Leicester v City post match

[KingCarlito]

I’ve been saying for an age how bad Gundogan is, absolute waste of a shirt.

Let Deeney go at Watford away, very nearly gifted a late equaliser. Then did the same v David Luiz a few days later for the rentboys' second goal.

Had bad injuries and has had a few key goals and attacking performances, but overall it was a big risk signing him and he's not gonna be here long term.

 

[TINY]

Called it

 

[Rammy Blue]

Way too often you don’t notice he’s even playing. Pops up with the odd goal with well timed runs from deep but other than that I’m often left struggling to see what he brings to the midfield. Not terrible but by the high standards of our squad he’s very average but most importantly, we seem to function much better when he’s not on the pitch.

Can count on one hand the number of decent games he’s had for us, vast majority he’s completely invisible. He hides from the ball, has zero pace, never puts in a challenge. Just shit.

 

[Indaparkside]

I’m in bed now fuck the tv,radio, motd, they’ll be creaming themselves.

 

[Blue Elmo]

I think today and Palace have been coming for a while, all from the start of the last international break.

Before that, up until the Derby, I thought we were deservedly top. We were playing below our absolute best, but were producing more convincing and entertaining performances than Liverpool. The wins against Southampton, Shakhtar and United over 3 consecutive games had me thinking we were close to top form.However, a 2 week break killed that momentum. I mean we still came back and continued to win, but it was laboured and not as dominant. I thought it was just a loss of momentum that sent us backwards, but only today did I make a connection between everything.

For the last two games in particular, we look completely bereft of attacking ideas. Palace shut us down with Sunday league style doubling up on our wingers, and I was baffled as to how and why we could be stifled by something so simple. And the simple reason is because we don’t have Mendy, who we coincidentally lost to injury in the Manchester derby, and hasn’t played since.

Mendy’s introduction at the start of the season made us versatile and allowed us to play with more people inside, especially Sterling and Mahrez. Mendy’s ability to go on the overlap gave us the width we needed, and it is that width we miss now. Without him, our wingers are our only source of width and basically hug the touch line, as our fullbacks tuck into central midfield. Last season, we did the exact same thing without Mendy and we didn’t struggle, but for some reason we are really feeling it now. Palace simply stuck a full back and a central midfield player on Sterling and Sane on Saturday, and they became completely ineffective because they were never in a one on one battle. It is obvious that Mendy isn’t blessed defensively, but his impact further forward is bigger than even I thought! Combine his absence with Fernandinho’s, who we’ve massively missed, as well as a lack of confidence from the last few games and we arrive in our current predicament.

Hopefully a return to a midfield of Silva, KDB and Ferna against Southampton will see some of our creativity return and limit our over reliance on our wide men. If not, then I wouldn’t bet against a change in shape. Whatever happens though, Pep needs to do something to wake the lads up again. We are on a slippery slope, and it needs to stop ASAP.

 

[Trojan1962]

Draw would of been a fair result today, that bell end Mike Dean cost us today with his shameful impersonation of a referee.

 

[BLUEMATT23]

Pur league games have been below par since the derby. Pep was pissed off after the West Ham game because we have them loads of chances, Bournemouth was a game we made a meal out of, Watford was where we stopped killing games off and it nearly cost us at the end, Chelsea was poor, Everton let us off by missing 3 tap ins and then we've had back to back defeats.


It's not an off day any more, that's the big problem.

I went today don't usually do away games but we seemed a bit lacklustre.
Do you think we have been sussed out?

 

[zandvoort blue]

The set up for defensive corners isn`t right. Everybody back in the 18 yard box is inviting it to come straight back in. If you`re going to play 11 defenders then head out into touch not to a player on the edge of the box.
I remember when Pep`s Baca played at the Etihad and he left Neymar, Messi, and Suarez on the half way line. We looked puzzled as to what to do.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

Do not understand Peps change in approach of why we are playing aimless balls into the box which plays to Morgan’s & Maguires strengths. We have come away from our braver more thoughtful approach to being a bit more percentage football of firing the ball into the box. Think the performances have been underwhelming since the Watford first half.

7 points is a big ask vs this current Liverpool side but win the next 2 & we are at most 4 points behind. Have faith that Pep will have us back in the groove & flying again

I don't think the aimless balls into the box are anything to do with Pep. It's happening at the back as well - so many attempted sliced clearances. My guess is that, David and Kevin apart, there's a collective lack of confidence - hence we're going for the lazy option instead of the usual slick, sharp, fast, stabbing passes to feet. Pep will be more frustrated than we are.

 

[brummie blue]

We spent over 100 million on 3 fullbacks a season and a half ago, two of which have spent more time injured than playing, the other has played nearly every game as well as every round of the world cup bar a final and looks knackered, mentally and physically.

But what these three have in common, fit, unfit or knackered, is they were purchased more for the attacking capability than defending, when we have an off day attack wise or are pressed we have difficulty coping. When injuries occur we have been slotting midfielders into the position which has worked against poor opponents or when our attack and positional play is at it's peak. When the fullback replacements are under pressure they struggle and we don't have a plan, how often does Sane and Sterling fill in?

We've know for ages we needed cover for Fernandino (the club know it, and every pundit and fan does), we are now in a run of games were he is rested/injured, and we have no cover. Moving Stones there doesn't work, firstly it destroys our best centre half partnership, secondly, he's never played there before and needs time to learn.

And with the worst run of injuries for two years it's now causing us big problems.

I hope Pep was joking when he said nothing would be happening in January, we need something