Cambiasso = class

[MC Prussian]

I might be the only one here but I can't help but feel he signing him has inadvertently been the cause of all our problems? Through no fault of his own of course.

By signing him Nige feels an obligation to play him and at his age he hasn't got the energy, mobility or the strength to play in a midfield 4 in the Premier League. We have generally played better with a stronger tackler (Hammond) in the team.

This means that the starting line up has to be built around him and our attacking and counter attacking expansive style of play has been sacrificed in the name of 5-4-1 or 4-5-1.

While he generally plays well I think it has been at the expense of the team playing well.

This why if we get relegated I won't be too sad to lose him as it means we may go back to a more high energy 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1.

Thoughts?

I'd agree with that.

The problem that I see with our recruiting policy last summer is that we failed to land an attacking midfielder who can link up with Cambiasso, whose natural position is as a defensive midfielder, in the middle.

That, as a consequence would've had to lead to something like a 4-1-2-1-2 or at least a 4-3-2-1.

But I see that Pearson at some point realized that a back four with the players at his disposal just wouldn't work in the Premier League and thus reverted to three centre-backs and two wing-backs/full-backs.

 

All of our other midfielders on the roster are central midfielders by nature in my eyes. Neither James, Drinkwater, King or Hammond have ever excelled at the CAM role.

I just feel priveleged that a player of such class, even at the sunset of his career wore a Leicester shirt.

 

An exceptional player to grace our club.

All the bickering as of late aside, that's an opinion I can share for once.

[cc_star]

I might be the only one here but I can't help but feel he signing him has inadvertently been the cause of all our problems? Through no fault of his own of course.

By signing him Nige feels an obligation to play him and at his age he hasn't got the energy, mobility or the strength to play in a midfield 4 in the Premier League. We have generally played better with a stronger tackler (Hammond) in the team.

This means that the starting line up has to be built around him and our attacking and counter attacking expansive style of play has been sacrificed in the name of 5-4-1 or 4-5-1.

While he generally plays well I think it has been at the expense of the team playing well.

This why if we get relegated I won't be too sad to lose him as it means we may go back to a more high energy 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1.

Thoughts?

 

His inclusion has been at the expense of the team

 

I do feel we've felt obliged to play him. It's been catastrophic for us

[Guest]

 Cambiasso, whose natural position is as a defensive midfielder, in the middle.

 

 

But does he have the legs for a DM anymore?

 

He can still make a great pass but he can't stay with an attacker at all.

[Ollie93]

But does he have the legs for a DM anymore?

 

He can still make a great pass but he can't stay with an attacker at all.

 

A DM's job isnt to stay with an attacker, it's to fill the void space in between the CB and the CM's in front, to stop the danger and break up the play, just as Matic does for Chelsea.

[Guest]

A DM's job isnt to stay with an attacker, it's to fill the void space in between the CB and the CM's in front, to stop the danger and break up the play, just as Matic does for Chelsea.

 

So when an attacking midfielder ghosts past him I guess it's up to Morgan to leave his attacker open and take the AM.

 

If so that's exactly what Camby does for us.

[MC Prussian]

But does he have the legs for a DM anymore?

 

He can still make a great pass but he can't stay with an attacker at all.

Well, I think he's certainly more suited to play as a defensive midfielder rather than a central midfielder - where you require a box-to-box midfielder with a "tractor engine".

And Cambiasso was never known to be one of the faster footballers, anyway.

 

It all boils down the choice between man-marking and zonal marking (or a mix of both).

 

What you then need instead and what he does have is a very good positional sense.

[Ollie93]

So when an attacking midfielder ghosts past him I guess it's up to Morgan to leave his attacker open and take the AM.

 

If so that's exactly what Camby does for us.

 

If we are playing 5 across the back then yes

[Guest]

If we are playing 5 across the back then yes

 

But we wouldn't be if he was a DM in a 3 man midfield plus wingers as you were suggesting.

 

We'd have a flat back 4.

[GingerrrFox]

If we are playing 5 across the back then yes

You are completely right the reason Juventus play a 3-5-2 is to remove Pirlo from having any defensive responsibilities. He moves across the back 5 to cut out potential passing lanes and he marks space rather than players. The middle centre back is responsible for the striker and the wide centre backs for runners in behind. They play 2 box to box midfielders in front of Pirlo who give the side legs and track runners back whilst also making runs into the opposition box. It's how we should play our 3-5-2 with Cambiasso doing the "Pirlo" role.

[Guest]

You are completely right the reason Juventus play a 3-5-2 is to remove Pirlo from having any defensive responsibilities. He moves across the back 5 to cut out potential passing lanes and he marks space rather than players. The middle centre back is responsible for the striker and the wide centre backs for runners in behind. They play 2 box to box midfielders in front of Pirlo who give the side legs and track runners back whilst also making runs into the opposition box. It's how we should play our 3-5-2 with Cambiasso doing the "Pirlo" role.

 

Who is our Tevez?

[Ollie93]

But we wouldn't be if he was a DM in a 3 man midfield plus wingers as you were suggesting.

 

We'd have a flat back 4.

 

No, we would have 3 CB's with wing backs and 3 across midfield, as I was suggesting..

[GingerrrFox]

Who is our Tevez?

Kramaric could play a similar role to Tevez who gets a free reign in Juventus' system whereas the other striker is required to play on the shoulder of the last man and make runs in behind. Kramaric and Vardy could work very well as a front 2 in my opinion.

[Ollie93]

Kramaric could play a similar role to Tevez who gets a free reign in Juventus' system whereas the other striker is required to play on the shoulder of the last man and make runs in behind. Kramaric and Vardy could work very well as a front 2 in my opinion.

 

I completely agree, Nugent could even play on the shoulder of the last man, he is reletively quick, works hard, and a touch better than Vardy IMO. I'd like to see Kramaric and Nugent together.

[Guest]

No, we would have 3 CB's with wing backs and 3 across midfield, as I was suggesting..

 

So who are your attackers?

 

Are you dropping Mahrez? 

[Ollie93]

So who are your attackers?

 

Are you dropping Mahrez? 

 

I'd rather drop him and play 3-5-2, than play him and play 2 CM which everyone can see doesn't work with Cambiasso as one of the two.

 

You either drop Cambiasso and play 2 younger more agile CM's or you play him and sacrifice someone else. Probably Mahrez, there's no real middle ground is there?

 

IMO from what i've seen this season, Cambiasso has been a lot more consistent than Mahrez.

[Corky]

 

What was his other shot? Someone must know.

[Guest ttfn]

What was his other shot? Someone must know.

Was it a shot when he missed that open goal against Swansea and then sort of shunted it back to the goalkeeper who saved it?

[Dan LCFC]

Didn't he have a free kick against Sunderland from about thirty yards that was saved? It was either saved or went wide. Was a very nice effort either way.

[ScouseFox]

Didn't he have a free kick against Sunderland from about thirty yards that was saved? It was either saved or went wide. Was a very nice effort either way.

 

wasnt that vs man city? from like 40 yards and joe hart clapped him cos he too knows he's one of the best players in the league. 

[AKCJ]

 

What was his other shot? Someone must know.

 

Freekick against Man City? Would that count?

[davieG]

'Manchester United win meant nothing - I knew we would struggle', says Esteban Cambiasso Inteview: Esteban Cambiasso's first season at Leicester might have been a culture shock - but he is refusing to give up hope in their relegation battle

 

All smiles: Esteban Cambiasso insists Leicester can still defy the odds and escape relegation Photo: John Robertson ©2015

 

 

By John Percy

2:00PM BST 03 Apr 2015

Esteban Cambiasso is the Argentine with more honours than Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona and Alfredo Di Stefano.

He has won seven league titles, a Champions League medal with Inter Milan and cherishes the memories of a long and distinguished career operating in the grandest arenas in world football.

A grim battle against relegation is undoubtedly a first for Cambiasso, however, as he prepares for “nine cup finals” with Leicester City, determined to avoid a stain on his outstanding CV.

Usually a reluctant interviewee, this week he felt compelled to send out a defiant message ahead of Saturday's game against West Ham.

“The situation is bad but I’m not dead. Many people think I’m crazy but it is possible. There are nine big games for us – almost a quarter of the season - and we can still escape relegation,” he says.

“People think we’re finished and it is free, you don’t need to pay to talk about football or politics. I am a footballer, I don’t like to talk about medicine because I don’t know about it, but all the people think they know about football.

 

“It is sometimes a good motivation that we have been written off but the players need to understand, it is just words. We can’t change the past now, the past is important for understanding our mistakes. But we need to focus on the future and that is Saturday against West Ham.

“I love basketball and Michael Jordan, I always remember him being asked by a journalist why he always took the last shot and did not miss. He said that he always thought he was going to score. I think we need this mentality. We can do it.”

Cambiasso always knew this season was going to be difficult, after ending his 10-year association with Inter to agree a 12-month deal shortly before the summer transfer deadline.

He has been proven right, for seven months later Leicester are bottom of the Premier League after only four wins all season and remain seven points adrift of safety.

• Does Cambiasso make our list of football's most unlikely transfers?

There was early euphoria with the 5-3 humiliation of Louis van Gaal’s expensively constructed Manchester United team in September but, even then, Cambiasso was delivering the reality checks.

“After Manchester United one person wasn’t happy because I understand it is impossible to stay at that level,” he says. “I saw it coming.”

 

Leicester have won only two league games since that remarkable afternoon and their 4-3 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur last month was a microcosm of their season: always in games, frequently unfortunate and usually left considering the “what if’s” after the final whistle.

The sight of Cambiasso imploring his team-mates to calm down and focus has also been one of the enduring images of Leicester’s season.

“In the Tottenham match we got to 2-2 with 50 minutes gone. If you’d looked at our team it was like we had won the Champions League, but there was more than half an hour to play. I was telling my team-mates to relax,” he said.

“The Premier League is fast, less tactics, and in the final minutes it’s all boom boom boom! It is the mentality here, always to score, when maybe in the last minutes you need to think more. Players here count on the heart, not the mind.”

Even so, Cambiasso has relished his first experience of England, and his influence both on and off the pitch has been significant. He is regularly seen in the training ground canteen talking with the club’s academy youngsters and before Thursday’s interview was even found cleaning his own boots.

^{Child's play: Esteban Cambiasso talks to Leicester's youngsters (Instagram/officialfoxes)}

He lives in Stoneygate with his family, two miles away from the King Power Stadium, and after training frequently carries out the school run to pick up his two young children.

“Work here is good and my children are happy and at good schools. Maybe there has been a little change in the weather and the food is not the same to Italy [he also has an Italian passport].

“I go back to Italy during international breaks because my home and friends are there. My family are in Buenos Aires so I only return there on holidays. The flights are 14-15 hours long so it’s impossible with children!

“There are other Argentinean players in the Premier League who I’ve played with, like Angel Di Maria, [Fabricio] Coloccini, [Marcos] Rojo and [Pablo] Zabaleta but I don’t speak with them really. The days just fly by and there is so little time.”

 

Time is running down on Cambiasso’s contract but he is not ruling out the option of extending his stay in the East Midlands. He has told Leicester any talks over his future must wait until the summer, presumably due to the uncertainty over what division the club will be playing in next season.

“It is not the moment to talk about my contract. I am happy here but I need to think about the matches,” he says.

“I want to continue to play [next season]. Now, I don't know what is in the future. The holidays are long. It is a moment to think with the family, and time for think about what we want. Not just me, but my family.

“But that is not for this moment, this moment is for focusing on this season. I am really committed and it was the right decision to come here.”

 

He will be 35 in August but you sense that avoiding relegation to the Championship will resonate with him alongside those league titles, cups and the Champions League victory over Bayern Munich in 2010.

Six of their nine games are at home and Leicester are still dreaming of facing Queens Park Rangers on the final day with something to play for.

“It is the same pressure fighting for Champions Leagues, as fighting for survival. The same people who are now saying ‘Leicester is dead’...if we win on Saturday, maybe they will say ‘maybe they are not’?”

[Stevosevic]

Good to see he and his family have been happy living in the area.

[GingerrrFox]

I love Cambiasso. Massive man crush on the bald Argentine magician.

[volpeazzurro]

I love Cambiasso. Massive man crush on the bald Argentine magician.

We all see things differently don't we. For me watching Cambiasso this season has been worth my season ticket money on it's own . There are times when for me he's still so far in advance of anyone else on the entire field still . I feel very priveliged to have seen him play in our shirt and I don't say that lightly . Just my opinion.

[Dickov22]

What was his other shot? Someone must know.

Liverpool at home when he missed an open goal