Leicester 2 v Wolves 0: The Verdict Thread

[Lycan]

Exactly my thoughts too, if we'd have kept Jota on or been able to bring Cav on there would have been more space as they wouldn't have been able to double or triple up on Traore.

Sadly Leo offered very little, he needs to teams to be attacking us so he can move the ball into the space behind. There wasn't any with Leicester sitting so deep.

They didn't double or triple up on Traore though. He sucked players towards him once he received the ball but when he wasn't in possession they just left him alone to stand on the touchline twiddling his thumbs.

 

[Tredman]

They didn't double or triple up on Traore though. He sucked players towards him once he received the ball but when he wasn't in possession they just left him alone to stand on the touchline twiddling his thumbs.

They definitely double marked him, and at least twice he had three on him (have a look at his cross for Leo's crap header).

He's definitely not used to expecting the ball over the top to run on to, if that is something we plan to do then it needs to worked on. It's not something we did a huge amount of last season - it was more long balls out the the WBs who moved it on to the IFs.

 

[PuntsWolf]

I must have hallucinated all that space I saw down the right hand side when I was at the King Power yesterday.

So many times after the red, the ball was recycled out to the right for Moutinho and the only options he had were Ryan Bennett or Traore just standing there being marked by 1 defender. A little bit of intelligent movement off the ball and we could've fashioned a few more chances down that side.

I agree. But Nuno has kind of hamstrung us. Traore was basically playing RWB and there was no one in front or behind him making runs on the outside, so it ended being “give me the ball to feet and watch me run”, which he did pretty well.

The few times Doc did support on that side between the two of them they kicked it out of play. If Jota was still on the pitch we might have got back in the game. Yes he was shit, and I think Nuno wanted to give him a kick up the arse, but you can’t take him off to make a point when the replacement is Bonatini.

 

[Premier Quality]

Without Coady's flick he kicks/knees it clear or it hits his thigh.

He reacted badly as it came at him but it was unlucky to come at him the way it did.

It’s a small nick - at best it hits him in the throat or face instead. It doesn’t change direction though, so it would still have gone in, just maybe a bit lower. I don’t really get what he was trying to do.

 

[slink]

In the long run taking Jota off may help though because he has to realise that the players he's playing against now aren't just going to let him run past them and he can't lose the ball in the areas and situations that he has done in the first 2 games the rest of the season. He's put us under far too much pressure and both goals came from him losing the ball yesterday.

 

[Lycan]

They definitely double marked him, and at least twice he had three on him (have a look at his cross for Leo's crap header).

He's definitely not used to expecting the ball over the top to run on to, if that is something we plan to do then it needs to worked on. It's not something we did a huge amount of last season - it was more long balls out the the WBs who moved it on to the IFs.

They definitely didn't. I was there and watched him closely off the ball.

They weren't trying to cut the ball into him off by putting 2 men on him. What would be the point when 1 would do the job? I'm not exaggerating here, he literally doesn't move an inch when we're in possession and he doesn't have the ball. He barely even moves forward to support attacks going down the opposite side.

He literally just stands still, waits for the ball to come to him, slows the play down, draws 2 or 3 towards him, rips the arse out of them and puts a cross in. Which I'm not saying isn't effective or exciting to watch, I just don't see how it fits into Nuno's 'idea'.

I've never seen a professional footballer at any level play the way he did in that 45 minutes yesterday. It was totally unorthodox and it will take a hell of a lot of work to get him fully integrated into the system to the point where I'd trust him to be anything more than an impact sub in this side.

I'm not willing to write off Costa like some have and I'm certainly not willing to write off Nuno's system, which has gotten us so far, at the expense of one talented but completely mental footballer.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

Traore quickly becoming the new Doherty. Pretty impressive after just 45 minutes of football. Imagine the scenes if he plays a full 90 minutes.

I was there too. Traore did more in his first five minutes that Costa and Jota had done combined in the first half. He am Jonny were the only players who were able to get behind and deliver a quality ball into the box. On another day, he walks away with two assists (Bonatini should have done better) and is hailed a hero.

 

[Tredman]

I'm not willing to write off Costa like some have and I'm certainly not willing to write off Nuno's system, which has gotten us so far, at the expense of one talented but completely mental footballer.

Given it was Nuno that wanted to sign him, i would guess he wanted him to add something different. Which given the way the first two games have played out was very sensible.

Don't know what to make of Costa, i bloody love him - sitting in the lower BQ i have been privileged to watch his feet dancing in and around players. He's either very out of form or not really sure what he should be doing.

 

[Premier Quality]

Traore was asked to play that way at Boro, and was very succesful second half of the season. it’s asking a bit much for him to morph into a quick Diogo Jota after one weeks training.

Personally, I think it will take a bit of time for him to get used to our system, but that nuno will work hard with him to get him to understand- and we’ll still get benefit from him whilst he’s learning, as we did yesterday.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

With the new personnel perhaps a system tweak is in order. I think the centre of defence needs a bit of cover in front of it in this league so Dendonker would be sensible there. Play Jiminez and Traore up top. Neve s and moutinou then can support knowing that defensively we have cover. Jonny on the right and vinagre on the left leaves Jota and Costa as impact subs.

Patricio has not looked an upgrade on Ruddy so far , Bennett has been our best defender , Doherty has been exposed defensively, Costa has been anonymous, Jota has been selfish but all of the negatives can be fixed. It's a learning curve.

Clean sheets. That is what we need. We can't concede two a game in this league

 

[PuntsWolf]

With the new personnel perhaps a system tweak is in order. I think the centre of defence needs a bit of cover in front of it in this league so Dendonker would be sensible there. Play Jiminez and Traore up top. Neve s and moutinou then can support knowing that defensively we have cover. Jonny on the right and vinagre on the left leaves Jota and Costa as impact subs.

Patricio has not looked an upgrade on Ruddy so far , Bennett has been our best defender , Doherty has been exposed defensively, Costa has been anonymous, Jota has been selfish but all of the negatives can be fixed. It's a learning curve.

Clean sheets.

I’d say CM has been our strongest area. Not sure how you can be criticising Rui? What has he done wrong? He certainly had nothing to do yesterday and couldn’t do anything more than he did.

Not sure too much needs to change with the system. Just better individual performances in our key areas. I’d perhaps drop Costa for Saiss/Dendoncker against City and have Jota floating around.

 

[YoungWolf]

I honestly can't see how you come to this conclusion. He should have headed it where it com from (certainly not thigh FFS). The balls trajectory has barely changed yet he's put it in his own net under no pressure. Comedy reel stuff. Certainly not unlucky!

Agree.

It’s Doherty’s body shape that kills him. He’s facing his own goal even after the cross comes in which is criminal. You can’t defend like that individually and expect to get away with it which is why he will lose his place eventually.

These first few games are against sides (with exception of West Ham) who are all a massive jump up from the championship. If we can continue to prove that we can comepete against these teams the results will come. I think we will see Vinagre start regularly before January, which is then his chance to prove we don’t need to sign a wing back to replace him in the team.

 

[Lord Knows]

With the new personnel perhaps a system tweak is in order. I think the centre of defence needs a bit of cover in front of it in this league so Dendonker would be sensible there. Play Jiminez and Traore up top. Neve s and moutinou then can support knowing that defensively we have cover. Jonny on the right and vinagre on the left leaves Jota and Costa as impact subs.

Patricio has not looked an upgrade on Ruddy so far , Bennett has been our best defender , Doherty has been exposed defensively, Costa has been anonymous, Jota has been selfish but all of the negatives can be fixed. It's a learning curve.

Clean sheets.

Wolves played really well and the system is working fine, come back after a dozen or so games if we struggle to pick up points which we should given our current excellent levels of performance.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

They definitely didn't. I was there and watched him closely off the ball.

They weren't trying to cut the ball into him off by putting 2 men on him. What would be the point when 1 would do the job? I'm not exaggerating here, he literally doesn't move an inch when we're in possession and he doesn't have the ball. He barely even moves forward to support attacks going down the opposite side.

He literally just stands still, waits for the ball to come to him, slows the play down, draws 2 or 3 towards him, rips the arse out of them and puts a cross in. Which I'm not saying isn't effective or exciting to watch, I just don't see how it fits into Nuno's 'idea'.

I've never seen a professional footballer at any level play the way he did in that 45 minutes yesterday. It was totally unorthodox and it will take a hell of a lot of work to get him fully integrated into the system to the point where I'd trust him to be anything more than an impact sub in this side.

I'm not willing to write off Costa like some have and I'm certainly not willing to write off Nuno's system, which has gotten us so far, at the expense of one talented but completely mental footballer.

Quite right. At the moment what he mostly does is stand around on halfway, pick the ball up, beat a couple of men and get fouled 40 yards out. Which looks very exciting and all that and there's talent involved in it, but it doesn't really do a great deal for us. This is why you have YouTube highlight reels of him where he beats players and then the clip mysteriously cuts off. His natural game doesn't seem to be to play where we normally ask our inside forwards to play, nor does he seem to have any inclination to run in behind. It's still the Adama Show.

This is where that fabled "Nuno will improve him" will have to come in because as it stands, he's a long way off being a productive player (and if yesterday showed us anything, it's that the Premier League deals in cold hard end product). He's an oddity. An exciting one, but an oddity all the same.

 

[YoungWolf]

In terms of end product, actually he did create a couple of chances for players (ie. Leo) which had pretty pathetic attempts at goal.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Hence why I said "mostly" (and I did mention those chances in my report).

I'd equate most of what he does to a batsman smacking a load of glorious looking cover drives which keep hitting fielders. Aesthetic rating 100/100, runs scored 0.

 

[Premier Quality]

We knew we weren’t signing the perfect finished product though deutsch- and even you must admit there was quality in his incisiveness and his crosses yesterday - it’s not his fault we didn’t finish.

 

[YoungWolf]

I agree on his receiving positions, I get the criticism there, but with it being his first appearance for us and against a team who just sat back I wasn't surprised that was the case. That is something he will learn, as a key feature of our attacking player is our ability to draw players into those positions and release the wing backs. That isn't something that is beyond him to do in our system and it will actually suit him as he is very good turning out of those type of spaces.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

We knew we weren’t signing the perfect finished product though deutsch- and even you must admit there was quality in his incisiveness and his crosses yesterday - it’s not his fault we didn’t finish.

Check me and my scathing words on Adama and his XS shirt.

There were at least half a dozen excellent runs past two or three players with breathtaking ease. He will excite fans. He will frighten defences. He will win us a high number of set pieces as defenders don’t know how to stop him legally. But he will also take on one too many players a lot of the time, and render that initial run pointless. He will produce a horrible cross from a good position. He will overhit a two yard pass and send it straight out of play. Can he knit it altogether and become a genuinely effective force at this level? We’ll probably get to find out now, I expect him to start next week. In fairness, he should have had at least one assist today.

He did alright, to a point. But he is definitely weird and he definitely does not fit into how we normally play. Can we adapt, can he adapt, we'll find out.

 

[Tredman]

He was our best attacking threat and only played half the match. Not much else to say really.