Finally a chance to get the bigger numbers out again...
Here are my ratings:
Zieler: 7 - Good to see him quicker off his line when Iheanacho ran through, albeit offside though Zieler wouldn't have known that. Otherwise made some solid if routine saves despite the odd frustrating moment. Some will say he should have been further over from the free kick, but I'd disagree as I've seen too many sailing into the far corner from that position. Better than recent form.
Simpson: 7 - Daft to pick up a yellow card early on when faced with the prospect of keeping De Bruyne quiet. Well disciplined after that, although lost a bit of concentration at the end.
Morgan: 7 - Able to return to last season's requirements of staying deep and central and clearing the ball; looked all the happier for it.
Huth: 8 - Strong in defence, a pain when up the field in attack. Best outing for a while.
Fuchs: 7 - Able to offer little in attack due to the opposition, although was still involved in the build-up to two goals. Coped well defensively until he foolishly gave away the free kick from which Kolarov scored.
Mahrez: 8 - Still arguably not working hard enough defensively and was probably a little too keen to get forward and leave Simpson exposed, but he punished Man City and his two touches from high balls leading to Vardy's two goals were sublime.
Amartey: 7 - Still unconvincing on the ball but he covered the pitch side-to-side well and made his presence felt. Looked really up for it, and perhaps benefitted from having less of the pitch front-to-back to cover and therefore having a clearer and smaller set position.
King: 8 - It would have been good to see him more involved, but it was always going to be difficult for anyone in the team to put their foot on the ball and dictate yesterday given almost all of Man City's players wanted to play in midfield. Still knocked some nice passes around and scored a very important goal against a very dodgy goalkeeper.
Albrighton: 8 - Really set the tempo with his pressing at vital moments and stole the ball on numerous occasions, launching quick attacks in the process. Probably read the game better than anyone on the pitch.
Slimani: 8 - Got a couple of well-executed assists and seemed on a better wavelength with Vardy as they pressed together and took turns dropping deep to help out the midfield. Should have scored at the end of the first half, but a good outing.
Vardy: 9 - Made more effective runs and his third goal was just reward for a whole match of both sniffing out and forcing mistakes from Man City's backline. Finished like there was no question of poor form, although the key to me was that he looked hungrier to get into scoring positions in the first place. Has to be MOTM.
Subs:
Okazaki: 6 - Put himself about but spent more time on his backside than being of great use.
Gray: 6 - Some useful breaks to relieve the pressure.
James: n/a - I don't remember him actually touching the ball, but either way it was good to see him return to the pitch (and leave it again without injury).
It has to be said that Man City's tactics were, to be charitable, unusual. But that being said, they hadn't done a lot wrong to see 2 quick goals fly past them. Even so, they gave the impression as a team that they have some serious attacking talent but don't have an awful lot of interest in defending. It's hard to see them genuinely competing for the Premier League crown unless they tighten up at the back - even with less than 25% possession yesterday we scored 4 and it could have been more.
As for us, in the first couple of minutes I was concerned that we'd started slowly again, but then two quick goals later with a rattled opposition, the spirit flowed back into the players. Suddenly it seemed they had something worth fighting for again. They now need to show that same desire at the start of the upcoming matches, and indeed if and when they go behind in those matches.
Player ratings vs. Man City
posted on 11/12/16
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 11/12/16
comment by nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
Disagree. They all deserved praise for yesterday, Amartey and Ranieri included.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I completely agree Nuneaton, I also thought Amartey had another good game and Ranieri showed his class once again letting the players get back to basics and foregoing his desired merge of Leicester and Italian Football.
posted on 12/12/16
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 3 hours, 46 minutes ago
comment by nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
Disagree. They all deserved praise for yesterday, Amartey and Ranieri included.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I completely agree Nuneaton, I also thought Amartey had another good game and Ranieri showed his class once again letting the players get back to basics and foregoing his desired merge of Leicester and Italian Football.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree with you about Amartey, I thought he covered a lot of ground and made some timely blocks, tackles and interceptions. I also thought his passing was good apart from the odd stray ball but everyone gives it away during the game.
What I don't get is what you're saying about Ranieri allowing the players to get back to basics and merging Leicester and Italian football? Ranieri has been trying to get the players to play like that all season and merging Leicester and Italian football is what won us the league.
posted on 12/12/16
comment by Champions of England (U21032)
posted 5 hours, 38 minutes ago
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 3 hours, 46 minutes ago
comment by nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
Disagree. They all deserved praise for yesterday, Amartey and Ranieri included.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I completely agree Nuneaton, I also thought Amartey had another good game and Ranieri showed his class once again letting the players get back to basics and foregoing his desired merge of Leicester and Italian Football.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree with you about Amartey, I thought he covered a lot of ground and made some timely blocks, tackles and interceptions. I also thought his passing was good apart from the odd stray ball but everyone gives it away during the game.
What I don't get is what you're saying about Ranieri allowing the players to get back to basics and merging Leicester and Italian football? Ranieri has been trying to get the players to play like that all season and merging Leicester and Italian football is what won us the league.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He's just on the wind up CoE....he's simply looking for a reaction. This is what he does
posted on 12/12/16
comment by Blackstarr (U12353)
posted 11 minutes ago
comment by Champions of England (U21032)
posted 5 hours, 38 minutes ago
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 3 hours, 46 minutes ago
comment by nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
Disagree. They all deserved praise for yesterday, Amartey and Ranieri included.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I completely agree Nuneaton, I also thought Amartey had another good game and Ranieri showed his class once again letting the players get back to basics and foregoing his desired merge of Leicester and Italian Football.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree with you about Amartey, I thought he covered a lot of ground and made some timely blocks, tackles and interceptions. I also thought his passing was good apart from the odd stray ball but everyone gives it away during the game.
What I don't get is what you're saying about Ranieri allowing the players to get back to basics and merging Leicester and Italian football? Ranieri has been trying to get the players to play like that all season and merging Leicester and Italian football is what won us the league.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He's just on the wind up CoE....he's simply looking for a reaction. This is what he does
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Surely the only reaction to that is "what the f are you talking about?" I can't think of any other way to respond to that.
posted on 12/12/16
comment by Champions of England (U21032)
posted 53 minutes ago
comment by Blackstarr (U12353)
posted 11 minutes ago
comment by Champions of England (U21032)
posted 5 hours, 38 minutes ago
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 3 hours, 46 minutes ago
comment by nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
Disagree. They all deserved praise for yesterday, Amartey and Ranieri included.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I completely agree Nuneaton, I also thought Amartey had another good game and Ranieri showed his class once again letting the players get back to basics and foregoing his desired merge of Leicester and Italian Football.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree with you about Amartey, I thought he covered a lot of ground and made some timely blocks, tackles and interceptions. I also thought his passing was good apart from the odd stray ball but everyone gives it away during the game.
What I don't get is what you're saying about Ranieri allowing the players to get back to basics and merging Leicester and Italian football? Ranieri has been trying to get the players to play like that all season and merging Leicester and Italian football is what won us the league.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He's just on the wind up CoE....he's simply looking for a reaction. This is what he does
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Surely the only reaction to that is "what the f are you talking about?" I can't think of any other way to respond to that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
posted on 12/12/16
comment by Champions of England (U21032)
posted 6 hours, 52 minutes ago
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 3 hours, 46 minutes ago
comment by nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
Disagree. They all deserved praise for yesterday, Amartey and Ranieri included.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I completely agree Nuneaton, I also thought Amartey had another good game and Ranieri showed his class once again letting the players get back to basics and foregoing his desired merge of Leicester and Italian Football.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree with you about Amartey, I thought he covered a lot of ground and made some timely blocks, tackles and interceptions. I also thought his passing was good apart from the odd stray ball but everyone gives it away during the game.
What I don't get is what you're saying about Ranieri allowing the players to get back to basics and merging Leicester and Italian football? Ranieri has been trying to get the players to play like that all season and merging Leicester and Italian football is what won us the league.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's what I saw over the weekend, Ranieri basically admitting his plan of getting us to play the Italian way had been discarded after frank discussions with the players, most players coming out with comments about 'getting back to basics' and a totally different Leicester on the pitch ( helped by a very beneficial Man City.
DDDD says we have been playing more possession based football, I've seen us generally playing sideways and backwards while playing that possession and not doing what we do best which is use the pace of the team, again that changed this weekend with fantastic, quick and decisive football.
It's all opinions but I'm happy with mine, the truth will be somewhere between mine and ' the players aren't trying, don't care now they've got their contracts, vardy's finished etc etc.'
Bournemouth will be a different prospect but I hope we play with the same high intensity and defend from the Front.
posted on 12/12/16
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 35 minutes ago
comment by Champions of England (U21032)
posted 6 hours, 52 minutes ago
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 3 hours, 46 minutes ago
comment by nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
Disagree. They all deserved praise for yesterday, Amartey and Ranieri included.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I completely agree Nuneaton, I also thought Amartey had another good game and Ranieri showed his class once again letting the players get back to basics and foregoing his desired merge of Leicester and Italian Football.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree with you about Amartey, I thought he covered a lot of ground and made some timely blocks, tackles and interceptions. I also thought his passing was good apart from the odd stray ball but everyone gives it away during the game.
What I don't get is what you're saying about Ranieri allowing the players to get back to basics and merging Leicester and Italian football? Ranieri has been trying to get the players to play like that all season and merging Leicester and Italian football is what won us the league.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's what I saw over the weekend, Ranieri basically admitting his plan of getting us to play the Italian way had been discarded after frank discussions with the players, most players coming out with comments about 'getting back to basics' and a totally different Leicester on the pitch ( helped by a very beneficial Man City.
DDDD says we have been playing more possession based football, I've seen us generally playing sideways and backwards while playing that possession and not doing what we do best which is use the pace of the team, again that changed this weekend with fantastic, quick and decisive football.
It's all opinions but I'm happy with mine, the truth will be somewhere between mine and ' the players aren't trying, don't care now they've got their contracts, vardy's finished etc etc.'
Bournemouth will be a different prospect but I hope we play with the same high intensity and defend from the Front.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Our possession stats have increased this season but maybe that's down to teams sitting back and inviting us to break them down rather than a deliberate ploy to change our style, it seems more reactionary to me.
Man City played into our hands, nobody knows what Pep was thinking and he's probably the only manager in the league who either didn't watch what we did last season or just thought they could deal with it. Either way it was very naive.
We won't get too many games like that and playing the mid to lower table teams we're definitely going to find ourselves with more possession as they try to counter our counter. The question is can we break these teams down?
posted on 12/12/16
I think there's something in both views here.
Ranieri has tried to tweak the way we play and it's not quite worked. We went back to basics on Saturday.
We didn't try and play a higher line, invited the opposition on and hit them on the break. Before this it's been clear Ranieri has been trying to get us further up the pitch before playing balls in the the striker. And he's played a daft high line with two centre backs with no pace!!!!
So I think there is truth in all views here.
posted on 12/12/16
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 14 minutes ago
I think there's something in both views here.
Ranieri has tried to tweak the way we play and it's not quite worked. We went back to basics on Saturday.
We didn't try and play a higher line, invited the opposition on and hit them on the break. Before this it's been clear Ranieri has been trying to get us further up the pitch before playing balls in the the striker. And he's played a daft high line with two centre backs with no pace!!!!
So I think there is truth in all views here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Good point. Yeah we have been playing way too far up the pitch, remember all the space behind Liverpool got? That's not the only game just the most memorable because it was ridiculous how high they were. That would never have happened last season and we shouldn't be doing it this season either.