Great post Dunge. Can’t argue with any of it.

The right kind of right is that Rodgers is promoting a genuine approach to our intensity and a higher press. If Puel has just tried this he honestly could have saved his job. It’s not that different.

I look forward to seeing how it works over the remainder of the season, with little criticism when it doesn’t as we’re nearly safe so points aren’t critical, and will be adapting to a new style.

Next season will be key. A summer of planned transfers and Rodgers’ ideas in place. So far it looks like a step in the right direction. That’s all we can ask right now.

I was excited to see Maddison come in the Summer, I thought he'd be the perfect player for setting Vardy up so it's Nice to see him getting into that role recently.

He's had a few grumblings about him recently but I saw a stat yesterday he's created 81 chances, the highest in any of the top 5 European Leagues, at last they're chances to the right man.

This article is right, but wrong.

It says the criticism is unjustified. Yet you offer the same nuanced criticism. Young side, inconsistent, doing the right things etc... that others have expressed.

Vardy bailing us out might be jut the equivalent of Kane, Aguero or Lukaku for other teams - but he still bailed us out. We were in that position because we lost a degree of control in a match we could have put out of site in the first half. We’d struggle without our best player, but so would many other teams. That doesn’t really change the fact.

The Fulham match had a much better feel with a higher press and more intensity. We still look like a young side, a work in progress, who may need some older heads for greater consistency. But the criticism is justified - if, indeed it is criticism - as it is exactly as you’ve stated. We will need a little patience.

So I think you’re wrong, but right.

Have you just vehemently agreed with Dunge their Joby, whilst pretending you disagree.

Either way, I agree with you both entirely.

comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 2 minutes ago
Have you just vehemently agreed with Dunge their Joby, whilst pretending you disagree.

Either way, I agree with you both entirely.
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Precisely that Mersey. I agree with it all. I just think the article was confused.

The article said that we played well and there were signs of progress - I agree. It then said that the criticism was unjustified - I don’t agree. It then put forward the same, nuanced, criticism that I would have put forward to justify that the criticism was justified.

Er .... yeah ..... ok .... I agree.

When I talk about justification for criticism, that's with regard to it being fair. A player could play 20 through balls that lead to 19 goals. Is criticism for the 1 that gets cut out justified?

I've seen people complaining in some places about our younger players losing control of the match at the weekend. That is going to happen sometimes with a young team, and those who complained are being unrealistic if they expect more.

DM,

I guess context is important here: how the criticism was put forward and was there any mitigation?

Personally I do feel our younger players lost control of the game and I do feel that Vardy popped up at just the right time when there was a danger the game was getting away from us. Those are fair observations in my view. The mitigation that you put forward is also fair and, in my view, totally correct.

If there is just moaning and groaning without balance then I agree that it’s harsh, but it doesn’t necessarily make it any less true.

I guess when I do the player ratings, I generally try to give a view and a rating based on what I've seen that day. (I remember awarding Kante a 4 once. It didn't happen again. ) If I'm giving an overarching opinion of a player - and sometimes I do - then I hope that's clear and in context.

I don't think it's unfair to say that we lost control of the game for 20 minutes odd against Fulham, or that Vardy bailed us out. What irked me more was that some sections of the fan base (not necessarily on this forum) were holding it against them. "Same sh!t, different day" was an attitude I saw among some. It's odd that people couldn't see an improvement, or had somehow in their minds relegated Fulham to the level of Crappington Rovers who we should be just walloping regardless.

It's like seeing a learner driver on the road; they're going to make mistakes. But if they're making the kind of mistakes you'd expect a learner to make anyway then there's far less reason for concern.

comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
I guess when I do the player ratings, I generally try to give a view and a rating based on what I've seen that day. (I remember awarding Kante a 4 once. It didn't happen again.) If I'm giving an overarching opinion of a player - and sometimes I do - then I hope that's clear and in context.

I don't think it's unfair to say that we lost control of the game for 20 minutes odd against Fulham, or that Vardy bailed us out. What irked me more was that some sections of the fan base (not necessarily on this forum) were holding it against them. "Same sh!t, different day" was an attitude I saw among some. It's odd that people couldn't see an improvement, or had somehow in their minds relegated Fulham to the level of Crappington Rovers who we should be just walloping regardless.

It's like seeing a learner driver on the road; they're going to make mistakes. But if they're making the kind of mistakes you'd expect a learner to make anyway then there's far less reason for concern.
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Agree with all of that – and it does indicate the self-entitlement that some have eluded to.

Take the next game against Burnley. There will be some who will expect a win because we are the better side and will be highly critical if we don’t achieve that. I think in the context of the current situation a draw there would be a very good result and any sort of win even better. This is exactly the sort of fixture that will test the mettle of our young team and is the type, not to measure ourselves against now, but how we do in similar fixtures when BR has been here a few months and started to embed his ethos.

Burnley will be tough. They know by now that Cardiff aren't going away so they need to pick up points, particularly at home against sides not in the top 6. A toughed-out draw at the weekend would be a good result.

P.S. I need to remember the term "Crappington Rovers".