It's important never to get too carried away after any win or loss, but today I think taught us quite a bit: - Okazaki has to be on the pitch. He links up the play so well and offers so much better balance between the midfield and the attack. He is that vital cog for that 'never say die' attitude which won us the league last year. - Drinkwater and King, currently, is our best midfield partnership. This one is all about opinion, but i think King offers us much more balance as well than Amartey does. Amartey is ok, but is quite negative. With King, we can shift the ball better between defence and attack and suprisingly offers quite a bit defensively. Until Mendy returns, I would stick with this pairing. - We have a plan B, and plan C. We dropped Vardy for this, played a different way and looked very good. Depending on the game, and how the game is going, we have options - knock it long and let Vardy chase, play Slimani and hold it up, or both. And that's before we even mention the left wing options. - We are a good team still and not turned awful over the summer. Following the 'open-mic' meeting, the players seem up for it and genuinely care. That team spirit and ethos seems to still be there. - Ranieri is more of a Tinkerman this year. More for good than bad i imagine, but he will make strange calls from time to time which mainly will pay off. - Defensive concentration is still a bit of an issue. The Palace goal came down to nothing more than a lack of concentration. - Drinkwater is exceptional and in truth better than the others at the club. Keeping hold of him is key as he is the heartbeat and the player which keeps everything ticking over. Should he get injured, I would have a major worry. Schmeichel isn't far behind but we have decent cover.
Nice to see your team starting to get to grips with the PL again, 1 point from your next CL game and you can forget it until February leaving you to concentrate on the league. You won't win it again (and I hope you will all realise that is not a wum), but I see no reason why you can't fight for at least a EL place again this season.
I don´t see this as a WUM because that´s exactly what l think too Diego. Okazaki is a live wire there is no doubt, I´m thinking CR doesn´t really know what´s the best starting XI at the mo & which system to play. I don´t mean that as criticism btw, what l mean is with the new players that have come in and with the departure of Kanté the team sort of doesn´t pick it´s self like it did last season. As l´ve said before and as Diego has said we should be looking at a top 6 finish, which l´d be happy with. "UTF"
Hardly a WUM, we know that! I think the important thing is not to make European football a one off and try to sustain it most likely through the Europa League. I'd be happy to see us do this via the league or an FA cup win
How many teams qualify for the Europa lge in England any way ? It´s up to 7th place now here in Germany.
3 in total (possibly 4 including the Fair Play League) - officially 1 from league and 2 from FA and League cups but as the teams that win the cups tend to also qualify for Champions League, it gets transferred to the next qualifying place in the league. Premier League winners: Will qualify for the Champions League group stage and be seeded Runners-up: Will qualify for the Champions League group stage Third: Will qualify for the Champions League group stage Fourth: Will qualify for the Champions League play-off Fifth: Will qualify for the Europa League Play Offs FA Cup: Will qualify for Europa League Group Stage League Cup: Will qualify for Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round Fair Play: Will qualify for Europa League 1st Qualifying Round https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engli...petitions#Who_qualifies_for_UEFA_competitions
And my summary from the Spurs game... - Okasaki has to play - king makes us much more balanced - we look relatively defensively solid but Huth is a bit reckless - Vardy is good for the way we play but Slimani is going to be a vital (sub probably) for goals - Musa looks a decent option out left - lacks a little quality but does have goals in him
I was astonished at our persuit of Michael Keane and the priceswe were offereing but it makes sense now... We will be in trouble in Jan/Feb when the African Cup of Nations is on - hopefully the likes of Gray, Bart and Ulloa get game time in the cups at least. Also wtf is happening with Mendy - is becoming this season's Inler.
... yup ... Mendy just had a minor op to remove pieces of bone fragment from his ankle ... unlucky, because he was just starting to shine when he picked up the injury ...
