Tactics Under Maresca

[BenTheFox]

15 minutes ago, winteriscoming said:

That worked well under Rodgers last season……

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm saying that it's the reality with the type of manager that we have appointed. 

 

Also, I would argue that one of Rodgers' problems towards the end is that his idea of how we should play was very muddled. Not so much that we were sticking to one idea that just wasn't working. 

[Finnegan]

Looks like we finally have a preferred strongest 11 now. 

 

Iheanacho

Mavididi, KDH, Casadei, Akgün

Winks, Ricardo

Doyle, Coady, Faes 

Hermansen 

 

New signings in Italics. That's seven new players all signed to fit the specific vision and system that Maresca wants to play. I think people need to stop and take a moment and acknowledge how big that is. The idea that Enzo would be furious at not being backed or getting his targets is mad. 

 

And that's a fantastic team for this level by the way. Two more loans to cover some depth next week and we'll be pretty solid all things considered. 

[StriderHiryu]

14 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

Looks like we finally have a preferred strongest 11 now. 

 

Iheanacho

Mavididi, KDH, Casadei, Akgün

Winks, Ricardo

Doyle, Coady, Faes 

Hermansen 

 

New signings in Italics. That's seven new players all signed to fit the specific vision and system that Maresca wants to play. I think people need to stop and take a moment and acknowledge how big that is. The idea that Enzo would be furious at not being backed or getting his targets is mad. 

 

And that's a fantastic team for this level by the way. Two more loans to cover some depth next week and we'll be pretty solid all things considered. 

Feels like a George RR Martin series where he kills half of the characters after 3 books and then has to invent an entirely new set of characters to keep the reader entertained. Last season certainly felt like our very own Red Wedding.

 

Hopefully in this new season of the LCFC show we have some players that become fan favourites and the stories reach the heights of our glory days!

[Finnegan]

11 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Feels like a George RR Martin series where he kills half of the characters after 3 books and then has to invent an entirely new set of characters to keep the reader entertained. Last season certainly felt like our very own Red Wedding.

 

Hopefully in this new season of the LCFC show we have some players that become fan favourites and the stories reach the heights of our glory days!

 

What did I just read

 

In all seriousness though, that's a Premier League starting 11 IMO. 

 

Edited 25 August 2023 by Finnegan

[winteriscoming]

47 minutes ago, BenTheFox said:

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm saying that it's the reality with the type of manager that we have appointed. 

 

Also, I would argue that one of Rodgers' problems towards the end is that his idea of how we should play was very muddled. Not so much that we were sticking to one idea that just wasn't working. 

I wasn’t having a go at you. I agree with what you’re saying. Just wish there was more flexibility from these managers. 

[Shane]

31 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

Looks like we finally have a preferred strongest 11 now. 

 

Iheanacho

Mavididi, KDH, Casadei, Akgün

Winks, Ricardo

Doyle, Coady, Faes 

Hermansen 

 

New signings in Italics. That's seven new players all signed to fit the specific vision and system that Maresca wants to play. I think people need to stop and take a moment and acknowledge how big that is. The idea that Enzo would be furious at not being backed or getting his targets is mad. 

 

And that's a fantastic team for this level by the way. Two more loans to cover some depth next week and we'll be pretty solid all things considered. 

That starting 11 is perfectly balanced! Experienced pro’s leading the way (Coady, Winks, Ricardo), players entering their prime years (Faes, KDH, Mavididi, Iheanacho) and youth with potential (Hermansen, Doyle, Casadei, Akgun).
 

Credit to Maresca and the recruitment team for building a very exciting first 11 . We’re on course to have one of our best transfer windows if we sign a couple of depth players & shift the rest of the deadwood.

[Dan LCFC]

7 hours ago, Finnegan said:

Looks like we finally have a preferred strongest 11 now. 

 

Iheanacho

Mavididi, KDH, Casadei, Akgün

Winks, Ricardo

Doyle, Coady, Faes 

Hermansen 

 

New signings in Italics. That's seven new players all signed to fit the specific vision and system that Maresca wants to play. I think people need to stop and take a moment and acknowledge how big that is. The idea that Enzo would be furious at not being backed or getting his targets is mad. 

 

And that's a fantastic team for this level by the way. Two more loans to cover some depth next week and we'll be pretty solid all things considered. 

Yeah by all means if we get in two wingers (and Akgun is basically done) and a couple more I really don't think he can have many complaints at any position. We always had the scope to do this though, my fear was that we'd leave ourselves short and compromise ourselves.

 

If we get these signings in there is absolutely no excuse to not get automatic promotion from anybody.

[Dames]

Castange in the squad and 2 keepers on the bench again so there goes the theory he’s leaving out players who want to leave considering Castange is on the verge of a move to Fulham. 
 

I’m fully behind Enzo but I do believe he’s now made his point and its starting to look a bit petulant at this point. 

[cityfanlee23]

Not fully sold on Enzo yet, I have a rough idea of what he’s trying to achieve but that’s based on optimism rather than what I’m seeing on the pitch. It takes a while to get any system working fluidly but to be honest we are making hard work of very average teams for the quality we have. 
We haven’t been comfortable in any game yet and could easily have conceded 2-3 clear cut chances and lost/drawn each. 
 

Ultimately we are winning ugly and that’s always a positive when building something, but still yet to see that winning ugly is going to transform into something a bit more dominant. 

Still has lots of credit in the bank though, LCFC was a super tanker of sewage when he arrived. 

[CrispinLA in Texas]

He needs to stop playing Ndidi and Vesty and sell Iheanacho.......and try to buy a striker this week.....we can't rely on our midfielders to score all the time

[Chelmofox]

Just now, CrispinLA in Texas said:

He needs to stop playing Ndidi and Vesty and sell Iheanacho.......and try to buy a striker this week.....we can't rely on our midfielders to score all the time

You're brave mate.

[Koke]

Wrote it in the Rotherham Post match, but will repeat it here. Shithousing against the smallest club in the division with far less resources than us is terrible. We've come up against 3 very poor teams and 1 half decent team, and we've scraped past all of them

[StriderHiryu]

Initial thoughts from the Rotherham match are that we weren't the best today again, but the quality still shone through. Tactically, Rotherham sat deep but played the physical game against us.

 

The tactics from Maresca are work in progress with a squad in transition. I hope you all remember that! That doesn't absolve the team from criticism but to expect a well-oiled and finessed style of play in just a few months with the transfer window still being open is unrealistic.

 

We are laboured to watch, but when our tactics work, they great big openings / high quality chances. Look at the winning goal. Casadei's late run attracts the right back to cover him, leaving McAteer totally free. This type of opportunity was created on more than one occasion. Fantastic finish from him, and we have likely two more wingers coming in to add competition both there and for Mavididi who also had chances but didn't take them.

 

 

It is a concern that none of our strikers have scored yet, but I will refer you to Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp. Booby Firmino would be their number 9, but it was Mo Salah that had the 30 goal seasons and golden boots. We shouldn't be stuck thinking we have one man up front who is our goal threat. We have 5 players that should be expected to regularly contribute, both wingers, the two CAMs and the false 9.

 

 

Edited 26 August 2023 by StriderHiryu

[Paninistickers]

2 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Initial thoughts from the Rotherham match are that we weren't the best today again, but the quality still shone through. Tactically, Rotherham sat deep but played the physical game against us.

 

The tactics from Maresca are work in progress with a squad in transition. I hope you all remember that! That doesn't absolve the team from criticism but to expect a well-oiled and finessed style of play in just a few months with the transfer window still being open is unrealistic.

 

We are laboured to watch, but when our tactics work, they great big openings / high quality chances. Look at the winning goal. Casadei's late run attracts the right back to cover him, leaving McAteer totally free. This type of opportunity was created on more than one occasion. Fantastic finish from him, and we have likely two more wingers coming in to add competition both there and for Mavididi who also had chances but didn't take them.

 

 

It is a concern that none of our strikers have scored yet, but I will refer you to Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp. Booby Firmino would be their number 9, but it was Mo Salah that had the 30 goal seasons and golden boots. We shouldn't be stuck thinking we have one man up front who is our goal threat. We have 5 players that should be expected to regularly contribute, both wingers, the two CAMs and the false 9.

 

 

We lack urgency. I don't feel we move through the gears enough, the pleasingly the signs of both were there last 15. 

 

I'd like us to move the pace of the game up and down throughout 

[Chelmofox]

2 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

We lack urgency. I don't feel we move through the gears enough, the pleasingly the signs of both were there last 15. 

 

I'd like us to move the pace of the game up and down throughout 

I'm confused by the whole thing. It seems the whole premise is to simply not panic and the chances will come. I'm not sure if we dont go through the gears simply because we can't, or we don't want to get out of 3rd gear because its more likely we will panic and lose the system.

 

I'm not sure I want to watch us playing like this all season. I would like to see it go up a few notches.

 

I also think there is an absolutely caning on its way. Someone is going to go very direct with us and get a bit of luck. 

[StriderHiryu]

3 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

We lack urgency. I don't feel we move through the gears enough, the pleasingly the signs of both were there last 15. 

 

I'd like us to move the pace of the game up and down throughout 

Agreed and I would be surprised if the manager doesn't also.

 

Every time Maresca speaks to the press he says "we have a lot, a lot, a lot, a LOT of things to work on!" He doesn't shy away from it or think we are the finished product. He's also recognised things like Vestergaard's lack of pace and concerns from the crowd. It's cliche to say, but I think it's worth "trusting the process" with this guy based on what we've seen so far.

 

Regarding pace - one thing he says is that's important to fluctuate between paces of the game. IE sometimes you want it to slow down a bit, so when you inject the pace, players get caught flat-footed. But I totally agree that in this one, we were at a slow pace for too much of the game. I will say though that after conceding the goal we got flustered and played it quickly but without any purpose. When JV came on, we slowed the game down for 5 minutes... and then started creating more chances, and then opened them up when the pace went back up again.

 

The old adage of slow, slow, quick, quick, slow is applicable to this style of football.

[UniFox21]

18 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

It is a concern that none of our strikers have scored yet, but I will refer you to Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp. Booby Firmino would be their number 9, but it was Mo Salah that had the 30 goal seasons and golden boots. We shouldn't be stuck thinking we have one man up front who is our goal threat. We have 5 players that should be expected to regularly contribute, both wingers, the two CAMs and the false 9.

 

 

It is a big worry for me, 4 games in and none of our strikers have scored.

 

Yes, we're getting goals from the wing and offensive midfield, but all good teams have that one player who produces the goals time and time again. 

But the assist from Nacho today was brilliant, oozed quality 

[StriderHiryu]

9 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

I'm confused by the whole thing. It seems the whole premise is to simply not panic and the chances will come. I'm not sure if we dont go through the gears simply because we can't, or we don't want to get out of 3rd gear because its more likely we will panic and lose the system.

 

I'm not sure I want to watch us playing like this all season. I would like to see it go up a few notches.

 

I also think there is an absolutely caning on its way. Someone is going to go very direct with us and get a bit of luck. 

See my above post. It's not so much about being slow, but going from slow to quick at the right times, when the opposition players "jump" from their positions to vacate space in behind. The "don't panic" part is that if you just rush it and charge up the pitch, those spaces don't appear and we'll just make more problems for ourselves.

 

In 15/16, teams did not respect Leicester until the last 10 games of the season. They all pushed up and left acres of space in behind. We all know what happened. This season, we are the scalp in the division. Teams will celebrate a point against us at home as a great result. That will mean teams digging in and making the game turgid. They generally sit back and force us to do the hard work. That's why we have to be patient. Maresca was at Man City, where 90% of teams did the same thing to them, so he knows a thing or two about breaking down a deep block.

 

I too would like us to go a bit quicker, but I think it will come. This is not Maresca's squad yet, but he's still 100% in competitive games. First thing, he needs to have all the players he wants, so let's get to the end of the window. Then let's give him 10 games at least to gel that unit. If your concerns are still being seen in December, then I think it's fair to be much more critical. Otherwise, he's inherited a shitshow but still got results from it. Remember we had the pathetic Asia tour pre-season too, plus the Coady injury just to throw yet more spanners into the works.

 

 

Edited 26 August 2023 by StriderHiryu

[davieG]

I was starting to think there was a team competition to see who could rack up the worst passes with bonus points for crap shots on goal.

 

So much shades of last season with the awful passing so lacking in quality and some of it was horrendously bad.

[CrispinLA in Texas]

58 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

You're brave mate.

I think afresh and change as always good. Iheanacho been here for years and would be better to holim if he goes and faces a new challenge.

We're keeping players here for to long and the players start to decline 

[foxes_rule1978]

4 minutes ago, davieG said:

I was starting to think there was a team competition to see who could rack up the worst passes with bonus points for crap shots on goal.

 

So much shades of last season with the awful passing so lacking in quality and some of it was horrendously bad.

I think there was times we looked excellent though, particularly for the goals. Also felt we are more direct and trying to move things quicker, it is an improvement for sure but just needs a bit more work. I can see when it clicks though we will be the best team in the league. 

[Lillehamring]

56 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

We lack urgency. I don't feel we move through the gears enough, the pleasingly the signs of both were there last 15. 

 

I'd like us to move the pace of the game up and down throughout 

I felt today that once we were 1-0 up and with rotherham not looking like they wanted to concede more, we seemed to play very casually - not in a sloppy sense, but in the sense of 'we've got this, let's just play the game out' - which, right now, we simply aren't good enough to do.

 

And to an extent i can see why they play that way but, as with the cardiff equaliser, it was that one poor pass that set the ball rolling.  

 

Whilst i don't think they'll change this approach, i do think they'll get better at playing themselves out of trouble and not playing those careless costly passes.

[Lillehamring]

52 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Agreed and I would be surprised if the manager doesn't also.

 

Every time Maresca speaks to the press he says "we have a lot, a lot, a lot, a LOT of things to work on!" He doesn't shy away from it or think we are the finished product. He's also recognised things like Vestergaard's lack of pace and concerns from the crowd. It's cliche to say, but I think it's worth "trusting the process" with this guy based on what we've seen so far.

 

Regarding pace - one thing he says is that's important to fluctuate between paces of the game. IE sometimes you want it to slow down a bit, so when you inject the pace, players get caught flat-footed. But I totally agree that in this one, we were at a slow pace for too much of the game. I will say though that after conceding the goal we got flustered and played it quickly but without any purpose. When JV came on, we slowed the game down for 5 minutes... and then started creating more chances, and then opened them up when the pace went back up again.

 

The old adage of slow, slow, quick, quick, slow is applicable to this style of football.

Not an adage, but a waltz dance step - but it fits, so i'll let it pass, at times we waltzed through their defence 

[Le Renard]

Can't complain at the moment, but I do worry he'll ship nearly all the RB's & LB's out of the club, then it will go tits up and we'll have to rebuild the defensive side of the team for the umpteenth time!

[Lillehamring]

15 minutes ago, davieG said:

I was starting to think there was a team competition to see who could rack up the worst passes with bonus points for crap shots on goal.

 

So much shades of last season with the awful passing so lacking in quality and some of it was horrendously bad.

I'll give you the crap shooting, but our passing was generally solid, at times (not quite often enough) superb.

We completed 87% of our passes which is +7% on our average from last season, and managed 14 key passes last year we averaged 8.4 per game.

 

We weren't great today but to rely on words like 'worst' 'crap' 'awful' 'lacking' and 'horrendous', and to even begin to compare this performance with the disinterested, careless efforts of last season is wildly unfair.