Jamie Vardy is serving the final game of his suspension. Matty James is still injured and Caglar Soyuncu isnt expected to be in the squad until after the international break. Here is what i would go with Schmeichel Ricardo Morgan Maguire Chilwell Ndidi Mendy Albrighton Maddison Gray Iheanacho Subs- Ward, Evans, Fuchs, Amartey, Iborra, Ghezzal, Okazaki
Schmeichel Amartey Morgan Maguire Ricardo Ndidi Mendy Chilwell Gray Maddison Iheanacho Wishful thinking. If theres a team that calls for 3 CBs, its Liverpool.
If we are going with 3 centre backs I would play Fuchs on the left. That way Chilwell can get forward and Salah wont find it as easy if we have 2 player there who understand LB positioning Plus it would allow us to go 4 at the back without making a sub
Schmeichel Pereira Evans Maguire Fuchs N’didi Mendy Gray Maddison Albrighton (I think he is far more effective on the left) Ihenacho
please log in to view this image More likely Gray will be the "striker". Puel had been quoted that he sees Gray as a striker in the future - says a lot how low he rates Iheanacho though.
Frustrating game. Liverpool aren’t all that, they were a glorified long ball side a lot of today, when they tried to play out they got stung. I thought we played well but why oh why does Puel make some of the decisions he does. We were pressing and had them on the ropes and it felt to me at least that his changes bringing Amartey for Maddison and Okazaki to a lesser extent killed the game. Not promising when it appears the manager is doing that. Ghezzal had a good game, I didn’t get playing Gray as the striker, he was pulling out wide and leaving us lacking in the middle. It could have been a much different result if Vardy has played, Liverpool got away with one
Agree with John here. Liverpool will have other tight wins but this was a little lucky. If Vardy had been here, and admittedly its his own fault he wasn't, Im sure the result would have been different. Gray is not a striker, evidenced by him being no where in sight a number of times when balls were played into the box. unfortunately going to sleep right on half time cost us this game but thought a number of players played well. Maddison continues to impress. If he can get a bit stronger on the ball and read things a bit quicker then he is going to be an outstanding player. Chilwell continues to improve. Unfortunately Gray doesn't.
It was just the Man U game again, arguably our 2 best performances have ended in defeat, though realistically we are about where i'd expect us to be after 4 games.
Gray didn’t play well yesterday but has been on a different level in the previous games this season to anything he has shown before. As said, he’s a winger not a forward. He can get back to his natural position when Vardy comes back but I’ve been happy with him, Chilwell and Maddison over the season. Yesterday wasn’t the first goal under Puel we have conceded from a corner where I’ve thought a man on the post would have been directly in the way to stop it. I wonder why we don’t do this now? I’ll watch MOTD in a bit and try and see if it’s apparent whether other teams still do or whether it’s just ‘not fashionable’ any more. It was a cheap one to give away nonetheless
If we continue to bring EVERY player back to defend a corner, then stick someone on the posts. I wish we would go back to a couple of seasons a go (when we WON the league...I'll never get tired of saying that) and leave 2,sometimes 3 players on the halfway line.
Agreed, do one or the other, set up to defend the set piece and set out just not to concede or plan for the counter. Let’s be honest, Maddison clearly has no end of attacking qualities but looks like he’d struggle to mark a sign post! He’s the kind of player that would be better left up or if he comes back mark the post (I realise that concradicts saying he couldn’t mark a sign post). Also in addition, when we left numbers up it forces the oppositions hand to leave more back
Unfair to criticise Gray yesterday as he was being played out of position. He has been very good otherwise this season. Good performances all over the pitch, with Chilwell always offering himself as an option and other players willing to taking the ball in tight spaces. Ghezzal looks to have real quality and a good work rate. Maddison has great feet and I thought Ndidi was immense in the second half. The best performances so far have come against the 'stronger' teams. We need to show the same aggression against the 'lesser' teams rather than just sit back and hope something comes our way. For me yesterday's match wasn't about the result - I was expecting us to lose, particularly bearing in mind the previous 2 lacklustre league games - but more about the performance, and I have to say I was impressed with it overall. There was plenty of aggression and ambition and we played some fantastic football at times. Even Comatose Claude was showing emotion - pass him the calm-down pills, someone! If that spirit can be maintained within the squad then the future does look very bright
I thought Ndidi was superb yesterday. Him and Mendy look like building a good little partnership. Something we havent had in midfield since Drinkwater and Kante The worry obviously is Mendy staying fit Ghezzal look good yesterday. Looked alot like Mahrez. Dont get playing Gray ahead of Iheanacho at all. If we are going to start matches slow and like we have against Man U and Liverpool we will lose them. No point rallying when we are 1-0, 2-0 down Next after the international break is Bournemouth away and we have Vardy back. We should be looking for a minimum for 4 points from the next 2 games and then we would have had a very good start
Think if Iheanacho had started, Maddison would have burnt himself out after 45 minutes, we seemed to be linking up play rather than hitting it to a front man, so the change made sense to me. Whats the point of bringing in a striker just to have him isolated for long periods of the game? Just so happens they wern't the Liverpool we were sold and just didn't bother after they scored their first goal.
I thought Ihenacho was excellent What a shame that he had to be dropped in his golden chance in order to get that performance out of him
Typical Puel starts against Liverpool at home without a striker and then while still chasing the game takes off Maddison and puts on Amartey.
