It’s Burnley on Saturday. Burnley!
For some reason when I think of Burnley I can only think of dour football and have difficulty getting excited. It’s a bit like when I think of Stoke City. Is this assessment fair?
Most of my memories playing Burnley are of boring 0-0 draws and 1-0 losses. So I was surprised to look back on our recent results against them and actually find that our recent record is pretty decent. So perhaps I need a bit of therapy to forget those earlier experiences and try and look forward to this game.
We’ve also been a bit ding dong with Burnley over the last few years. It was us and them challenging for the Championship title, competing with them to stay up the following season and then being rivals with them to be the best of the rest – which they won by finishing seventh. Of course, this doesn’t include the 2015/16 season, but no assessment of any trends or trajectories ever includes that season.
My most memorable game against Burnley is somewhat indicative of my thoughts above – as I wasn’t even there. I was listening to the match on the radio in North Wales and it was the one during the great escape run-in where Vardy bundled the ball across the line after they had missed a penalty (I think). It was one of those moments during that run when you thought we might just do it and I actually felt quite emotional afterwards. The question now is: can we finally leave Burnley behind? After all we do have: “many many pound notes", which they don’t. Maybe this Saturday will indicate where we both currently are.
Most of the team virtually picks itself now so I will only have two asks:
Please play Maddison in the middle if he’s fit enough to play
Please don’t play N’didi and Hamza in the middle from the start
I’ll roll with the rest of the decisions Brendan might make. Unless, of course, he recalls Andy King from loan and puts him straight in the team ….
Leicester v Burnley Pre-Match Chit-Chat
posted on 17/10/19
Pearson's response to Dyche's dig at our success was something along the lines of "We all have the same resources"
To which, without looking at figures was probably a fair response. In seasons prior we had splashed a bucket of money on Sven's "scattergun" approach, to which Pearson came back and sorted sh!t out!
We do, however now have quite a few pound notes, and are trading players sensibly and economically. And hopefully we can leave them behind, lets make a statement this weekend. It'd be brilliant!
posted on 17/10/19
Thank heavens for Joby - something to talk about that’s related to football again. Phew.
Burnley are a funny one. You can not deny the incredible job Dyche has done establishing Burnley in the premier league despite never really spending a great deal of cash.
They have Chris Wood as a key player. Yes he’s not their main man but he plays a role in that team. And let’s be honest, if you can get Chris Wood to be an effective premier league player you are an exceptional manager. Credit Dyche.
I think it’s unfair to label Burnley as boring. They are actually a good team that has a clear style of play. They are very compact without the ball but can stretch the play well with it. And we all know their danger from set pieces which we’ll have to watch.
With that in mind I don’t want us to go gung-ho. I think Burnley will absorb our pressure and target our full backs and wide areas when we’re too high up the pitch.
With that in mind I’d start with Ndidi and Choudhury. Maybe Mendy alongside them in a defensive block 3?....
.... of course I’m joking Joby. 4-1-4-1 it should be. Maddison and Tielemans must be central flanked by Albrighton (don’t shoot me BS) and whoever else Rodgers sees fit. I don’t want to see Perez in a 4-1-4-1, and I don’t want to see Maddison in a 4-3-3!
Otherwise, we should have enough to get the 3 points here as long as we defend correctly. We shouldn’t get overrun in the midfield so Ndidi should be able to do his stuff. Our full backs may not be able to get forward as much, so 4-1-4-1 would allow more creativity from the midfield.
Ahhhhhh, football is back.
posted on 17/10/19
Just a little concerned that Vardy looked haggard at the airport with the scandal and Maddison’s ‘shaming’ might affect their play?
Hopefully they react positively on the pitch.
Also noticed we’re supposedly offering to make Chilwell in if the best paid players at £100k, bargaining point or do we really really want to
Keep him?