There's something about seeing the Leicester and Wolves club crests together that (unfortunately) always shouts out good old, second tier slugfest to me. It's what I grew up with in the 90s I guess, and it always felt like the archetypal match, like the second tier wasn't really the second tier without Leicester playing Wolves in it and watching Steves Walsh and Bull trying to kick the living hell out of each other. But these are different times, and with very different football.
Here are my ratings.
Schmeichel: 7 - Had to watch the ball hit the woodwork more than he had opportunity to make impressive saves, but did well with what he had to do and really helped to slow the pace in the second half.
Ricardo: 8 - I somewhat object to calling him by his first name on here but I guess I'll go with it. For now. There are still issues with him being caught out of position at the back but going forward he was very impressive. In particular, I noticed that he wasn't afraid to step into more central areas when the situation opened up for him. I was concerned in pre-season that it would potentially take him a fair while to settle in to the league. So far those fears look unjustified. My choice for our MOTM.
Evans: 5 - Diabolical for about 25 minutes as he jumped under the ball, conceded possession and watched opponents glide by him like he wasn't there. Settled in later on and looked more comfortable in a deeper defensive line.
Maguire: 7 - Comfortable to the point of largely going unnoticed.
Chilwell: 8 - Energetic and enthusiastic throughout and made ground to get back and thwart a counter on a few occasions. Had an eventful second half as Wolves sent everything down his channel but remained a menace on the attack. Good start to the season.
Mendy: 6 - Poor in the first half and didn't seem to have any weight in his passing. His second half was the best I've seen of him in a Leicester shirt as he settled into a defensive midfield routine. However, that's not saying much on its own. The evidence so far is that Puel hasn't quite got the midfielder he wants to go next to Ndidi.
Ndidi: 6 - Always looks less happy when he's in charge of the midfield rather than participating in it. A bit slow to get back at times and took a while to realise the fight he had on. Got through the game rather than controlling it.
Albrighton: 6 - Struggled to begin with and got muscled out of the ball repeatedly. Carried on regardless as he always does and eventually started to get the upper hand. He and Ricardo down the right wing look like they could be a handy combination.
Maddison: 6 - Couldn't get into the game in the first half, then popped up with a goal. Better in the second until the red card changed everything. Getting off the mark will surely do him good longer term.
Gray: 7 - Looking to influence the game far more than in previous seasons. If this is indeed a key season for him following the departure of Mahrez, he looks to me like a man who is aware of that.
Vardy: 5 - At time of writing I haven't seen a replay of the incident, but my instinct at the time was that it could easily be a back pocket job. In the seconds leading up to it, I could see it coming. Was having a decent enough game up to that point but let Wolves back into the game with the challenge.
Amartey: 6 - Barely saw anything of him. More of that later.
Silva: 6 - Surprised he didn't come on a bit earlier. Did what was asked of him.
Iheanacho: 7 - A good and entertaining cameo from a player who will doubtless get his chance over the next few matches.
Wolves were an interesting watch today. For the first 30 minutes they were very good, growing in confidence as they took advantage of our usual slow start and looking a strong, cohesive unit - just perhaps lacking that finishing touch in the box. Then the first goal floored them; I suspect they knew they had been the better team and it hit them like a sucker punch.
The half time change was fascinating to me though. After bringing on Traore, they went from a dynamic unit attacking from all angles to one-dimensional and predictable. It seemed like they lost confidence in what they were doing and just tried to play the ace card over and over again. It didn't work. How will they do this season? Well, they looked a heck of a lot better than Cardiff and Newcastle did on the box earlier. They'll probably end up mid-table somewhere and fighting for the same spots as us.
Player ratings vs. Wolves
posted on 19/8/18
Nuneaton - Just wait until next time when I award Amartey a 7.5 for 3 minutes’ work and one clearance.
posted on 19/8/18
comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 50 minutes ago
Nuneaton - Just wait until next time when I award Amartey a 7.5 for 3 minutes’ work and one clearance.
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Unless you want me to post a turrd through your letterbox dunge then I suggest you apply the appropriate rating according to the ‘Amartey Index’
posted on 20/8/18
Can you round it up to 8 please Dunge as you know how I feel about half marks.
And let’s be honest, the clearance was a pretty good one.
posted on 20/8/18
Well just caught up with this thread
He said she said
Another 20minutes of my life I won't get back
What did I learn from it
Some people can argue the hind leg off!!
Some of us like puel
Most of us don't
Amartey is bad / good
The system/ player's need time/ they've had enough time
Blackstar had a Wobble and foxello had his history thrown in his face,most of which I didn't remember
Tis never on here unlike Saturdays match
🙄🤔🙃
posted on 20/8/18
Tis never Dull on here *
posted on 20/8/18
It makes it far more entertaining on here Dublin - otherwise this place gets about 4 comments a day. Zzzzzzz
posted on 20/8/18
comment by Black Starr - I have flippers for hands 🐬 (U12353)
posted 1 hour, 4 minutes ago
It makes it far more entertaining on here Dublin - otherwise this place gets about 4 comments a day. Zzzzzzz
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Do you mean week?
posted on 20/8/18
comment by dublin fox optimistically pessimistic, (was london fox)(now Cambridge fox)(can not spell fox) (U1131)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Black Starr - I have flippers for hands 🐬 (U12353)
posted 1 hour, 4 minutes ago
It makes it far more entertaining on here Dublin - otherwise this place gets about 4 comments a day. Zzzzzzz
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Do you mean week?
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Actually I should have put month!!
posted on 20/8/18
comment by dublin fox optimistically pessimistic, (was london fox)(now Cambridge fox)(can not spell fox) (U1131)
posted 4 hours, 26 minutes ago
Well just caught up with this thread
He said she said
Another 20minutes of my life I won't get back
What did I learn from it
Some people can argue the hind leg off!!
Some of us like puel
Most of us don't
Amartey is bad / good
The system/ player's need time/ they've had enough time
Blackstar had a Wobble and foxello had his history thrown in his face,most of which I didn't remember
Tis never on here unlike Saturdays match
🙄🤔🙃
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Lol
posted on 21/8/18
comment by Foxello (U6985)
posted 2 days, 6 hours ago
Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you two Mersey and BS? You are so damn miserable these days, there's never any balance or nuance to your criticism, just pure unadulterated depression.
Guys, the 2015/16 style of football at Leicester City is dead, mainly because 3/4 of the most influencial players from that system are gone, as is the manager who made everything tick. We have chosen, rightly in my opinion, to adapt our playing style and have bought in players who are able to play the way Puel wants to. Ricardo and Maddison have been excellent so far, as has Chilwell who is becoming the marauding left back many of us believed he could be.
There's so much cause for optimism in the way we are evolving in to a younger, more technical team - yes, there's probably less entertainment with this style of play, but we can't just carry on like 3 years ago when the architects of that team and that style have left.
Too many people are stuck in the mindset of the end of last season. Seriously, just get over it! We were poor for 3/4 months last season. But we're in a new season now, we've started pretty well and the signs so far are that the signings we have made have gelled well. The players we have now seem much more receptive to Puel and are beginning to adapt to his style and philosophy, something we weren't doing in the final third of last season.
Were we lucky yesterday? Probably. If Wolves' finishing was better, we would have probably lost. But you could say that we were unlucky last week when we were the better side. The fact is we won the game and kept a clean sheet.
Honestly, I just get so sick of seeing the constant miserable tripe from the same old suspects on this forum and others after every match, whether we win or not. When we play well and lose, you moan. When we play under par and win, you moan. And when we play well and win, it's because the players ignored Puel. It's pathetic.
I'm not a 'get behind the manager or eff off' kind of person. Heck, I slagged off NP enough when he was here. But I just wish that people who use to be very sensible and very reasonable would just gain a sense of perspective and understand what we are trying to do instead of the non-stop moaning that really pisssses me, and I'm sure others, off.
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Brilliant Foxello. Im with you (and Nev)
FFS we are 8th in the league, above Man U and Arsenal, I'll take that.
Yes we should have been behind but we wernt
2-0 Move on.
I thought Mendy had a really good game ( good call there Claude) and Maddison worth more than 6.
As usual though Dunge I always enjoy your summaries. Keep it going
I reckon if we finsh top 6 people on here will still be slagging Claude off
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