First of all, I would like to state that I am a massive Nigel Pearson fan (the missus thinks we are having an affair!), but this is not necessarily aimed at him, as other managers have also done it, but.............. Why, oh why do we play players out of their natural positions?! I can understand doing so (I suppose) when it's the last few minutes and we are chasing the game, but not at the start of a match. For example: We are playing a flat 4-4-2. We have 4 wingers in the squad (Knockaert, Mahrez, Albrighton and Schlupp) play 2 of them and 2 of them only. Central midfielders (Drinkwater, James, Cambiasso, King, Hammond) play 2 of them, not think oh no, I need to fit Drinkwater in somewhere so I'll stick on the right wing. Same with the strikers, don't put Vardy on the wing just so he gets a game. If you're going with Nugent and Ulloa for example then Vardy sits on the bench. I believe you have 2 players for every position on the pitch. Play the man who is in form, the other sits out the game or on the bench. Rant over, but for the love of god, why do we do it?
I think we're struggling with wide players. Mahrez is doing OK, but Knockaert looks out of his depth, Albrighton has yet to impress and Schlupp, despite having tons of pace, lacks an end product. So I can understand why we've been playing Vardy wide because of his pace, with Nuge's creativeness and Ulloa finishing up front. However, it has to be said it's not worked so far. I don't have too much of a problem with players out of position, but I do with chopping and changing every week. I like to see us settle on a formation and team. The problem is settling on it. We seem to struggle when playing only two in midfield (Saturday and first half against Stoke), so lets say three in midfield (presumably Cambiasso, Drinky and James... or Hammond?). So do we play wide players, even though we only have one close to performing? And that only leaves one up front. Can't see Ulloa getting dropped because of what we paid for him, so should we play, say, Schlupp instead of Vardy (who I think is our best players)? If we play 4-3-3, we run the risk of being too narrow, unless we have two of our strikers staying wide (presumably Vardy and Mahrez perhaps). Then that means leaving Nugent out, who at times provides our only spark. Despite my last comment, that's the team I'd play: Kasper Konch Morgan Moore De Laet/Simpson Mahrez Cambiasso Drinky James/Hammond Vardy Ulloa I think we need Ulloa to stay up field more. I love a player that gets stuck in, but I'd like to see it from Ulloa in front of their box not ours.
