Jeff Schlupp should be able to return from injury and that would gives us a fully fit squad to choose from. The team picks itself at the minute. So here is what I would go with Schmeichel Simpson Huth Morgan Fuchs Mahrez Drinkwater Kante Albrighton Okazaki Vardy Subs- Schwarzer, Wasilewski, Amartey, King, Gray, Schlupp, Ulloa
These post are becoming a bit redundant It's great how we can just play the same team week after week Same again
Yep, that busy period is over now and there should be no excuses for fatigue. 1 game a week is perfectly doable. I'd like see us sub King on for Shinji rather than Ulloa though. Nothing against the big man but we keep the ball better with King.
We have momentum on our side so lets not rock the boat - there is no need to change the team so lets leave it as it is. Having a big lump up front helps us a lot when we are defending deep - also we are a rather short team so having another 6ft+ guy helps out on corners and free kicks.
Absolutely agree, but I would sooner swap Shinji for Kingy if it starts to get hairy. If we have the ball then the opposition can't score. Kingy is hardly a slouch at heading the ball, and he's not short either.
Okazaki and Vardy will cause big defenders (the type Allardyce favours) lots of problems ... Okazaki's movement is what creates the holes in defences allowing Vardy and Mahrez to exploit that space ... The best way to stop it getting hairy is to get a couple of goals in front ...
... wholly agree ... Ranieri tends to use Ulloa as a double weapon in that regard... the big man is one of the best headers of the ball in the EPL ...
Got to disagree - in an attacking sense i cant remember the last time he won a header without giving away a needless free kick
.. then we see things differently ... if he does concede a free kick it is in competing for balls that would have been easily won by defenders against Vardy or Okazaki ,,, thereby releiving the pressure on the ball coming straight back at us when we are under pressure... he also wins a fair share of free-kicks because defenders have to foul him to win balls that they wouldn't have to foul to win against the other two ... He is a great variant to have .. when he comes on the opposition defence then have to rethink who picks up Huth and Morgan from corners ... but you leave Leo Ulloa unmarked and he can certainly punish you ... and, lest we forget ... it was his goals last year that kept us up ...
I just find him so incredibly frustrating - everytime something seems to build his first touch will be so bad that it moves about 9 metres away from him or he'll give a needless free kick. Useful player, but frustrating.
... I get that ... but I also think it is sometimes easier to criticise someone of Leo's size because it is more obvious ... against Southampton he was a little unlucky I felt ... the touch to bring it out from his feet wasn't too bad but he was done by a second defender coming in from the blind side ... but the 3 points he got us against Norwich with that last gasp stretch may still prove to be a god send ... Personally, I have to bite my tongue at the number of times Albrighton seems to give the ball away needlessly ... but he is putting in an incredible shift (as they all are in fairness) ... and when he does get it right his crosses are one of the keys to our success ... so I just grit teeth and mutter a silent expletive ...
Absolutely, but Okazaki rarely has the endurance to go the full 90 minutes. When the game starts to slow down in the second half I ink King gives us a bit more that Ulloa does. When we bring Ulloa on we often just concede that we're going to be defending and sit further back to invite pressure. Kingy played the number 10 role to perfection away at Watford and we didn't look like conceding at all.
Couldn't agree more and that's why he's not an international. When he gets it right it is stunning but he so often gets it wrong. I think it's a position we should look to strengthen in the summer.
Leo is the type of player that splits opinions. My wife thinks he should be playing for Forest reserves, and I think he has done us proud when he has come on as sub. At times he looks a lumbering lummox but more recently I have thought his ability in the air and on the ground have improved significantly. I watched Pelle on Sunday - if the ball didnt come to him how he wanted it, he whinged like merry. Cant fault Leos attitude, but we have to accept that he would cost a hell of a lot of money to replace.
some interesting comments on us in here from the Mackems http://www.not606.com/threads/safc-v-leicester.326462/
