You must have been watching a different game to me. I saw three Leicester clear cut chances all match - one purely created by our left back error, the second from a sharp counter attack, but well-marshalled by our centre backs but an unfortunate ricochet sent the ball into Vardy’s path, the third from nowhere really Williams wasn’t tight enough to Albrighton and then got an incredibly unfortunate deflection. We marshalled most counterattacks extremely well otherwise, a particular highlight being Aarons’ superb positioning when defending a two on one near the end, allowing Rupp to get back and force the Leicester player to cut back and stumble, with Cantwell tidying up - none of our centre backs involved and yet we held them out. What we lacked today was (i) single-minded attitude to breaking forward when we turned the ball over - a couple of times we had great counterattacking opportunities and ended up cutting back to allow them to regroup, (ii) ruthless finishing - if we had had Vardy up front, he definitely would have scored one of the two Pukki chances (or even when he was out through but cut out by Amartey), the Sargent chance or the Idah chance and (iii) a massive slice of bad luck with the very strange and frankly questionable offside cancelling out the goal. We clearly lacked a bit of confidence in attack - a couple of times we had midfielders shooting from range (PLM and Cantwell) with perfectly decent long range chances, but they’re still quite unlikely - yet they each had a player free to their right where could have been played through. So decision making and communication isn’t quite there. I.e. all attacking points where we lost today (and luck)
We were watching the same match, Rob, but perhaps concentrating on different things. We had 4 shots on target plus McClean's disallowed goal. They had 3 shots on target and we can agree about that. What I was highlighting was how easily they moved the ball through the thirds compared to our constant passing sideways or back. This may be related to our disrupted pre-season still, but that is less of a factor in their ability to move the ball more easily. Our recruitment has concentrated on 'physical' factors like height, strength and pace, but Gilmour has none of those and yet he is at the heart of our midfield screening the defence. On the match thread DH has highlighted the average position of our players and Gilmour was further forward than McLean. Rowdy's point above about being "light in midfield" is precisely what I feel. Gilmour is a talented midfielder, but he is not an effective DM screening the defence. I'm also concerned about a right-footed player at LB. Williams had to concede corners because he couldn't clear balls with his right foot.
Surely, at some point, the realisation is going to dawn that we don't keep getting beaten because of goals we fail to score, but because of goals we fail to stop being scored.
With our midfield overrun so easily in all three league matches so far, it is surely time for Sorensen to be given a start. Normann looks a non starter, Carvalho too expensive and no other names in the hat.
The only positive thing to come out of this bad start for me is , it's crystal clear that this team is missing players in 3 areas we all know where . Webber is now more likely to push harder to strengthen in the next 48 hours . Had we nicked a point then we would just go with what we have . We just signed a left back and we still look vulnerable Mumba is injured so no idea who would step in if Aarons gets suspenjured . We have tons of options in midfield though as usual just no DM
Well that's a simplistic view, Robbie, but it is true that our recruitment has overly concentrated on attacking players. Lees-Melou has added some steel to our midfield and we've now added Williams, apparently at the expense of the far more experienced Giannoulis. IMO, Gilmour has added little defensively. We have 3 days now to try to achieve a better balance for PL survival.
I agree GE. Sorenson looked solid against Bournemouth and has an effective range of passing as well, not to mention adding height at set pieces compared to the diminutive Gilmour, but I suspect that our obligations to Chelsea will continue to shape DF's choices, as will ManUtd's with Williams. DF touched upon our lack of experience at the heart of midfield, but will we do anything about that?
Normann is fit enough to link up with Norway for the international break, which is a good sign if that's where our interest still lies.
This has now got Paddy Davitt's seal of approval, who has added that there's no issue with his medical. Looks like we have our midfielder!
Thanks... I was BedfordCanary before... but forgot my login details and my new phone doesn't remember them lol
Just looking at yesterdays game we had 14 shots with 4 on target, Leicester had 9 with 3 on target. So we kept a top 6 club down to 3 shots on target and some how this is evidence of a defensive problem (that's not to say we can't improve). Surely the truth is if our shots to goal ratio or our shots on target to goal ratio had matched Leicester's we would have won the game.
Really? I think Lees-Melou is weak! Pushed off the ball too easily, slow and for a guy so tall, he is pretty poor in the air. Tidy when he has space, but smacks of a Stiepermann type... couldn't hit a barn door, but will eventually score a banger. Hope he proves me wrong. Time to bed in required imo.
I'm not convinced our recruitment has overly concentrated on attacking players. I think it's just the case, that our attacking targets have been attainable whilst our defensive targets have failed to come to fruition. I'm not of the view that results are indicative of effort or intention. If that was the case, we would have won yesterday.
I think you're wise to give him more than 3 games to adjust to the level of the best league in the world.
It's a combination at the moment. Yes, we need to be more clinical up top and put away more chances, but the goals we do concede are also worrying as they are generally mistakes rather than good play. We played very well for 89+mins yesterday, but the two times we slipped up, we let goals in. We deserved more. Shame one of our late chances didn't go in. Sargent and Idah would be an awesome combo up top for me. They would cause all sorts of issues with their pace, power and good movement! We looked way more dangerous with them on the pitch. Id give them a go!
Haha. I didn't mean to sound overly negative about him. I just feel he needs to hit the gym a bit if he is going to do well in this league. As I say, he looks fairly tidy, but reminds me of Stiepermann. Feel he will be very useful next season should the worst happen this year! Fingers xd that isnt the case
