Not a vintage performance tonight but considering our injuries, a good result and job done from the team and the covering pensioners Although concerning news regarding the injury to Timmy and Evans. Hopefully Evans is recovered enough by Monday.
I'm not sure we'd want to risk Ricardo being hacked to bits in his first game. Imagine he'll be introduced slowly, a la Madders. Few cameos at the end of games for match fitness. He did travel with the squad to Athens but I though he wasn't due back until December now.
Good result albeit a shaky second half but as has been mentioned, we are the walking wounded. We don’t need navigating the group to be pretty anyway, just get through. The injuries are putting a shadow over a good points return in both competitions so far. It’s not like they are happening for all to see in the games (such as Van Dijk) but in training. I mean none of us know what is really happening but it seems much more than bad luck and from the outside, seems negligent. Training regimes etc need to be adapted and tailored around the situation we find ourselves in.
If we get another defensive injury, I wonder what happens next. Fuchs to centre back? Works well in a 3 but a 2 would be a concern. Think all youngsters on the edge of first term were sent out on loan weren’t they?
Fuchs has played CB for us in a back 4 before - admittedly mainly in cup games. Josh Knight is due back in Jan - been playing a CB on loan. Benkovic hasn't played a game yet this season. Amartey and Ndidi are out until next year. Randomly Matty James was captain in his first game for Barnsley.
I'm genuinely excited by the prospect of us having a fully fit squad. We'll have one of the strongest 11's in the league and the competition from the rest of the squad will provide great cover, as we're seeing now. I just wish i knew what happened at the end of last season. We've a real chance of top 4 this season, Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea may prove too tough to overhaul.
Sublime.. Two 19 year olds at the back and far from our strongest 11. Leeds may not be the best team in the league and playing away doesn't seem to hold the fears it once did as we have found with our home games but that was superb.
Mendy is running things in midfield, this is the player we bought to replace Kante! I'm honestly not sure Ndidi walks back into the first 11 at this point
Really like that kind of performance. I think it can be a bit frustrating when the opposition has so much of the ball but when we have a defence back, I can see is going back to a 4 and using an extra attacker, it is needs must tactically and getting excellent results. What is great is the attacking intent and pace going forwards. So much more successful than trying to break down a packed in defence so Leeds, Arsenal and Man City played into our hands. Wolves at home I can see being more frustrating but with the defence splitting passes from Maddison and Youri and Under, that should give us more options to break this down.
It was a brilliant performance from what was a cobbled together side. Every player knew what his job was and the interplay was controlled and impressive. Thought Fuchs and Albrighton looked really solid and Thomas grew into the game after a slow start. And Vardy gets better by the game. There is so much more to his game now. His hold-up play has improved so that he is now bringing other players into the game more, and the link up with Barnes is starting to look really dangerous. Under is looking a class act, works hard and is totally unselfish. The training ground must be a happy place to be at the moment. Have to agree with the previous comment that Wilf is going to have to wait for his chance when he gets back because Mendy is absolutely dominating that midfield area. Wolves is going to be a different challenge. In a way, we are playing the same style as them; compact in defence when we lose the ball and quick on the counter attack. It should be a fascinating game, but doubt it will be a high scoring affair. It's one I think could go either way. However, a win would probably leave us at the top of the pile at the end of this weekend's matches.
I thought the scoreline slightly flattered us, but victory was fully deserved. At this level, it's all about taking your chances. Bamford should have scored with that free header, 5 yards out and in the middle of the goal. 5 touches later, we score Everyone had an 8/10 game, but I thought Fuuuuuuuuuchs was excellent. How good can this squad be, when everyone is fully fit? Brenda is getting his tactics spot on at the moment.....long may it continue
Could end up playing Wilf as part of a back 3 with Fofana and Cags with Pereira and Castagne as wing backs ... quality in depth James Justin could come in to cover any of those positions ... this squad is frighteningly good ...
The one player we don't have real quality cover for is Vardy. Without him we can look absolutely toothless up front. Barnes is starting to play more centrally and feeding off Vardy. Is he being groomed as the long term replacement?
Im not sure Barnes will become our next long term number 9, i'd imagine that we will be in the market for a new main striker in the summer. Our main acquisitions the past 2 windows have been midfield (Tielemans) and defence (Forfana), as long as no holes are created by outgoing players, the natural transition now is to improve the attacking lineup. Hope we have some sort of clause in Unders loan, as he has looked sharp in his first few appearances.
Another very professional performance tonight. Hamza had his best game for us, another solid performance from Fofana and Maddison is slowly getting back to his best. Who says we can’t win games without Vardy?!
I guess it's me you're taking a pop at, Harborough. What I actually said was that 'we can look toothless' without Vardy, not that we can't win. Obviously it always depends on the quality of the opposition and the way they play, but against the better teams in the Prem we usually do look toothless when Vardy doesn't play.
OMG mate not at all. I was talking about what I have seen on Twitter/Facebook. Sorry if you took any offence
