His attitude and application over the last 2 years have done him no favours at all. We've seen what a great player he can be when he's on his game, but he has somehow lost his way. Maybe he should take a look at what happened to Danny Drinkwater and then knuckle down and get himself back on track while he still has time.
Some sad news emanating from the club today, Craig Shakespeare is undergoing treatment for cancer ... All the best, Shakey ...
Records tumbling... 6 away wins on the bounce ... Scary thing for the rest of the league is that we appear to be getting better with each game
Everything looks rosy at the moment, but it wouldn't be right not to have a moan so here goes ..... we still need to be more clinical in front of goal. According to the BBC match reporter we could have had 7 or 8 yesterday. That really would provide us with a cushion against any defensive mishap or wonder goal. And the AFCON coming up in January will hit us so we need as many points on the board as possible before then.
Totally agree. We've had a few games now where being more clinical and putting away a couple more chances would've made life a lot more comfortable. It only takes a mistake or deflection and we'd be dropping points. The effort off the bar yesterday, a case in point. And there was a similar one a game or so ago. I've no doubt they're trying to do so but we do need better execution.
This is where the signing of Tom Cannon was such good business. We lose Iheanacho Ndidi and Daka for a month and that would have only left Vardy with oldish legs. Great foward thinking with Iheanacho and Vards out of contract at the end of the season as well.
I see Tom Cannon is actually in training now. He will obviously take some time to get accustomed to how he will be required to play and to get anywhere near match fitness. We need to be giving him some minutes of match time very soon so we can build him up in time to be able to figure for longer periods by the time AFCON rolls round. We have to hope that his back injury isn't a recurring problem or we could be short up front. Any idea what type of striker he is? It would be nice to have a Tony Cottee fox in the box type of finisher to start putting away some of those chances.
He's quick and strong - more like a Vardy (but looks bigger) than a Cottee I'd say ... his goals at Preston whilst on loan last season are on YouTube...
Hopefully a wake-up call. We still have the same problems that we had last season and are yet to address ...... our main strikers don't score goals. We are much better defensively but that only helps us not to lose games rather than win. I didn't get to see the game last night and could only follow on BBC text, but we didn't have a shot on target until stoppage time. We can't win games with those sorts of stats. This is supposed to be a dress rehearsal for a return to the Prem but it also highlights the massive gulf between the two divisions. We can pull off comfortable wins (although we have struggled recently) against long-time Championship teams and this is masking our deficiencies. When we come up against a Premier League quality team it is a different matter. I know we beat Saints comfortably but they were woeful in that game. We are missing Ndidi's new found abilities at the moment and Casadei is just not in the same class. What is it about Vardy and Iheanacho that stops them from getting a touch in dangerous area of the pitch? Is it their lack of movement or is it that the wingers are playing for themselves and don't even try to find them? We have received a reality check and now we have to act on it. If we were to get promotion this season we would have to sort out our ability to beat the opponent's high press more effectively and create goal scoring chances otherwise it would be straight back down. Don't take this as me being down on the manager's tactics. It just shows that you need good quality players all over the pitch to make it work. I think we are a couple light at the moment ..... up front and another up and back midfielder to complement KDH in the absence of Ndidi.
We were second best last night and Leeds deserved their victory. Kamara absolutely bossed midfield. We looked dangerous down the wings but could seldom get the ball out wide for a one on one. Whilst Casadei was poor, KDH was completely absent. It happens, we will get on with it, but we do need reinforcements for our midfield.
We are in need of strength up front! next to Weller Vardy is my all time favourite City player, unfortunately time is catching up with him. Iheanacho unfortunately just does not do it for me! if only we could find another Doog or Frank Large not much skill but he scared the hell out of defenders!
Big game this weekend - need to bounce back from a pretty underwhelming performance against Leeds last time out ...
Probably the biggest game in a way. We don't want to be going into the international break on a run of 2 defeats. That void left by Ndidi is costing us and is going to be hard to fill. I can't see Casadei starting ..... or at least I hope I can't. Choudhury offers us a better defensive option but we also need more forward momentum. I'll let Enzo sort it out.
Big game, picked Middlesborough a few weeks ago as a team on the rise. No Ndidi or Akgun so that right side of midfield is key. Hopefully if it is Casadei last week will have been the kick up the bum he needed. Looking forward to the first look at our new Cannon firing some shots
I hope Praet gets some game time when he gets back to fitness, but I don't think he will. I personally don't get all the hype over KDH. To me, he is always over running the ball when dribbling, holds on to the ball too long instead of laying off an easy pass and can only kick with his left foot! He seems to get a pass from a lot of our fans because he's a local. Maybe he just needs a rest and a reboot! I went to Middlesbro and couldn't believe Iheanacho got 90 minutes, although he had our 2 best chances apart from Vestergaards header. Vardy doesn't seem to offer much, so why oh why isn't Daka being given some minutes. I don't like to moan seeing as we are top of the league, but I don't want this excellent start to the season go to waste.
Maresca seems to be a fan of Praet, he made noises pre season suggesting he’d be one of the advanced midfielders. We need someone like him further forward who can thread a pass, none of the midfielders, maybe apart from Winks, really seem to have that in their game, he’d be the closest we’ve got to come close to replacing Maddison. I’ve seen the same with Dewsbury-Hall for a while now. He has a relatively easy pass to play someone in but over hits it, or forces the player wide and the chance goes begging. His ability to keep going for 90 minutes at the rate he does is priceless though, he never seems to get tired. It may be the time now to tweak the side a bit. Akgun, Coady, Cannon, Praet and Daka should maybe get a chance and hopefully Ndidi will be back for the Watford match. Like you say, we’re top and shouldn’t moan, but this might be the kick up the bum we need to refocus and push on again.
