Ndidi, Soumaré and Youri midfield

[hackenbacker]

4 hours ago, Mike Oxlong said:

Soumare but he was one of the few to put in a shift last night.

 

Sorry can't be hav'n that ... so i fixed it.....

[Winstonthedog]

People talking about players   ... not premier league quality ... they will not be championship quality either .. where you have to dig in and battle for points... and many have shown they have neither of those needs 

[South Shire Fox]

The least mobile midfield 3 in the Prem and people wonder why we get ripped apart. One of the key areas that needs addressing this summer.

[Gamble92]

It's also not the first time we have played a wing back just coming back from injury (Ricardo, before was Justin) alongside a centre back pairing who havent played together for months. 

 

Then like you say alongside that a midfield that's never worked and never will. 

 

Maddison on the wing which has only worked against Forest who were dreadful back then. 

 

It really isn't hard to see why this team are in the mess they are. Players are getting picked by being the least worst option. Thomas and Kristensen not being picked speaks volumes too. Just a mess all round 

[hejammy]

Thing is the people saying that Soumaré put a shift in, it's basically saying instead of a 2 out of 10 he was a 4 out of 10. Maybe not the worst player on the pitch but more often than not he is. Soumaré is the signing I feel we've been screwed with the most. He surely must have in his contract that he needs to play a certain number of games - no other explanation as to why the guy plays so much. 

[dannythefox]

None of them current midfielders work as hard as Kante, Drinkwater, James, Kingy, Mendy or KDH 

[hejammy]

Just now, dannythefox said:

None of them current midfielders work as hard as Kante, Drinkwater, James, Kingy, Mendy or KDH 

Kante worked harder by himself than the whole team yesterday. 

[hejammy]

What the hell is Ndidi doing here before their 2nd goal! Ndidi's position before and after Gakpo receives the ball. Just beyond belief 

 

 

[jamesmilner]

Soumare and Indidi aren't the best ball carriers or ball retainers  , so when i saw those 2 in the side ,against a Liverpool team in top form , i knew !!

[SouthStandUpperTier]

The Ntielemare midfield. And what a 'mare' it's been.

[st albans fox]

Wilf - he will be sold in the summer as he has one year left

if you pick mendy ahead of him, how does that affect his valuation ? 

 

has smith been told that if he’s playing a cdm then it should be wilf first ?   And in any case, he doesn’t see enough from pappy in training to make him think differently?  None of us know how good or bad he is in training - some players aren’t good 
 

[Viva]

Definitely the weakest part of our team for me. No cover at all for the defence. Really shocking how all three started last night.

You know things are bad in general when you would happily have Perez back in this team! 

[RumbleFox]

Ndidi is such a strange one eh? Like he was literally the best destroyer in the Premier League for a couple of seasons. The fall off has been remarkable. I know a lot of the blame is Brendan’s for trying to transform him into something he’s not but even so, something strange has happened. Is it just that plus injury? Removing my Leicester City bias for a minute it’s actually really sad. I liked him a lot. Always seemed a good guy and was great for us. He was never gonna be in Kante’s league but he was more than good enough for where we were. Can’t quite believe just how bad he has become. 

Edited 16 May 2023 by RumbleFox

[Fox92]

6 hours ago, Fox92 said:

What did me is when we kicked off at 0-2 and Somoure did the same thing, lost the ball and they nearly scored again. It’s laughable. 

I must correct myself, after watching the highlights back just now, it wasn't Somoure it was N'didi.

[oundlefox]

Beyond me how Rodgers and now Smith think Ndidi or Soumare are any better than Mendy. Team has been crying out for somebody to plug big holes in our midfield and the guy to do is it either on the bench or in the stands. 

[Vacamion]

 

When Soumaré fell on his arse and lost the ball second half, he got up slowly and jogged back as a couple of phases of play attacked our goal.  He then jogged into our box.

 

He could and should have sprinted.

 

KDH might play with one leg and get stuck in possession occasionally, but he doesn't jog when should be running.

 

Mendy runs when he has to.

 

I don't see what the coaching staff see in Soumaré. 

 

It's incredibly frustrating to watch him play for us.

 

 

 

 

[Tom12345]

5 hours ago, foxgas said:

I wonder who the hell scouted this guy in France? He loses the ball constantly and seems to have taught N'didi to do the same. Hope one of the promoted teams want them both.

I am not sure what you are on about. Ndidi has never mastered basic football skills like ball control, keeping the ball within 1-2 feet, passing and positioning. If anything, Ndidi would have had to teach Soumare although Soumare was not that bad - as I mentioned on other posts, because Ndidi goes into hiding, he makes all his midfield teammates (and in fact our whole team) look crap.

 

Very simple illustration, when Faes has the ball at the back with the opponents pressing, Faes would have to quickly pass to an outlet. Often, he only has two choices: down the sides to Castagne or Ricardo (depending on which side Faes is on) or the keeper (which is always a bad option IMO). If it goes to the side, Castagne or Ricardo normally only has one or two outlets: Barnes or Maddison or Soumare.  Sometimes Faes has another option in Soumare or Tielemans when they drop back. Ndidi is never in the picture.

 

If you watch other teams (now most team can) who are good at beating the press, they always have three (3) outlets. This way, the opponents pressing can never trap any one player and it becomes monkey in the middle instead (with the monkey having a hard time). Because Ndidi always goes missing (and if he presents himself, his positioning is often so bad or his ball control is so bad that he immediately loses the ball thereafter). Because we only ever have 1 or 2 outlets, if that is Soumare, it looks like he cannot beat the press or he is more prone to making mistakes. But that is more due to tactics. I don’t believe he is worst than the Bournemouth players for example who can easily beat our press when we press,  because they get their formation and tactics right. So because of a single Ndidi, we make everyone play bad. 

 

All that for what, his supposed defensive prowess? Definitely not worth it because of his impact on rest of the team and definitely not worth it even more when you look at how many penalties or goal conceding mistakes he makes (negating any supposed increase in our defense, if any, in the first place). I mentioned before Ndidi has not gone backwards, it is just that since that game against Norwich a few years ago where this about us was found out (before that time, team sit back as they were fearful of our counterattack); since then teams know that to break us they just need to press us at the back when Ndidi is playing. From that time onwards, with Rodgers failing to fix this, we increasingly rely on individual brilliance to save us (hence our inconsistency) but this also started our eventual decline.

 

I believe if you put Mendy in, Soumare will become so much better.

Edited 16 May 2023 by Tom12345

[Guest Mee-9]

Watching Ndidi, Soumare and Tielemans this season has been like watching Mr Blobby, Tinkywinky and Orville the Duck have a kickabout after 12 beers. 

 

 

[lee7]

If we have to play a 3 i would rather see Mendy, Dewsbury-hall and Tielemans.

[STUHILL]

Got a horrible feeling we are going to be stuck with Soumare next season. 

 

I think he does the bare minimum, and granted, sometimes looks quite good at doing that. However, it sometimes feels like we have a midfielder short when it comes to defending. Add that to how little Tielemans does in defending, and no wonder our midfield gets walked through time and time again. 

 

Liked Smith to begin with, but playing Tielemans and Soumare together, with a shadow of himself for 2 years N'didi... and no wonder we are so easy to score against. 

 

Play Mendy and KDH against Newcastle. At least they will work hard! 

[Tom12345]

3 hours ago, RumbleFox said:

Ndidi is such a strange one eh? Like he was literally the best destroyer in the Premier League for a couple of seasons. The fall off has been remarkable. I know a lot of the blame is Brendan’s for trying to transform him into something he’s not but even so, something strange has happened. Is it just that plus injury? Removing my Leicester City bias for a minute it’s actually really sad. I liked him a lot. Always seemed a good guy and was great for us. He was never gonna be in Kante’s league but he was more than good enough for where we were. Can’t quite believe just how bad he has become. 

See my posts, including one above. Ndidi has always been like this, but that was before he was found out. Now that teams know he cannot do the basics right, it is easy to play us and him: just press. Firstly he goes into hiding to avoid getting the ball altogether. Secondly, if he gets the ball, he is bound to make a mistake if put under pressure. 

[Tom12345]

12 minutes ago, lee7 said:

If we have to play a 3 i would rather see Mendy, Dewsbury-hall and Tielemans.

Tielemans has been so bad I rather Soumare. At least he puts tackles in. Tielemans has been a passenger for a long time.

[Old Fox]

26 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

When Soumaré fell on his arse and lost the ball second half, he got up slowly and jogged back as a couple of phases of play attacked our goal.  He then jogged into our box.

 

He could and should have sprinted.

 

KDH might play with one leg and get stuck in possession occasionally, but he doesn't jog when should be running.

 

Mendy runs when he has to.

 

I don't see what the coaching staff see in Soumaré. 

 

It's incredibly frustrating to watch him play for us.

 

 

 

 

Be careful what you say about KDH - more to his absence alongside Ward and Soyuncu......they are not injured but I think we will learn more in time...........this bunch need moving on as the whole squad largely have ideas of grandeur and forgotton their roots .............some maybe think they are better than they are ................personally I would suggest Vards, Daka, Souttar, Iversen, Justin (if we can), Ricardo, Thomas should be the back bone and Albrighton too for next season..................majority of the others can just do one!!

[Vindaloo FOX]

[lee7]

15 minutes ago, Tom12345 said:

Tielemans has been so bad I rather Soumare. At least he puts tackles in. Tielemans has been a passenger for a long time.

I don't disagree! His effort has been lacking for quite sometime. Just threw him in there as he is capable of unlocking defences.

Soumare or Tielemans it wouldn't bother me