After losing the last 2 games it makes this game even bigger. Burnley are now top of the table again. Ritchie De Laet is back so everyone other then Sean St. Ledger is fit and available for selection. So here is what I would go with Schmeichel De Laet Morgan Moore Konchesky Knockaert James Drinkwater Dyer Wood Vardy Subs- Logan, Wasilewski, King, Hammond, Schlupp, Taylor-Fletcher, Nugent
Its now clear Wasi can't hack it as a full back..a big miss by nigel.. I thought GTF looked good and (fitter) when he came on...I would be tempted to play him in the hole behind the front 1/2... james has blotted his copy book after the sheffield effort.. ,
It was only three games ago Pearson was saying Nugent has a manager that backs him. Pity as it must be time Wood had a start. Nothing wrong with supporting your players but something needs to change as obviously we are not clinical enough currently.
I'd like to see us go for pace and movement so would start with ... looking to bring Chris Wood on later ... Schmeichel De Laet Morgan Moore Wasilewski Schlupp Knockaert King Drinkwater Dyer Vardy
itwasn't long ago that we had a 7 point cushion away from 4th, now we have a 7 point cushion from 7th -.- but tbh, Burnley and QPR havn't really pulled away either.
Wasn't that good really was it? ... few real positives except for - Lloyd Dyer - arguably playing the best football of his career for us right now - our chief threat all game. Liam Moore - please don't drop him again! - fine display both in the centre and when moved to full-back Wes did Ok - Drinkwater not bad either Kasper - pretty good save from Vokes - didn't have that much to do otherwise ... now ... Vardy missed two excellent chances - didn't even get them on target - should have. Yes he again contributed by his closing down and by winning the penalty but more needed as part of a misfiring strike force. Knockaert - did OK first half but was worse than useless second - lost count of the number of attacks that broke down by him giving the ball away before going into a petty sulk. Nuge - contrast with Ings - one was dangerous every time he got the ball - one wasn't. Gary Taylor fletcher has a far better touch - indeed some of his touches were sublime and surely he must be given a chance to start - can only be for Nuge. Apart from Lloyd our midfield was sadly lacking in creativity and goal threat - those that dislike Andy King got their wish - and we failed to score from open play - I think it's time that Pearson gave Matty James a chance ... oh but wait! What was the point in bringing Jeff Schlupp on with only 8 minutes left? - particularly with Vardy struggling with his shoulder from the first half - once on he did lok dangerous - he has pace and combative strength which was need against their robust defence, An opportunity lost for me - I think he should consider giving GFT and Schlupp starting roles up front - to combine GTF's subtlety with Jeff's pace and power - nothing to lose there - our forwards are currently significantly underperforming in open play without a doubt.
You don't win games at any level if you keep conceding soft goals and miss hat full's of chances..., I think burnley got about 4 crosses in the box the whole game,and found their man twice.. we got nearly 20 in the box and found a man three times...we seem to run out of ideas when we get in the the area...,
Yes 2 pts lost, No clean sheet again & it´s all getting very tight at the top. Who´s going up this season ? **** knows, how long is a piece of string ? Waggy! get him back & in, the others (apart from JV) are doing FA. Same as last season. Doing really well til Dec/Jan & then, like most women in Nottingham, pear shaped.
We look a lot better at the back with Moore and Morgan. I felt De Laet added something we have missed yesterday until he understandably ran out of steam
I'd agree with FF, i was frustrated by the chances wasted by not even being on target. Vardy and Nuge ineffective in front of goal, although they put the effort in. I don't think that Schlupp was ever going to do anything different, even if he was given longer on the pitch, GTF looked as though he could hold up the ball well, if we were ever to play 4-4-1-1 then i'd put him in behind the striker. Whether Moore and Morgan were more effective or not, the stats are going to show they both missed the cross that lead to their goal. Knockeart has gone back to his regular lose the ball and flail his arms about, defensively incapable, luckily he'll never give away a penalty with a stupid tackle as he never gets back that far.
We need a clinical striker. That man could be Chris Wood But all other strikers here are wasteful. But then again so are 90% of strikers in this league
This is why Burnley are so high up in the league. They've gone to places like us and Forest, not played especially well but soaked up loads of pressure and managed to get a goal. We seem to be getting back to our old habits of losing away from home, when the points you can pick up with draws can make all the difference. Despite us winning the same number of games as QPR and one more than Burnley, they've both only lost twice and we've lost 5; regardless of our win ratio that's too many for half a season in a promotion push.
If any of you are Foxes player subscribers, you can log onto "Claret's player" using your same login details, and they've put up the full 90minutes from this match. I'm having a watch currently...this Knockaert geezer's a bit tricky!
