can see us getting caught out on the break a lot next season. 

Good stuff, well worth being hit on the break to actually try and do something positive. Especially when we're one of the few teams that are capable of being hit on the break while not trying to create anything