Leicester City (H) Post Match Thread

kevin1987 said:
Am i crazy in thinking that we miss Arteta? Pep always consulted him during games, high fives etc if something went right. Maybe hes a bigger miss than we thought.
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Pretty much called it when it happened. Pep's the greatest coach on the planet but there are aspects to his overall management which are lacking. I think Torrent and then Arteta helped bridge the gap between the coach and the players and without that kind of figure at the club then I think he's going to struggle. I hoped Lillo would come in and be an adequate replacement but I'm not sure exactly what it is he's brought to the table.
 
I always thought that after the two sensational seasons of 17-8 and 18-9 City would find it hard to maintain the intensity and level of play and so it proved last season. Unfortunately it seems that the decline may be rather more permanent; whereas the first half at Wolves suggested that the hunger and energy were back with a vengeance, the entire match yesterday was a pastiche of all last season's shortcomings.

The back four was indeed a shambles. When KdB warned Liverpool that this season City would not the same mistakes as had ruined last season's efforts he cannot have imagined that within the space of 90 minutes three different defenders would make and even more basic error with the same disastrous consequences. Inexperience is not an adequate excuse for Garcia, and it doesn't even come into it with Mendy and Walker.

Having said that our back four paid the price for failings all over the pitch. We had no-one at all to take us into their box without Sergio or Gabby and increasingly we got to the edge of their box and looked completely clueless. Leicester's ploy of 5 at the back to deny us space in the channels was hardly ingenious but it was too good for City, who looked leggy and tired almost from kick off. When Delap came on he looked what he is - a talented 17 year old who is not ready for games against wily professionals such as Leicester boast. He will have benefitted from the experience but he was unable to influence the game. Much worse was our sloppiness on the edge of their box, increasingly having crosses and shots blocked or trying to dribble into a dead end and giving the ball away. And then their was no press, no pressure on the ball and one forward pass took out most of our midfield. The back four on the half way line was faced with players running into space while SOME of our midfielders made laboured but futile efforts to get back.

Obviously injured players rejoining the squad should improve matters but that seems a month away and the title could well have gone by then. The arrival of a new CB should help too, but there were so many failings yesterday that it won't remedy them all. Most of all we need Sergio or Gabby back but that is at least 3 weeks away for Gabby and probably longer for Sergio. Not a bright outlook.
 
After a result like that I think its best to reflect for a while before coming to any conclusions.

When I saw the line up my thoughts were Vardy is going to love this, and where do our goals come from?

So thoughts now, this guy from Benfica can not get here a moment to soon. Lets hope he is good and can hit the ground running. If so things might look a lot better at the back with him Laporte and Ake who was one of not many to come out of yesterday with much credit. I am all for giving players ample time to settle in and more when they suffer injuries such as Mendy. Sadly now I have to agree with those saying he simply is not good enough and becoming a liability.

For me the other area of concern is forwards. Even without injuries I am not sure we are good enough.

Whilst I can see Aguero scoring some vital goals yet it surely must now be accepted that he is passed his prime and his body cannot stand up to being our main striker anymore. He is going to miss chunks of the season. Jesus is not a main striker he does not and will not score enough goals. He will work his bollocks off and be a fantastic partner for a main striker and weigh in with a decent amount of goals.

Sterling continues to be frustrating having really good runs of form followed by weeks of nothing, the guy is too inconsistent and his finishing is just not upto it. Runs his bollocks off and that cannot be disputed.

I agree with Pep that Delap could be that striker that offers something different that as absurd as it is we have desperately needed since Dzecko left. Problem is he is 17 and cannot possibly be expected to shoulder the responsibility of leading the forwards at this stage, that is likely to be at the very least three seasons away.

Due to Covid this is going to be a strange and probably farcical season that will quite possibly level the playing field to some degree so pretty much anything could happen. Even taking injuries into consideration even a top four spot might be a big ask unless something impressive happens in the transfer department. Hardly a crisis but things are not heading in the right direction at this moment in time and we need to address that very quickly otherwise this season could bring us down to earth with a bump.
 
BrianW said:
We ought not to get too reactive over one game - but the thing is, it's just one game is it? Something has been rotten in the state of City for some time. The current injury crisis has just exposed it, demonstrated that our squad is not as "deep" as everyone liked to believe.

Mendy has had his chance and should now go. Maybe Rochdale or Accrington need a reserve full back.

Garcia is young, inexperienced and doesn't want to be here. If Barca want to pay us anything like a fee we should get rid.

Mahrez is the Rodney Marsh of our time.

In the absence of Aguero and the vastly-underrated Jesus, we don't have a striker. Expecting a 17 year old kid to do the job is unfair and unrealistic.

In short, sorry, but we need signings. And Pep needs a Plan B!
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If only Mahrez had the personality of Rodney he would be some player!
 
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