Choudhury is much better than what we have seen recently and that comes down to confidence. Can remember a couple of games at ours against Arsenal when he completely bosses things ... but a couple of errors have knocked him ... that happens with young players and he just needs the direction to come through the blip.
The last few times I've seen Choudhury play he has looked absolutely lost and unsure as to what his role is. And I understand that will happen if he doesn't get a regular start. But he looks like he has lost that appetite he had when he first came onto the scene, which was summed up by the way he let Barkley loose to score the Villa winner this season. As a defensive midfielder I'm quite happy for a player to hold his position and carry out the job he's there to do. I'd rather Tielemanns be the one to push up.
Looks like we will be without Fofana and Castagne for Fulham. At least we have very capable replacements in Ricardo and Soyuncu. Please don't balls this one up lads. I still look at the league table and pinch myself. Ok, we've had a few blips, but hand on heart, who wouldn't have taken where we are now at the beginning of the season. Let's keep things in perspective.
Play like we did against Everton and we win this ... let's not forget that we were going well against Leeds until Maddison's poor pass gifted them an equaliser and completely switched the momentum... COYBs
I must admit that I do think Hamza is a better player than we have seen recently and should stay at the club. However I agree he is a confidence player, and this has been shown in the last few matches, it seems he is trying to hard to impress and it almost on the verge of a sending off with every (seems to be) petulant challenge, or maybe that's just me?
Credit where it's due ... great performances from Kelechi and Hamza tonight ... and Madders setting up both goals was a fine response to his **** ups against Leeds ... biggest bonus has to be Ricardo looking like his old self ... Great stuff
Glad to see Hamza get a start. Didn't quite grab it with both hands but played ok. Felt he could have made himself more available for Kasper who could only go square. Minor point in a welcome return to form, that second goal was a thing of real beauty.
Thought Choudhury and especially Nacho had great games. Tbf with Choudhury and the position he was playing, to go unnoticed is probably better.... I’d go same team on Sunday (assuming Vardy and Ndidi will be bench as best) but Albrighton or Under for Perez. I’m sure he’ll rotate thought as we have midweek games every week this month!
His double interception and pass to Maddison was key to the first goal and he also started the move for the second ... he linked the back four to the creative midfield all game and the commentators were very complimentary throughout ... don't think he could have done much more, given lack of recent game time, tbf
James Justin just gets better and better. He must be a shoe in for an England call up. Brenda has said Vardy and Ndidi should be ok for Sunday. Personally I wouldn't start them. Give them both half an hour and again in the cup in midweek before unleashing them both against Liverpool. BTW, what a save from Kasper. More importantly so as it came just before our glorious 2nd.
I was asked a question at work yesterday whether Brenda is the right man for the job?! It beggers belief sometimes what some people want. My reply was, of course he is. We're 4th (now 3rd) in the Premier league. I can't believe the jury are still out with some people. I still pinch myself everyday with the current position we are in. Although we fell away last season, we have been going toe to toe with "the big 6" for the last couple of years. I think some fans wish we were battling relegation each season, just so they can really have a good moan!!
Indeed ... also great to see Ricardo bombing down the wing and lashing in that shot ... was a very consummate team performance, which considering how many were missing, shows just how much our squad depth has improved ...
I know we fell away last season and some results were frustrating but it does annoy me that it's rarely mentioned ( not by us) the injury crisis that contributed to that. This season we've a deeper, better squad, we've again had injury issues but have good replacements now. And although it was disappointing to fall away, it was to our 2nd best league position and we qualified for Europa League. We've not been out of the top 5 since something like Aug 2019, considering where we were 10/12 years ago that's remarkable.
Sometimes you need knock backs to move forward again. Prime example is James Justin's development. He was thrust into the team at the end of last season because we were down to the bare bones due to those injuries. Took him a little while to find his mojo, but his development since then has been phenomenal and a real joy to watch as a Foxes fan. Now some fans were not overly keen on Ben Chilwell (perhaps some echoes of Joe Mattock?) but I always thought he was an excellent young footballer... but I certainly wouldn't want him back instead of James Justin ... got to be in Southgate's thoughts with the continued levels of performance he's putting in ...
I have to admit that Choudhury and Nacho's performances surpassed anything I'd expected, and was a great indication of the togetherness in the squad. Choudhury looked much more assured and held his position well for a start but did seem to lose a bit of focus before he made way for Mendy. Nacho looked like a player with a point to prove. Good movement for the first goal and great spin away from the defender to start the move for the second, and he worked hard to close defenders down quickly. Completely agree with everything good being written about James Justin. He should have a special shirt made with a big 'S' embroidered on the front.
No chance, Chilwell will still be picked in front of him, a Southgate prodigy since England U21s, might make the squad, but no chance of featuring in qualifiers. Deserved that goal, sprinted past Barnes who seemed to have given up on that particular attack. Was a brilliant save, but have to say im more concerned about the defending there!
I have been quite hard on Brendan myself but you can’t be anything but delighted with the position right now. I still think he has a couple of glaring weaknesses such as the lack of improvement on set pieces at both ends and that when we do lose (which is happily very rarely) it is usually a shocking performance. The strengths and the great points far outweighs this though and it’d be the icing on top to see us bag a few goals from corners and not feel a nervous wreck when defending them! Maybe that’s something that needs factoring into recruitment though.
You are quite right and I deserve to be admonished for a negative post after a great win. Just want the lad to do well.