Does anybody else breathe a sigh of relief when the international breaks are over? I’m actually a keen supporter of the national team and not one of those who dismisses internationals in favour of club football. It’s just that I think the current run of England games tell us absolutely nothing. They’re games that we should and do win easily, but the endless speculation of how good we are is obsolete until we play decent opposition. “Can Maddison play at this level?" a pundit will ask. Well yes because 90% of the time he’s playing at a level at least 2 or 3 steps above every week in the Premier League.
Anyway, rant over, as we now have a game at the weekend. It’s Brighton away in a rare 3pm fixture on a Saturday. If we stay where we are we should enjoy those while we can. This is a Brighton side that you’d expect to finish comfortably in mid-table. I watched them against Spurs on the telly a few weeks ago and I was impressed. Their manager has got them playing a fluid style and they have some good individual players. This isn’t a game where I’d expect to see a side set up to defend against us that we have to patiently break down.
That made me think how the side has evolved under Brendan Rodgers. No longer am I so afraid of us struggling to break down a side with 10 men behind the ball. I think we now have the creativity to do this reasonably consistently. I think a side that takes us on and attacks us will test us more these days. If Brighton are brave, which they should be at home, then I expect this game to be a difficult test. Another real test of our top four credentials.
I still struggle to think of us as top four contenders, but I realised the other day that I have started looking up the table for the first time rather than looking down. I’m not looking and hoping that relegation contenders will lose games, but hoping that others take points off the likes of Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool. As a Leicester fan I still struggle with seeing us in that company, but one day that might change.
There is some talk that the international break may have taken its toll on one or two of our players. Evans is apparently poorly and Maddison left out of England’s game with Kosovo with a calf strain. Does this mean we might have to change a winning side? Praet would presumably come in for Maddison (which would presumably excite Mersey) and Morgan would come in for Evans. The latter scares me a little bit, but not because of Morgan’s capability. It’s just that Morgan always plays better alongside a strong and stable (to paraphrase Theresa May) centre back next to him (Huth, Evans) and I’m not sure a partnership with Soyuncu is a match made in heaven. We saw last season that Evans was the anchor and both Maguire and Morgan played better alongside him than they did, for example, with each other.
The only other thing to ponder is the form of Demarai Gray. I’m still not ready to start with him, but I don’t know whether Brendan is. The best advice he could get is to continue doing what he’s doing for 5, 10 and 15 games and sometime he’ll inevitably get his chance. A Gray that finally delivers upon his potential would be a great asset for our side.
Brighton v Leicester - A Pre-Match thread
posted on 21/11/19
Apparently Brighton have quite a few out themselves, so both sides could face a few issues. I don't think we have anything confirmed yet on either Evans or Maddison though, so we'll see. I'd have thought that Wes should be able to get through a single game, although it perhaps narrows the margins a bit.
The other possibility, Praet for Maddison, shouldn't be a great concern. I think most fans would be happy to see Praet get some playing time anyway and Tielemans has shown that he enjoys the occasional chance to really get on the front foot and push up into the number 10 role. With Praet and Ndidi alongside he'd certainly have licence to do that.
posted on 21/11/19
Praet coming in for Madders interests me rather than worries me (to see what Dennis can do).
Morgan coming in for Evans on the other hand is potentially petrifying, he wasn't quick but looked positively glacial recently when he's come on - to a degree that's covered by the occasional 3 at the back formation, but in a 2, with Soyuncu - eek!
Just where is Benkovic in the scheme of things anyway?
posted on 21/11/19
Good point made by Dunge. If Maddison isn’t fit then following the rumours he’s thrown a strop and off to Utd, we get to work out the formation.
Do we move Perez central and play Praet right thus protecting the full backs more, or move Tielemans forward as per Dunge’s suggestion.
Either are fine by me. This may not be the game to try it, but Perez is still settling and I’d be happy to see Praet trialled as a right mid. He has all the attributes to play there in our style of play. He doesn’t need to get to the byline to swing the ball in. Just play neat interplay and link the play.
posted on 22/11/19
I think we should cancel all international breaks. There's always this void in my life during these fortnights...
One idea though - In the Premier League, why dont we have the England team? One team that's managed and played by England Internationals but competes week in/week out in the EPL. Can you imagine the level of consistency and standard of play when we reach tournaments.?
Not that this is a fully worked out idea, but why not?
posted on 22/11/19
Cheesy, that is one of the most insane ideas I’ve ever heard!
Tell me more.
Do we have to give up Chilwell forever. Do England FC pay a transfer fee for him.
Your idea is so off the wall it makes me like it 🙃. As long as we get to keep Praet, I’m ok with it.
posted on 22/11/19
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 50 minutes ago
Cheesy, that is one of the most insane ideas I’ve ever heard!
Tell me more.
Do we have to give up Chilwell forever. Do England FC pay a transfer fee for him.
Your idea is so off the wall it makes me like it 🙃. As long as we get to keep Praet, I’m ok with it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Haha! Yeah
It would function as a club, maybe even called Wembley England FC or something. It would pay transfer fees and wages etc. Play 38 games a season.
It wouldn't stop international breaks because of the other nations but you wouldnt need pointless friendlies. They wouldn't compete in the domestic cups and that would be their break time.
It would obviously have a massive draw for players as it would pay their wages and play at the highest level
posted on 22/11/19
Thinking about it, it could bring along with it a transfer/wage cap to the league that would halt the ridiculous hike in these figures seen. Clubs could hold it at ransom somewhat I guess, so in rebuttel it could have final say... It needs thinking through