Following yet another home capitulation, I find myself growing rather weary. A bad day at the office can be explained and understood, but when 3 in 4 of them are bad days you have to start looking properly at what you're doing wrong.
Here are my ratings:
Schmeichel: 4 - The game was gone by the time he'd finished picking the ball out of the net. At least one flashed straight past him.
Castagne: 6 - Looking increasingly to me like a stodger. Probably better as a straight-out right back than a right wing back as he doesn't have any tricks to get past people.
Amartey: 4 - Got a few headers in but was full of mistakes today.
Evans: 5 - Positioning good as usual but offered nothing to stop the onslaught of the first twenty minutes and was very lucky to stay on the pitch in a second half last-man-foul incident.
Soyuncu: 6 - Showed some drive to run with the ball, in what one hopes might be some increasing confidence and going back to his unique abilities. But, like the others, offered nothing to stop Arsenal at the front of the match.
Thomas: 6 - Beaten too often in situations when he needs to learn the dark art of committing a foul at source and trying to avoid a yellow rather than letting an opponent get a run on. Came alive in attack in the second half, coordinating well with Barnes.
Tielemans: 7 - As usual, the only one capable of making the playing from the back tactic work. Set up most of the best squandered chances. My choice for our MOTM.
Soumare: 4 - Didn't give the impression that he can read the game. I wonder whether he needs specific instructions and a set role to flourish. I doubt Rodgers will afford him that. Mostly anonymous, then tired and started giving the ball away.
Maddison: 6 - Contributed in attack; not the creative force he wants to be, but we missed him when he went off.
Iheanacho: 5 - Showing signs of being out of form. Couldn't get into the match.
Vardy: 5 - Much of what he tried didn't come off.
Barnes: 7 - Managed to put some pressure on the Arsenal back line with some good ball-carrying and interchanges with Thomas.
Lookman: 6 - Tried hard and was involved in some decent play to break through the Arsenal midfield, but not showing much in the way of end product so far.
Daka: 5 - Looks a lot better when he has space to attack. Arsenal gave him none.
It's worth stating that Arsenal played well. We know they can be up and down and don't have the squad they once did, but right now they're playing as a team and were very effective because of it. There was only one team in it for the first quarter of the match, then in the second half their defence saw out their half of the bargain. Worth a mention to Aaron Ramsdale too: I was one who couldn't see why the heck they bought him, but he's in the form of his life right now.
But for us, there was at least an attempt to fight back after half time, aided by a change in formation that Arsenal took time to adjust to, but ultimately we gave up. Frankly it took ages for either the players or the crowd to get up for this, whereas Arsenal were at it from the first whistle.
Two final notes.
1: I don't know whether this will be popular or unpopular, but I wish Remembrance fixtures would be scrapped. Not just at Leicester, but everywhere. It's not that I disagree with the cause or anything, but I find myself wondering more and more what it really has to do with a football match; plus the silence is increasingly awkward these days.
2: Home form is a problem, and the atmosphere today was appalling. The club need to start having a serious think about how to fix this, the obvious suggestion being fewer gimmicks with letting atmosphere take place organically. Plus remove the "previous meetings" from pre-match, it always annoys me to see how we might have won in the past; it only serves to get away fans up for it.
Quite honestly I could rant all night tonight because today was crap. Arsenal had complete control of this match from start to finish, and they're not good enough for that to be acceptable.
Player ratings vs. Arsenal
posted on 31/10/21
The press is a mess, to be honest. Not quite as bad yesterday as it was against Brighton midweek, but not everyone commits to it enough. Barnes can be very effective carrying the ball, but defensively he’s terrible. He just tries to avoid getting in on the act. I’d say that he can’t press, but that should be reserved for people like Mendy who just can’t keep up with the athletes of the Premier League. Barnes has no such excuse. The simple conclusion I make is not that he can’t press, but that he won’t press.
But that would be to single him out unfairly when there are just too many people not pressing correctly. I sympathise to an extent with Rodgers on this because we have had injury problems to focus on and he hasn’t had much midweek opportunity to work on it, but such is the life of a top manager. I’ve also heard rumour of players or staff struggling to settle in to the new training ground, and it can be tricky when there’s a move. All in all, this season is already a write-off and I expect there will be some atrocious results and performances to come.
The season being a write-off means we will lose some talent. Tielemans in particular will surely be sold at the end of the season. While I’m sure that’ll get True Blue streaking through Tesco in pure elation, the rest of us recognise that a loss that will be. We’ll also see Vardy a year older, similar Evans and Schmeichel. There could even be bids for the likes of Fofana. Having a duff season will cost us momentum, but I figure we’ll probably have to live with that and look to rebuild, preferably with players who have a lot more potential than we’ve seen from our summer business thus far. Whether Rodgers will want to be a part of that, or whether a club of significant enough size will offer him a route out, is yet to be seen.
posted on 31/10/21
Momentum. That’s a good way to describe it. We’ve certainly stalled for some reason but it confuses me. I think our summer business has been ok. Vestergaard always unplanned and can’t be included but aside Daka looks the real deal, Soumare looks suited fo replacing Tielemans when we lose him and Bertrand for all his criticism started the season very well before Covid.
Add that on top of the talent we already have and we should be progressing. But we’ve stalled.
We stopped pressing when we started to look too open at the back and since that point the wheels have fallen off.
But like the second half yesterday, there’s a lot to be hopeful for and Rodgers seems to have blown hot and cold in his entire time with us.
He’s found answers in the past and hopefully he can find them again.
With Evans fit, this may be the opportunity Lookman and Barnes have been waiting for and if so, they need to take it and start creating goals.
posted on 31/10/21
Tilly was Great ........... for Arsenal, just what they needed, a key player that's easily taken out the game who like his Manager has no clue how to change and adapt, totally one dimensional.
From an Arsenal perspective, his Free Kick staraight into the one man wall was perfect, like his corner straight into Ramsdale's hands.
Not forgettig the number of times he was so easily dispossessed or just gave the ball away.
Not as bad as the Manager though, so easily out played in tactics by opposition Managers, it's embarrassing.
posted on 31/10/21
"Whilst I fully respect the right of everyone to express their opinion and I can usually understand the reasoning behind it, I must confess that I am at a loss to see where our very good friend True Blue is coming from in his views on Youri Tielemans! He is clearly the most creative player we have; God knows where we’d be if he wasn’t playing very nearly every game."
That must be why we're a mid table Team then.
A decent Player with a good eye for an occasional great pass, much like most of the rest of the team though.
You guys are like the British Press with a hald decent young English Player, you've built him up so far it's laughable.
Tilly as MOTM
posted on 31/10/21
Come on TB. The biggest clubs in the world are coming in for Tielemans in the summer. Are they and we all wrong?
This isn’t Ryan McGivern we’re talking about here.
Yes I agree with you that you can nullify Tielemans by pressing him quickly. But he’s not a Messi type of player that just skips round people. He needs the team to work around him, create a bit of space and make the movements for him to pick out. When they do he’s second to none.
Does that make him flawless, no. Does it make him flawed like you make out, absolutely not. He’s an absolute talent and we’re lucky to have him. Who would you replace him with?
posted on 31/10/21
Are they, why didn't they this Summer?
Too easily nullified to be anything more than a Very Good Player,
Ah, back to the Team dpoing all the work for him again, just like other Teams do for the Top Class Players in their team.
Of course, they might be moving for him, how would he know, he spends most of his time increasing his passing stats facing his own goal passing straight abck to the player who just passed to him.
The problem for Tilly is that they're aren't enough Big Teams too arrogant to worry about our players to close them down like the Man Cities or Utd's so he can shine, the rest just take this World Class player out the picture so so easily.
Of course, if his Manager wasn't so one dimensional in his tactics it wouldn't be that every single little pass has to go through him to go straight backwards to the same player time after time.
posted on 31/10/21
Serious question - why don’t we bring in a set piece coach which seems trendy at the minute? It’s clearly an issue for us and someone to come in to focus purely on that can help?
That or we get our tactics right so we’re no conceding them every 5 minutes!
posted on 1/11/21
True Blue - I genuinely hope you are a master WUM, because otherwise your lack of footballing knowledge is embarrassing.
posted on 1/11/21
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 16 hours, 44 minutes ago
Are they, why didn't they this Summer?
Too easily nullified to be anything more than a Very Good Player,
Ah, back to the Team dpoing all the work for him again, just like other Teams do for the Top Class Players in their team.
Of course, they might be moving for him, how would he know, he spends most of his time increasing his passing stats facing his own goal passing straight abck to the player who just passed to him.
The problem for Tilly is that they're aren't enough Big Teams too arrogant to worry about our players to close them down like the Man Cities or Utd's so he can shine, the rest just take this World Class player out the picture so so easily.
Of course, if his Manager wasn't so one dimensional in his tactics it wouldn't be that every single little pass has to go through him to go straight backwards to the same player time after time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sure I saw that he’s played more forward passes from midfield than anyone in the division so you must be thinking about someone else…
posted on 1/11/21
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-city-arsenal-talking-points-6139688
Feel like this is. Cheeky rip off of our post match analysis, or maybe sums up the same points as us for a reason!