A disappointing afternoon as Mr. Hyde turned up again. Here are my ratings for it:
Schmeichel: 7 - Alert to danger within his penalty area, even if others weren't at times.
Simpson: 6 - I'm not quite sure why he got his place back from Hernandez after Tuesday, but was alright if a little flustered at times.
Morgan: 6 - Started steadily but grew nervous in the second half.
Huth: 6 - Made some important headers and challenges but also made several mistakes that he just about got away with today.
Fuchs: 8 - About as solid as we had today, and willing to provide an attacking outlet as well. Managed to hold up a lot of Southampton attacks with well-timed charges from defence. My choice for our MOTM.
Mahrez: 6 - A surprisingly competent defensive performance and looked occasionally dangerous going forward while not quite producing a moment of magic.
Amartey: 7 - Made some errors but also threw in some handy tackles at times. Doesn't shirk the physical challenges, and we needed more people doing this today.
Drinkwater: 6 - Recovered from a pretty atrocious start to influence the game in the middle. Faded again toward the end and needs a rest.
Albrighton: 5 - Didn't look comfortable with the Southampton pressing and played a lot of goofball as a result. Rightly replaced.
Vardy: 4 - Was really shown up by his striker partner today in terms of effort. I've seen it written a few times that he doesn't look like the player he was last season, that he's not as aggressive and has lost half a yard of pace, and this looked especially evident today. Should have been subbed at half time.
Slimani: 7 - Put in a lot of effort and troubled the Southampton defence into some sloppy errors in the first half. Keen to cement his place in the side.
Subs:
Gray: 6 - Provided some drive but struggled to make an impression in the final third against a Southampton defence that looked more comfortable the longer the match went on.
Okazaki: 6 - Another who provided some much-needed energy, but the old issue of end product was still present.
Ulloa: 5 - It can be tough to rate attacking subs when they only really get one chance. However, the fact remains that he missed it. Didn't make much impression other than that.
For much of the match, the biggest danger to Southampton was themselves. They threatened to shoot themselves in the foot repeatedly in the first half with some awful defensive passing, and a hesitant Vardy in particular should have done better when presented through on goal by Van Dijk. However, they also seemed to put in more effort than we did, and I wouldn't go as easy on us as Ranieri did publicly by blaming tiredness - we had 5 days to recover from the Porto match, and both games were at home. Southampton out-worked us today but just lacked the killer touch in front of goal. We should have lost, so we should probably be happy with the point. Overall, must do better.
Player ratings vs. Southampton
posted on 3/10/16
I certainly believe we are giving priority to the Champions league and personally agree with that as it's likely to be a once in a life time chance.
I do hope we're after more than 40 pints for safety in the League though but can understand the thoughts of that being the first priority, top half should be a minimum ultimate goal surely?
posted on 3/10/16
I thought the players where mentally knackered.
We should go balls out for the CL and build on our squad going forward. What excites me is the young players we have coming through for the future.
Lets go back to ticking off the 40 points asap then we can see whats we can do.
posted on 3/10/16
Very well thought out article JG
I agree with most of your points and in fact before the season started I was calling for CB reinforcements as age can catch up on you really quickly AND with the CL games ( and slightly different refereeing standards) I thought we would need younger, pacier CB's.
Thats not to say that Morgan & Huth are over the hill, its just that this season it has been quite apparent that they are not as solid as last season.
Also we have to remember that last season we were incredibly lucky with injuries, and that led to a settled starting 11 nearly every week.
But with the injuries to Kasper, Simpson, Huths early ban, Mendy etc we have been experiencing some chopping and changing and that has led to an unsettled side so far.
I do agree that our priority seems to be giving the CL a good run but we shouldnt forget that he PL is our bread and butter. We are hearing moaning and gnashing of teeth at how we are performing but we are still only a handful of games into the season and nobody thought we would be in the Top 4 this season, so all these so called supporters just need to calm down and remember that finishing anywhere from 8th-10th would be a good season in my opinion.
I certainly think we may see Hernandez at RB more often than not now, he seems to instill a bit more confidence in the defensive side of the game than Simpson does.
As for Vardy, persevere. He will come good again soon and his partnership with Slimani I think will reap rewards sooner rather than later.
UTF
posted on 3/10/16
I'm worryingly agreeing with JG again.
Ranieri's job is now to work out how to tweak this team and get the hunger and desire we had last season. That appears to be missing right now and that worries me.
We need a reason to fight and go again. That for me requires a squad and the use of fringe players who want to come in with something to prove. Musa and Gray are the obvious ones to consider.
posted on 3/10/16
Mersey
Steady on, do you need to go and lie down???
Squad players are there to be used, and now seems a good time to use them IMO.
posted on 3/10/16
I may do DDDD!
I guess where I agree with JG is that offering huge contracts to players that are performing at the top of their game is dangerous (Vardy, Morgan, Simpson). The only way is down and we won't be able to get them off the books if their faces suddenly don't fit or we got relegated!
However, on the flip side if you don't give them that and they go, we'd be accused of lacking a motion to hold on to our key men.
The reality is, we've done what we bought was tight and we now need to get this squad performing to the best of their ability. If we do that, we should finish in the top 10 as a minimum.
This is now Ranieri's task and I back him to make the right changes to do that. He did so at a similar time last year.
posted on 3/10/16
I'd also echo John's thoughts, although I don't believe our out-of-form players are lost to us. They can improve again, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're struggling a little for motivation to go that extra mile in that this season will feel like a bit of a come-down (CL games aside). The group itself may be enjoying the memory of last season more than the practicalities of performing in this one. (This shouldn't excuse the poor performances from some but may go some way to explaining them.)
posted on 3/10/16
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 1 hour, 40 minutes ago
I may do DDDD!
I guess where I agree with JG is that offering huge contracts to players that are performing at the top of their game is dangerous (Vardy, Morgan, Simpson). The only way is down and we won't be able to get them off the books if their faces suddenly don't fit or we got relegated!
However, on the flip side if you don't give them that and they go, we'd be accused of lacking a motion to hold on to our key men.
The reality is, we've done what we bought was tight and we now need to get this squad performing to the best of their ability. If we do that, we should finish in the top 10 as a minimum.
This is now Ranieri's task and I back him to make the right changes to do that. He did so at a similar time last year.
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Well said Mersey
posted on 5/10/16
Thought Simpson did well and that Vardy was nothing like a 4 myself. He did a lot of selfless work. It wasn't his day but he was more like a 6 for me.
posted on 5/10/16
Maybe 4 was a little harsh. But I wouldn't go any higher than a 5.