Man City (A) Pre match

[st albans fox]

5 minutes ago, TeamRocket said:

At least alot of the players look happy wouldn't be surprised if some of the "injured players" make a full recovery within minutes. Also hope they do get some good rehabilitation staff in too.

I can’t see them making any staff changes over the next seven weeks . 

[Unabomber]

Iverson

 

Ricardo

Faes

Amartey

Souttar

Kristiansen

 

Mendy

KDH

Praet

 

Maddison

 

Iheanacho

[mozartfox]

Big Dan to tame the big Viking.  C-mon you Foxes.

[mozartfox]

14 hours ago, Lambert09 said:

It looks like Tete is in paris.... 

Hilton?  Stream please.

[justfoxes]

11 hours ago, Sly said:

                  Iversen

 

Castage Evans Souttar Bertrand

 

Tete Ndidi Tielemans Maddison

 

        Vardy  Iheanacho

 

S - Ward, Kristensen, Soyuncu, Faes, Mendy, Praet, Daka, Soumare, Thomas

Madders is wasted on the wing he needs to be central so he can play to his best 

[justfoxes]

Which pub do the away fans/coaches stop off to congregate for a couple of pre game shandy’s 😉 near the stadium ?

Edited 14 April 2023 by justfoxes

[Guest Lako42]

On 12/04/2023 at 19:07, Ritchie said:

Wish we still had Albrighton 

So do WBA

[sacreblueits442]

8 minutes ago, justfoxes said:

Madders is wasted on the wing he needs to be central so he can play to his best 

.. I  am just surprised that Maddison out wide us the significant aspect that you see with that team!!!

  How does Bertrand make his way back into the team, where it is agreed he is done in the game. Kristiansen and Thomas must have either failed to show up for training or they must have gone with Rodgers out of sympathy.

[BrummieFOX]

Reminder for anyone making a weekend of it and staying over, its the Manchester Marathon on Sunday so loads of road closures etc.

[Fazzer 7]

I'm going optimistic, Man City 3 - 1 Leicester.

[Happy Fox]

1-1 draw I reckon.

[David Hankey]

You'd think a 7-0 annihilation but with a new manager bounce, albeit interim, we might see a shock result, let's hope so.

[moore_94]

Dean Smith Pre-Match Press Conference vs Man City

 

Why did you take the job?

“The main reason I took the job on was because Craig and JT wanted to do it as well. The points are there to be won, to grab, to get out of the bottom three. It’s been a season I’ve not seen before in terms of nine teams involved in the relegation battle. The more we can keep in that, it’s not insurmountable to get out.”

 

Confidence down?

“We’ve lost seven out of the last eight games, so confidence isn’t going to be high. I was 80-20 to take the job, but I probably went down to 50-50 after watching the Bournemouth game! I felt they just needed a lift. I felt confident we could do that. We’ve seen great enthusiasm. We’re trying to put smiles on the faces, and that should lift their confidence very quickly.”

 

Same as Villa?

“There are comparisons of being in the situation. Not setting targets. We just want to be out of the bottom three. Craig has been in that situation before here at Leicester as well. He believed we could do it, so his experience is helpful.”

 

Maddison and Grealish comparisons?

“We do need to transition the game more quickly. James held his hand up after his mistake. Why are you coming so deep to get the ball? Why are we giving it to you when you’ve not got a pass on? Our job is to get him into a position where he can hurt the opposition, like we did with Jack.”

 

Job beyond this summer?

“It’s not a conversation we’ve had. It’s an interim job. I was watching the Masters in August last week and now I’m back to England. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

 

Man City?

“We’ve watched an awful lot of teams try to impose their game on Man City and come unstuck. We have to have a gameplan and stick to it. We’ve seen Brentford go there and get a result. We have to have belief in ourselves.”

 

Defence?

“Straight away, bringing in JT, who helped sure up defence at Villa. We’ve got six centre-backs here at the club, Evans has just come back from injury and some have not played as many minutes as we would have liked, but there’s plenty to work with.”

 

Would be your biggest achievement to keep City up?

“I’ll tell you that at the end of the season if and when we’ve kept them up.”

 

Relegation battle?

“It’s strange to have so many teams involved and so few points between everyone. It’s a real interesting period. The games we have after Man City will be interesting, but we have to get a performance from this weekend and hopefully get some points.”

 

Surprised by City's position?

“Yes. One of my first points of action was to speak to the leadership group on Monday evening, get their thoughts on why they think we are where we are and what they think we should do to get out of it. We have our ideas and will put demands on the players. Ultimately players make the decisions on the pitch.”

 

Why are you the right man?

“Tomorrow might be my 600th game as a manager, coming up through Walsall to Brentford, to Villa and Norwich. We’ve got experience. As a three, it’s strong. We’ve got different qualities. We’ve been through relegation battles in the Premier League.”

 

Sense there is complacency in squad?

“No. From the first time I spoke to the players, I’ve been really impressed with the enthusiasm and attitude and quality. Unfortunately, we’ve got a couple of players missing. Harvey Barnes will be out for Saturday and is touch and go for next Saturday. The quality has impressed all of us. We’ve been impressed with what we’ve seen.”

 

Tielemans?

“He’s available for selection. He hasn’t done a lot of minutes in training, so we’ll have to see if he’s ready to start. He’ll play a big part. Him and Jonny give the team calmness.”

 

Any other injuries?

“Ricky felt his hamstring after the game last week. His looks worse than Harvey’s. He’ll be out for a few weeks. That takes away our wider options.”

 

Being at City

“You can’t help but be excited when you see this training centre. If you get John Terry saying ‘oh wow’, you’re doing something right. We got him off the golf course, but there’s a golf course here! It’s a great club, meeting the staff and owners has been refreshing. I’ve seen humility. They’re willing to help us. We want to be a success together.”

 

What's missing?

“Looking back to the Bournemouth game were players without confidence and with lethargy. We’ve tried to make training more fun and intense. We’ve tried to make it more frantic. We’ve had a response. Today is more tactical.”

 

What does a Dean Smith team look like?

“Focus, concentration, energy, commitment, everything that you would like to see. Connectivity between the players. It’s a clean slate for everyone. We have fresh eyes on the players. We like what we’ve seen so far. We have to have those components to get a result tomorrow.”

Edited 14 April 2023 by moore_94

[Beachyboy]

19 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

1-1 draw I reckon.

It's what Sky sports have predicted on their website.

[StevieH]

Ricardo injured again. Tbh the guy is a waste of time. Never fit for long periods 

[tomtom]

1 hour ago, BrummieFOX said:

Reminder for anyone making a weekend of it and staying over, its the Manchester Marathon on Sunday so loads of road closures etc.

That's why our hotels so expensive this time 🤦  cheers for the heads up

[RowlattsFox]

I think we will have Ricardo next season, even if it's the championship. Can't see him leaving with his injury record. Guys needs a good pre-season,

 

Without Barnes its either Tete and Maddison from wide or we go 2 up front. 

 

 

[tomtom]

Reading between the lines in the presser,  i wouldn't be surprised to see Soyuncu involved 

[StanSP]

Conference sounds promising. 

 

Liking the bit about making sure Maddison stays further up the field. 

Shame our wide options are depleted. 

[sacreblueits442]

6 minutes ago, StevieH said:

Ricardo injured again. Tbh the guy is a waste of time. Never fit for long periods 

...I  see it as a curse on the player, who will most likely never get to be in a team where Champions league is a yearly thing!!!

  I expected this to happen, it is a recurring nightmare for him I suspect. How more times does he have to go to the well  to get the energy to fight his way back?

[Buzzard]

14 minutes ago, StevieH said:

Ricardo injured again. Tbh the guy is a waste of time. Never fit for long periods 

maybe a bit harsh, but at some point you've got to look beyond it being bad luck. 

[Leicesterpool]

It's going to be weird to celebrate a 0-0 draw 😆

[sacreblueits442]

5 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

I think we will have Ricardo next season, even if it's the championship. Can't see him leaving with his injury record. Guys needs a good pre-season,

 

Without Barnes its either Tete and Maddison from wide or we go 2 up front. 

 

 

...under Rodgers, as soon as Barnes is unavailable he changes the whole formation!!!

 I would like to see we will not focused on who is missing, but play to everybody's strengths. 

[alanf0x]

Although a goal threat, having Barnes out might not be a bad thing to give a better balance to the team overall. Can go 3/5/2 without square pegs in round holes. 
 

 

[Bert]

After the press conference 

 

Iversen 

 

Souttar Evans Faes

Castagne N’Didi KDH Kristiansen

Maddison Iheanacho 

Daka