Good read as always Dunge, especially after a good win.

Your reviews are broadly right if not a little harsh. I thought the overall performance was professional and much improved.

I guess my main tweaks would be:
Evans 8: I think Soyuncu and some of his great start is down to the way Evans controls the game. Yes he does look as all action, but that’s because he’s so tidy and positionally perfect.

Ndidi 7: After a slow start I felt like he did everything expected of him. He could have been overrun in that holding role but got about the pitch and stopped numerous attack’s from building.

The fact that Bournemouth were restricted to few half chances is a credit to these players doing their jobs well.

Generally agree Dunge:-
Ricardo: I'm quite happy with playing him at RB because of what he offers going forward, but he is, and looks like he always will be, a right winger playing out of position and as such is suspect defensively - we will continue to leak goals down our right side until this is addressed;
Evans & N'didi: agree with Mersey;
Soyuncu: 9 for me, was superb again yesterday, not only on his side of the pitch but also covered a number of dangerous situations on the right side. He was out of line for the goal though. My initial choice for MoM but having reviewed just how much Vardy was back to his brilliant best, I'm going to change my mind and agree with your assessment;
Tielemans: much better performance. The challenge looked awful but was clearly deemed not deliberate by the VAR review. He could have caused serious damage but was looking away when contact was made - worth a yellow but not a red (I assume VAR was only checking for the red?);
Gray: looked like a player transformed, his touch was so much better, pace was good and he penetrated their defence well, but ultimately the same old frustration rears its ugly head, he gets into a really dangerous position and fails to pass to a team mate for a scoring chance. Will he ever learn - there has to be a real question mark over this and hence his future?

A good performance against an opponent that has frequently proved difficult in the past to give us a pleasant international break. The rest of September looks interesting with games where we could easily pick up points against two of the so called 'big six', but for me the real mark of our progress will be how we deal with Newcastle at the KP - they will no doubt come to park the bus, will we have enough guile to prise their defence apart?

Nuneaton - I was having a discussion about this yesterday: Can the referee award a yellow card after checking VAR for a straight red? I thought not but wasn’t certain.
I was wondering who would know and I bet BlackStarr would. *prod*...

comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 33 minutes ago
Nuneaton - I was having a discussion about this yesterday: Can the referee award a yellow card after checking VAR for a straight red? I thought not but wasn’t certain.
I was wondering who would know and I bet BlackStarr would. *prod*...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dunge - I believe so but not sure. I believe the VAR checks for a clear and obvious error - in this case a straight red. If they determine it isn’t but it should be a yellow then I think the ref can give the yellow

comment by Black Starr (U12353)
posted 24 minutes ago
comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 33 minutes ago
Nuneaton - I was having a discussion about this yesterday: Can the referee award a yellow card after checking VAR for a straight red? I thought not but wasn’t certain.
I was wondering who would know and I bet BlackStarr would. *prod*...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dunge - I believe so but not sure. I believe the VAR checks for a clear and obvious error - in this case a straight red. If they determine it isn’t but it should be a yellow then I think the ref can give the yellow
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry Black Starr, the ref cannot award a yellow, the VAR check was for a possible red and only considers whether a red should be awarded

I think it was a good performance. Much better balance and so much more entertaining than my last visit to the KP.

I will focus on the negatives only because I’m going to nit pick on where we need to be to threaten the top six:
1. Soyuncu is doing brilliantly well and recovers well. He’s not as positionally good as Evans, but has good powers of recovery. He could improve a bit by having more defensive discipline and the Wilson goal was a bit Harry Maguire.
2. We should actually have put the game to bed much more easily. Bournemouth were poor defensively and the final ball was often lacking. More consistency from Tielemans and Maddison and we would really start to look top six
3.Gray. Many will say much improved and he did add something when he came on. I can’t help thinking about the poor decision not to pass to an unmarked Tielemans late in the game as symptomatic of why he isn’t first choice.

Ok I said I’d be negative, but I’ll finish on a few positives:
Vardy played like the living legend he is - brilliant - and if Dunge hadn’t put him MOtM I don’t think I’d have ever read another ratings thread.
BRodgers showed the flexibility in approach that Claude never did
Hamza is developing into a player far beyond what I thought he was capable of. I thought he was just going to be a stopper, but he has great energy and composure. I hope he keeps it up.

All in all - very pleased

Another question for you re Tielemans. Can he be charged retrospectively or has VAR not giving red replaced that process?

Good question bowstring. I don’t know but it makes a mockery of VAR if they then subsequently review the same footage to come to a different conclusion.

I don’t think you can give a yellow. Only overturn a decision.

Joby - I broadly agree (of course) but I’d argue Bournemouth weren’t defensively weak, they just stick to their high(er) line which is stupid against teams like Leicester. Yes they dropped a little bit they were no Newcastle. I thought Tielemans was back to his best after the first 20 mins. The change of formation just shows how players need systems to suit their style.

What I’m happiest with is that rodgers has shown he’s willing to be flexible. Dropping Pérez must have been a tricky one but the right decision. To restore the balance needed.

How funny would it be if once again, a new manager comes in, drops Albrighton and then slowly but surely he becomes one of the most important players to them!!

Well, I don’t chip in very often on here but I have to question VAR. That was a red card offence by Tielemans and he should have gone OFF!

It looked bad in slow motion but there was absolute no intent to Injure the opponent, he just came in from behind and Tilly didn’t see him, well that’s in my view of course.

I thought generally he was poor though, obvious class but too many poor and done even Lazy passes from Tilly overall.

comment by Bowstring (U17642)
posted 37 minutes ago
Another question for you re Tielemans. Can he be charged retrospectively or has VAR not giving red replaced that process?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I can’t see how he can be, that’s normally if the Ref has missed it in the match isn’t it?

Ok, controversial opinion of the weekend:
- Tielemans on Wilson wasn’t deliberate, nor was it aggressive. Maybe a yellow for carelessness but not a red.

Even more controversial opinion of the weekend:
- Grealish was looking for it and I can completely understand why the ref blew for a dive. The fact the ball rolled off to his teammate is incidental.

I think the Tielemans tackle wasn’t a straight red. I don’t think there was any intent there and he was just trying to shield the ball. You could argue that, despite this, his clumsiness and potential to cause injury to the player makes it deserving of a yellow.

With VAR in general I see a lot of these conversations develop into a debate on whether the decision should, or shouldn’t, have been overturned. That, in itself, is the answer to the question. If we’re debating it then it’s very likely that it isn’t a clear and obvious error - and VAR shouldn’t have overturned it.

What might have been more interesting is if the referee had given a red. It would have been a very harsh sending off in my view but, using similar logic to above, it probably shouldn’t be overturned.

Totally agree with this as there are so many times yellow cards are awarded after the fact. Not only that, he did not commit a stoppable play incident,

D’ya wanna pass on to BlackStarr, that Leicester are looking really poor this season

😂👍🏼

I personally think that the Tielemans tackle was a red. Let’s be honest if that was by a Bournemouth player we would be screaming at VAR and insisting he should have been sent off. It doesn’t have to be deliberate to be reckless and that’s an ankle breaker - even though he was trying to protect the ball, with another player coming he shouldn’t have gone over the top of the ball with his studs up.

If the tielemans tackle was a red, so was the Bournemouth players (which I admit I didn’t see at the game!!).

VAR can only intervene if it is judged to be a straight red card offence, and that wasn't.

I don’t think that Tielemans tackle was deliberate or reckless. He wasn’t even looking at the ball. Clumsy perhaps.

Both this and the Bournemouth one look far worse in slow motion and probably wouldn’t have been highlighted without VAR.

But as I say, this discussion is evidence in itself that they weren’t decisions for VAR to overturn.