Man City (A) Pre match

[jayfox26]

3 hours ago, Unabomber said:

Iverson

 

Ricardo

Faes

Amartey

Souttar

Kristiansen

 

Mendy

KDH

Praet

 

Maddison

 

Iheanacho

I've seen this alot but Smith has hardly ever used a back 5/wing backs in his career so not sure he would start now. 

[sacreblueits442]

6 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Conference sounds promising. 

 

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

Shame our wide options are depleted. 

...strange thing is Maddison likes to take the ball off the backline!!!

 Can we look to have:

Tete. Ndidi. Maddison.  KDH

              Vardy

 As a midfield infront of a back 5.

We will be playing on the counter.

[Unabomber]

3 minutes ago, jayfox26 said:

I've seen this alot but Smith has hardly ever used a back 5/wing backs in his career so not sure he would start now. 

That’s what I would do, no idea what Smith will go for.

[Verumex]

4 minutes ago, Bert said:

After the press conference 

 

Iversen 

 

Souttar Evans Faes

Castagne N’Didi KDH Kristiansen

Maddison Iheanacho 

Daka

 

 

I wouldn't expect to see Evans starting this game. He's fresh back from injury, I doubt he'll play at all. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if we line up in a similar formation though, maybe with Soyuncu? Depends on how he's been doing in training. 

[daddylonglegs]

Give your head a wobble if you've got Vardy anywhere near a starting XI for the rest of the season. 

 

Bloke has been completely useless this year. 

Love the guy but at some stage we've got to say enough's enough. 

[Gevans_97]

Looks like with Barnes and Ricardo out we’ll be playing narrow, hopefully 2 up top.

[sacreblueits442]

4 minutes ago, jayfox26 said:

I've seen this alot but Smith has hardly ever used a back 5/wing backs in his career so not sure he would start now. 

.. under the previous regime, we would push our wingbacks forward too much, and leave our Centre-Backs exposed!!!

  So long as we do not do so in this game, there is no reason why he should not employ a defensive shape, where we have players covering each other and negating potential overloads. 

[Verumex]

6 minutes ago, jayfox26 said:

I've seen this alot but Smith has hardly ever used a back 5/wing backs in his career so not sure he would start now. 

The thing is though, with Barnes out, we don't have much choice. That and Smith seems to be trying a type of "management by committee" approach, so I feel like he'd be open to ideas that are outside of his normal approach. If others believe that 5atb would be the way to go, I could see him going for it. 

[Basingstoke Fox]

31 minutes ago, StevieH said:

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

Different injury this time though with his hamstring, which should be avoidable. Sounds to me like the medical & management team didn't monitor and manage that properly.

[jayfox26]

Just now, sacreblueits442 said:

.. under the previous regime, we would push our wingbacks forward too much, and leave our Centre-Backs exposed!!!

  So long as we do not do so in this game, there is no reason why he should not employ a defensive shape, where we have players covering each other and negating potential overloads. 

Possibly but it would seem strange for him to use a formation that we have hardly played all season and he's hardly played in his managerial career. I could be wrong but my thinking is he'll want to play it safe and stick to what he knows, however with Barnes being out and Smith mentioning about a lack of wide options, he may not have a choice but to use wing backs. 

[Guest Lako42]

We're getting battered lads

[jayfox26]

3 minutes ago, Verumex said:

The thing is though, with Barnes out, we don't have much choice. That and Smith seems to be trying a type of "management by committee" approach, so I feel like he'd be open to ideas that are outside of his normal approach. If others believe that 5atb would be the way to go, I could see him going for it. 

Yes agreed we are limited in our options. Tough decisions to make with the line up as ideally we'd all like to see Youri and Jonny but if they aren't 100% fit then we may be better saving them for the games that would be seem as more winnable. Having Ricardo and Barnes both out is a huge blow as it also means we only have Castagne as an option on the right for either rb or rwb and no left wing options at all. Anymore injuries and we'll be screwed! 

[Vazman]

34 minutes ago, StevieH said:

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

We all rate and love Ricardo, but he is injured all the time, we just dont, aren't benefiting from what we know he is / was capable of, its the same with JJ and Johnny Evan's, we needed these guys fit and ready, especially now, so frustrating having these players injured, with Tielmans  and Barnes in the mix it's the only consecutive thing about the team.

[coolhandfox]

A lot of talk on here about a back 5/3. If the plan is to use a back 4 for the rest of the season. I'd rather us use this game to put it into practice.

 

We will stay up or go down on what we do in the last 7 not what we do on Saturday.  

 

 

[Ric Flair]

54 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

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.”

This might be one of the best things I've ever read. He's the real deal for us, I can tell.

[Tomlcfc133]

Iverson

Castagne Souttar Faes Kristansen

Mendy

Youri KDH

Maddsion

Iheanacho Daka

[KP Fox]

What are the odds on this scoreline? 😂🙏🤲

[coolhandfox]

2 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

This might be one of the best things I've ever read. He's the real deal for us, I can tell.

It's going to be an interesting ride.

 

Sometimes you just drop in the right guy at the right time, Pearson, Ranieri et al, only time will tell. 

 

Refreshing that he talked about what we can all see. 

 

 

 

[TJQuik]

Very important that we play Iheanacho and Daka up front in a 5-3-2 imo. We can't afford to try to defend for 90 minutes by playing 5 at the back AND having a sole striker.

[Bert]

27 minutes ago, Verumex said:

I wouldn't expect to see Evans starting this game. He's fresh back from injury, I doubt he'll play at all. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if we line up in a similar formation though, maybe with Soyuncu? Depends on how he's been doing in training. 

What’s the difference of playing Evans (who was at least in the match day squad last week) to Soyuncu who hasn’t been playing? 

[Death by Football]

3 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

It's going to be an interesting ride.

 

Sometimes you just drop in the right guy at the right time, Pearson, Ranieri et al, only time will tell. 

 

Refreshing that he talked about what we can all see. 

 

 

 

I like that he was honest about how he felt watching the Bournemouth game but still feels he can do something about our lethargy and confidence.

[KP Fox]

1 minute ago, TJQuik said:

Very important that we play Iheanacho and Daka up front in a 5-3-2 imo. We can't afford to try to defend for 90 minutes by playing 5 at the back AND having a sole striker.

Yeah we nearly pulled it off when we played that way at home. However, I don't think Dean Smith has ever played 5 at the back. 

[Chelmofox]

9 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

This might be one of the best things I've ever read. He's the real deal for us, I can tell.

Feels weird to read it and not be wincing, and not to feel like i have ants crawling down my back. He does sound the real deal.

 

Love the John Terry comments too.

[sacreblueits442]

1 minute ago, Death by Football said:

I like that he was honest about how he felt watching the Bournemouth game but still feels he can do something about our lethargy and confidence.

...I  read that comment, as if the Bournemouth game reinforced his believe, that avoiding relegation was pretty much achievable!!!

[BrummieFOX]

14 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

This might be one of the best things I've ever read. He's the real deal for us, I can tell.

It's just refreshing to read after the dredge we've had in pressers for the past few years. Nice and simple, straight talking and positive.