Copenhagen - A few belated thoughts

Finally got back from my Copenhagen excursion yesterday after hopping across Europe and spending way too much in the airport gift shops. I'm really glad I spent an extra day - it's a lovely city to visit, even if most of the statues have turned green. Great food, great sights, great people.

Regarding the football though, I've seen a few things written about it but figured there were a few things worth throwing chucking into the fray:

Firstly, I don't know how the atmosphere came across but from where I was it was awful. Our fans were awful, in the ground at least. When we were gathered outside the station ready for our transfer onwards it was fantastic, to the point where locals were filming us. But just before we reached the ground the singing started to fire, then by the time the match started it was as though the fans had run out of energy. There was one frankly horrible lad with Mahrez on his back cursing at his fellow fans on the way back to the station for not creating an atmosphere; I suspect he'd spent most of the evening being obnoxious instead of doing his best to create a good atmosphere but he was objectively correct.

Second, the play itself: I've seen some criticism of individuals but the fault in the first half surely lies with Ranieri this time. Surely the starting 11 was not our strongest? I can't be certain, but it looked like one of those times when a manager tries something, then if it works he looks like a genius and if it doesn't the players look clueless. In this case it was trying to play a 4-4-2 when attacking and a 5-4-1 when defending. What it resulted in was Musa unsure what to do, Mahrez leaving the right wing completely empty and Schlupp sitting back and afraid to go. Only when Ranieri changed back to some sort of normality and balance in the formation by putting Schlupp on the right did we get any grip on the game. Also the team selection was shown up further as Mahrez was the only player looking to receive a forward pass to feet for ages, which in turn played the like of Huth and Morgan into trouble. So I think the manager takes the blame for that first half.

Thirdly, I've seen an awful lot of criticism of Schlupp; I think he's deserved this of late but I didn't think he was so bad against Copenhagen. First half I thought he was trying to follow a bad instruction, but then he managed a few dangerous breaks and charges as the match went on, at one point almost getting through the whole opposing defence on his own. (Granted you win nothing for "close" of course). But he looked more like the Schlupp of last season to me. Amartey and Musa I'd agree were less than impressive though - Amartey in particular looked like he was playing with stinging nettles in his pants all game. Perhaps he felt worried about the reception he'd get from the home fans.

Finally, one for MerseysideFox - If my absolute highest rating for any other player would be a 7, Fuchs was a 9. Excellent performance and no way we'd have got a clean sheet without him. Our MOTM without question, even considering Schmeichel's broken-hand save.