Mahrez was unplayable, Albrighton played very well as did King and Drinkwater but I thought the understanding and work rate of Vardy and Okazaki was brilliant They set the tone and both compliment each other brilliantly. Okazaki never gave any ball up and won possession numerous times
We were poor at the back, thankfully Sunderland were worse. The best news today is that Sunderland are a very real contender for relegation. Our attacking players were great but let's be honest - this fixture is in the 4-5 easiest of the season. Still, lots to be positive about, including the fact that Ranieri is clearly going to keep faith in the team that kept us up. The one addition, Okazaki, worked as hard as expected. Three points down, 40-odd to go!
The positive news, is that our defence did look poor, but we did have Benalouane and Fuchs on the bench... And, I don't think a midfield of King and Drinkwater gives much defensive protection!
Once Benalouane has abit more sharpness I think he will come into the team for De Laet and we will go with a 3 at the back Opening day so I don't want to be too critical but overall our attacking play was very good and we got the 3 points and 4 goals to show for it
Schlupp was magnificent I thought, and he's also been working on his distribution- a couple of passes where he switched play were great. Not sure about him at left-back, but he didn't have an awful lot of defending to do. Drinkwater faded a little in the second but his first half was incredible. Loving the look of Okazaki, it's a shame he didn't finish the late chance he had because he deserved a debut goal. Some of his interchanges with the rest of the team were great, and him and vardy must be the hardest-working strikeforce in the league. Pretty much everyone ahead of the defence deserved at least 8/10 today, with Mahrez and Albrighton the standout performers. Can't say much about Benalouane but Kante looked exciting, Fuchs was a little sloppy but would be my preferred choice at LB in a 4-4-2. Schlupp's wasted there as his attacking is so good, he seemed to be playing in Sunderland's half most of the match, but against better opposition he'd be exploited.
... we were 'irresistible' ... I really don't get a couple of the comments about Sunderland ... they were not allowed to get a foothold in this game because our pace and movement left them chasing shadows .. simple as that ... I won't be writing them off as certain relegation candidates on that performance that's for sure ... the key to our success is that incredible pressing game ... if we can maintain that we will do alright ... yes we do no need to sort a few things out ... I'm not convinced about de Laet and Kasper seems to have contracted a dose of his periodic flappiness ... but take nothing away from our attacking game ... we could have (and perhaps should have) doubled our goals tally ... Defoe finished well (as he does) and Fletcher's goal was a bit of a dogs dinner from our perspective ... so they took their chances ... but they were well and truly put to the sword overall ... As for the new boys ... Fuchs and Benny looked steady enough ... Kante looks real class ... the ball into Okazaki was top notch ... and as for Okazaki ... a superb debut ... Here's to running a lot of defences ragged this season ...
When its at the back with Wes or Schlupp and we're passing our way out of danger .... please log in to view this image Alot calmer at the back playing our way out of defence rather than just pumping it up to Vardy. Gotta remember that this is the first competitive match that we have played 2 at CB since Huth has come in, so this will no doubt be worked on. For their second, you could tell Schmeichel had nothing to do most of the game as his concerntration went out the window, i don't imagine that he would have done that if we wern't 3 goals clear at that stage. End of the day, we are both relegation candidates in our mini league, so thats 1 6-pointer down
Did we actually play 4-4-2 today then? Or was it the 5-3-2 we played last year and in preseason? I am well and truly looking forward to MOTD tonight
Couldn't make out why Kasper was " flapping " for both their goals ? Work to be done at the back, I reckon.
I'd expect the new guys to feature more at the back once they've settled in, we won't know how much of that was due to us switching off at 3-0 up though
Watched the match on Sky last night. After a shaky first 10 minutes we played some absolutely delicious quick passing and moving that tore Sunderland apart. Considering that was the first competitive match of the season and the temperature, Vardy's energy levels and commitment were just unbelievable. To run and hassle for 90 minutes in those conditions at that tempo you need extraordinary heart and lung power. He is starting to look a very good Premier league quality player now. And Okazaki wasn't far behind. Closed everything down quickly and forced defenders into mistakes. And very strong as well for his size. Like a few, I was wondering if Vardy and Okazaki would be too similar, but their work rate that kept stretching the defence created havoc and laid the foundations for the win. Great to see Drinkwater performing the role that Cambiasso relieved him of last season. He was always available to help out and receive a pass. One particularly great first time reverse pass down the line to Vardy in the second half shows what vision he has. Let's hope he can push on and give the new arrivals a run for their money. Mahrez showed what a class act he can be in those conditions and caused them lots of headaches. Albrighton showed again that there are few better deliverers of a ball into the danger area in this league. So, going forward we looked quite impressive. Defensively we showed a little bit of frailty and lack of understanding. Was it Schlupp that had gone back behind the central defensive line to let in Defoe? These things happen and it shouldn't detract from a great opening day performance. When you look at what we had on the bench yesterday and who didn't get a game - Ulloa and Kramaric - it's a nice position for us to be in, and shows the different options available to us. It will be interesting to see how we set up next week.
A good summery tbh. I´ll add this. Our pace & quick play got us out the champ´ship & it also kept us up last season, it´s our key simple as. We seem to have a good enough squad to hang around mid table this season. My only problem is if players like Mahrez keep going some `big` team will start knocking... a victim of our own success, so to speak. We really need to just keep adding better players bit by bit & keep in the prem & not do a Pompey, Charlton or a Fulham for i.e
Vardy and Okazaki are similar HOWEVER Vardy left much of the bustling to Okazaki, enabling Vardy to use his other great attribute, his pace, to threatened from the left wing and allowed Mahrez to come central. It did mean Schlupp wasn't as involved in attacking as much as usual, but again, his pace actually saw him because the last man on a few attacks, even from a conventional left back position! Our squad is very strong at the moment. I was asked by a Forest fan today "what if Vardy and Mahrez got injured?". Then Schlupp plays on the left of midfield, Fuchs comes in at leftback and Ulloa or Krammy comes into the attack. Two quality players would barely be missed!
If we want to keep our best players we need to keep pressing on so that we become one of the bigger teams, although it will take something really special to start challenging the top 6. As we have Mahrez on a 4 year deal we would get a huge sum for him if we did decide to sell and we'd just send the scouting team out to find an equal replacement and still come back with a bit of change left over.
