Very impressed with you boys this season playing really well

Sounds pretty spot on as I may of given Evans MOTM as he cleared everything in our box and scored a brilliant goal. But just my opinion?

comment by Florida Fox (U2500)
posted 1 minute ago
Sounds pretty spot on as I may of given Evans MOTM as he cleared everything in our box and scored a brilliant goal. But just my opinion?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You could definitely make a strong case for one or two of them.

I thought there was a lot to pick the bones out of tactically from that match, and I've seen one or two excellent pieces around regarding the benefits of the diamond versus its negatives.

But the main thing for me was that Rodgers essentially sprung a surprise on Dean Smith's Villa, and his opposite number never really demonstrated an idea of how to counter it. Most would have fully expected us to set up 4-1-4-1 again given that we were on a 7-match winning run in the league, but instead Rodgers has told of how he targeted Villa's playing style in being able to isolate their defence 2-on-2 at the back due to their full backs pushing up so much. And it's true that we opened them up time and again as a result. Iheanacho played well again (I still don't think he can last a full game but at present he doesn't have to) and Praet got a start and some game time. It could be argued that it was a gamble to change the formation and tactics so dramatically, but it really paid off - not just for the result of the match itself but in keeping the squad happy and active.

But more than that - it was only possible because of work on the training pitch to get the team comfortable playing these different formations. Only very occasionally did anyone look up and search for someone who wasn't there that might otherwise have been in a 4-1-4-1. Mostly the play remained fluid and well-rehearsed, which is actually quite remarkable. (Or at least it is to me as a Leicester fan. I guess fans of the top clubs have been watching and expecting this for years.)

Overall, the whole thing adds a big threat for us: If we're comfortable playing several different formations and playing them well, it becomes all the harder for opposition managers to analyse and coach how best to stop us in the build-up.

Worth adding as well: I was very impressed with Soyuncu yesterday. I commented during the week that he got hot-headed against Everton, and then again to a lesser extent against Watford. Against Villa he looked focussed and demonstrated a dominant reading of the game at times as well, stepping in to pick off attacks and make interceptions. There are still things he can do better as some of the MOTD analysis demonstrated, but his performance yesterday showed to me that he'd learned something from even the past week and put it into practice. I wonder how much he feels he's learning from Jonny Evans.

comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 29 minutes ago
Worth adding as well: I was very impressed with Soyuncu yesterday. I commented during the week that he got hot-headed against Everton, and then again to a lesser extent against Watford. Against Villa he looked focussed and demonstrated a dominant reading of the game at times as well, stepping in to pick off attacks and make interceptions. There are still things he can do better as some of the MOTD analysis demonstrated, but his performance yesterday showed to me that he'd learned something from even the past week and put it into practice. I wonder how much he feels he's learning from Jonny Evans.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
think I had a realisation after the Aston Villa game that perhaps others had come to sooner.



When Soyuncu first came into the side this season it was immediately obvious that he had some qualities that were better than Maguire. In particular his pace and recovery. Then I gradually noticed that his ability on the ball and passing were probably the equal to Maguire and his defensive qualities were better. Ok, Maguire might be better at dribbling with the ball and have superior heading ability, although even the latter is only marginal as CS wins an awful lot for a man of his height.



After Aston Villa I realised that he actually reads the game better than Maguire and is much more proactive in sniffing out danger. At the start of the season saying CS was better than Maguire was a bit of a giggle: “ha ha Manchester United have just spent £80m on the wrong bloke”. I feel now, however, that Soyuncu is, unequivocally, a better defender than Maguire (no wind up/no joke) and long may it continue.

So you are the same Jobyfox as on Foxestalk.

comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 19 seconds ago
So you are the same Jobyfox as on Foxestalk.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes - the same comment and the same me - is that really that funny?

Ok -

It was amusing to me because I literally flicked from one page on Foxestalk to this and saw the exact same comment, then checked to see the comparative usernames.

And in that case I've got a bone to pick with you about taking the p when I was trying to defend glorialestafan on there a few years back.

comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 32 seconds ago
It was amusing to me because I literally flicked from one page on Foxestalk to this and saw the exact same comment, then checked to see the comparative usernames.

And in that case I've got a bone to pick with you about taking the p when I was trying to defend glorialestafan on there a few years back.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's actually quite rare that I copy and paste the same comment, but not completely unknown. I'll have to be more careful with you stalking me.

"I've got a bone to pick with you about taking the p when I was trying to defend glorialestafan ....."

That doesn't sound like me at all.

"It's actually quite rare that I copy and paste the same comment, but not completely unknown. I'll have to be more careful with you stalking me."
--------
Damn right you will.


"That doesn't sound like me at all. "
--------
I still remember the effort I went to trying to mount an impassioned defence without rising to anything being thrown my way on that thread, only to see something from "Jobyfox" and wondering whether it was the same one from 606. I've wondered for years to be honest.

YOU DID NOT HELP.

comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 9 minutes ago
"It's actually quite rare that I copy and paste the same comment, but not completely unknown. I'll have to be more careful with you stalking me."
--------
Damn right you will.


"That doesn't sound like me at all."
--------
I still remember the effort I went to trying to mount an impassioned defence without rising to anything being thrown my way on that thread, only to see something from "Jobyfox" and wondering whether it was the same one from 606. I've wondered for years to be honest.

YOU DID NOT HELP.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow! How long can you actually hold a grudge for?

No doubt you'll throw this back in my face in any future dispute.

Hang on ..... are you actually my Mrs?

Joby, Think Oliver is probably best of a poor lot of prem refs.Dont want to disappoint you, so this wasnt one of his better games, too lenient , especially with Grealish!!
Great team performance all round, amazing to think at nearly half way through season we have twice as many points as Arsenal.
Wonderful manager. Wonderful season.
Anyone seen Clueless Claudes criticism of Vardy in Mail over the weekend?.Doesnt even realise that he would be doing himself more credit if he just praised his old team and left it at that.
Dreadful manager.

Joby - It's done now. Mystery solved. All in the past.

...

...

Although I do reserve the right to take revenge against you at an as-yet undetermined future point of my choosing.

Thorney,

If the referee should air on one side or the other I would generally choose leniency. This game, like the Watford game, was characterised by players throwing themselves to the ground at the slightest touch knowing that they would get some sort of decision. Grealish was the worst culprit, but there were others. Let’s face it Maddison knows how to fall over. To make matters worse they have failed to make decisions when the tackles have been bad and waved the yellow card around for innocuous challenges and missing the ones where a card was needed.

These few games have seen us come up against inferior opposition who have pushed, pulled and dived when they have had the opportunity. It’s an understandable tactic to put us off from controlling the game, but less possible with strong, consistent refereeing. We’ve been somewhat fortunate that a poor refereeing decision hasn’t decided the outcome of these last few games. You could almost see it coming.

Nice to see all the half points Joby, gives the players an incentive to try and round them Up Next match.

^
Disagree. It'll just make them mentally tired as they have to calculate what they've scored out of 20.

Yeah I fink harf points r stoopid

A few points to pick up on here.

1. Good use of the half point system

2. Praet was clearly MOTM, and anyone who argues otherwise is a moron. Pereira, Soyuncu, Evans and Vardy make solid claims though.

3. When do we start discussing Tielemans’ drop in form? He’s been out of sorts for quite a few games now in multiple different formations. He still oozes class, but I don’t see him influencing games like he can.

4. The diamond. Ahhhhh, the diamond. I disagree with those who say it worked “well” yesterday. I like the change, and I like that we won with it, but there were real issues with our ability to defend. Villa could and should have scored 3 goals. We can’t go away from him and expect to score 4 to win. It’s great we have another option but I would not want us to play that against a team that uses width. However, great to see we have a genuine plan B AND C! Wow. Attacking wise it was exciting, but I feel we created more chances and looked a better, more balanced team when we went back to 4-1-4-1.

5. Nacho. What credit Rodger and Ian should both be given for this return to form. Great to see his link up play with Vardy too.

5.5. How dare you compare Praet to Andy King Joby. Yes he may go on to be considered as big as Andy over time, but right now I think Mancini or Cantona is a better comparison.

All things said, enjoyed your post match report and balls to dare post it when not watching live. For that reason I give your report a score 0.5 higher than Dunges.

In other news, I have to hold my hands up and admit I got Soyuncu totally wrong. I said if we were to rely on him as first choice we’d be in trouble.....

..... what I didn’t add but meant was that we’d be in trouble of winning the league. I’m sure you all worked that out though.

comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 4 hours, 12 minutes ago
In other news, I have to hold my hands up and admit I got Soyuncu totally wrong. I said if we were to rely on him as first choice we’d be in trouble.....

..... what I didn’t add but meant was that we’d be in trouble of winning the league. I’m sure you all worked that out though.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

To be fair you did say our new Centre Back signing was a world beater.

But I’m sure you said his name was Benkovic and not Söyüncü.