22 Mar 2021 09:12:51
Anyone here still of the opinion that our midfield doesn't need a big upgrade in the summer?

All three goals yesterday can be put down to our midfield.

Fred playing a suicide pass, but the reality is that he does that most games. His passing is suspect and he is as likely if not more so to give the opposition a goal scoring chance than he is one of his teammates.

Had Matic even finished turning around to face his own goal when Tielemans shot hit the back of the net. Caught in no man's land and unable to get back. Against teams that will press us he has zero use.

McTominay is one of my favourite players in this current squad. Vocal, hard working, came through the academy and is a club player through and through. Yet he was totally at fault for their third goal. He got caught ball watching, got sucked under the ball and was unaware of where his man was. Allowing Iheanacho to head home a simple chance unchallenged.

That's a goal each conceded down to all of our "defensive" midfielders.


1.) 22 Mar 2021
22 Mar 2021 09:33:46
Shappy - Ole should be sacked for the team he picked yesterday.
One of the best opportunity's for silverware and that clown decides to drop our two most influential players in Shaw and Bruno. As if that wasn't bad enough he then picks Matic over Mctominay.
Let's not forget we are up against a top premiership side as well in Leicester City.
The guy is an amateur, why didn't he stick with his best 11?
How ever i do agree. a massive upgrade is needed, i'm just not sure that i would give the money to Ole, i think he's took this side as far as he can. We are nearly men, constantly failing at Semi / Quarter finals. It's just not good enough. He's had his chance and failed move on.


2.) 22 Mar 2021
22 Mar 2021 09:46:11
But this is what you get when you prioritise certain aspects of the game over others.

Ive lost count of how many times people have posted on here, "I just want players who work hard and run", "I just want players who show passion for the shirt".

Then you end up with a player like Fred who works really hard and shows great energy but doesn't posess nearly enough ability to play in a posession based team.

It doesn't have to be an either or, there are players out there who can do both sides of the game.


3.) 22 Mar 2021
22 Mar 2021 10:17:06
Sim, we can't have it both ways. Many people on here keep saying this is the best squad since Sir Alex left, yet the reality is we used some of those squad players yesterday and got our arse handed to us.

Matic was a 40m signing, but his legs have gone. Telles was one of the best LB's in Europe apparently when we signed him. Donny is a 40m signing.

Fred was poor, but is a 50m signing and considered a first choice player. Maguire and Lindelof played and cost a combined 115m, and are considered our first choice. AWB was another 50m signing and is considered first choice, same as Martial.

Pogba cost 89m, and is supposedly one of the best players in the world.

Realistically in our staring 11 yesterday we were missing four players who we would consider first choice, Rashford, Bruno, McTominay and Shaw.

They were replaced in the staring line up by Pogba our record signing and world cup winner for Rashford.

Matic multiple EPL winner for McTominay.

Telles, top LB for Shaw.

Donny for Bruno.

From a money perspective we dropped players that cost us 70m and replaced them with players that cost us 185m.

The reality is our squad and even our first 11 just isn't as good as many people think.

While in an ideal world we would have played Shaw and Bruno yesterday, Rashford being injured obviously couldn't paly.

Yet that would have been Bruno's 10th start in 31 days. While it would have been Shaw's 9th. Both play in physically demanding positions or have an all action style.

You can't play your best players in every game during a 60 game season. It's just not possible. So you need to decide, do you drop them in league games and risk slipping back into 5th or 6th place? Or do you rest them in knock out games in the cups?

While its easy to blame the team selection for yesterday's result, that is totally disrespectful to a fantastic Leicester team than have probably played the best against us of any team this year. They were far more dangerous and well disciplined than Man City were a couple of weeks ago. If I'm honest with the form of our forwards I really don't think Bruno or Shaw would have made a huge difference in how the result played out yesterday.

I said earlier in the season that we should just play the kids and squad players in the cups and what will be will be. That the season was too congested and that we didn't have the quality in depth to go deep in multiple cup competitions and maintain fitness throughout a whole season. We looked tired yesterday, hopefully many of our players report injured for International duty and stay home instead as they clearly need a rest.

I will be concerned if they look as tired after the break as we could well see it impact our league form and position. While the Europa league won't be a push over or cakewalk that some people think it will.


4.) 22 Mar 2021
22 Mar 2021 10:41:33
Shappy - In my opinion Matic is completely finished and should never play for the Club again. Unfortunately he’s just far too slow and immobile for the modern game.

Fred and Mctominay have their obvious limitations but as a partnership often perform greater than the sum of their parts.

I was surprised by Ole’s team selection considering the forthcoming international break, quality of the opposition and the FA Cup representing a decent chance of silverware and stopping City’s relentless pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple!

I’m not convinced Ole really understands rotation? He just seems to throw 5 or 6 players into the team for the sake of giving them game. Pogba and VdB have been injured and haven’t played in well over a month. Telles hasn’t played much football and Matic is now clearly past his best and much too slow for the modern game. To throw them all in TOGETHER and expect them to perform against a very good Leicester team was always fraught with danger.

Surely rotation is about keeping the players fresh and involved without unduly weakening the team. This can easily be achieved with one or two changes for most games and making intelligent substitutions. Making 5 or 6 for the odd random game is always going to disrupt the rhythm of the team. Sometimes you can get away with it against weaker opposition but Leicester was always going to be a tough game even for a full strength team playing well. Even his substitutions yesterday were bizarre. To bring 4 players on at once had the feel of a testimonial game and it was always going to be difficult for so many players to change a game we had no control of!

Yesterday was a complete disaster lacking any coherent plan, leadership or direction. There are still far too many games where performances levels are simply not good enough to believe that any meaningful progress has been made.

Ed14 has said he wouldn’t swap Arsenal’s squad for ours and whilst some believe he was fishing I completely believe he was sincere in his assessment. Whilst I don’t entirely agree I can see where he’s coming from. I’m not convinced our results are sustainable and without some significant investment in the summer next season is a worry already. Pogba wants the leave and there are whispers VdB, Bailly and Cavani all want out. Ole has a goalkeeping situation to resolve with Matic and Mata clearly both too old.

I think Ole has been playing percentage, survival football, for most of the season, getting marginal victories by over protecting the CB’s and an over reliance on Rashford and Bruno without developing any discernible patterns of play and relying too heavily on individuals. I do wonder where this all ends.


5.) 22 Mar 2021
22 Mar 2021 10:46:12
A manager is damned if they do and damned if they don't and unfortunately this is one of those occasions where Olly has done what we said he needed to do (rotate some of the team to rest them) but I feel has done it in a game that most would say we should have gone for it with full team (chance of silver wear and with 2 weeks gap between games, yes some will be off on international duty) .

I actually thought we should have gone for a different formation in this game (352) with Fred and McTominy as an energetic base freeing up either Donny or Pogba to push forward. Leicester are so good with the ball (Tielmans goal is a case in point, lovely movement across the pitch, forward and back and then a quick wall pass round Matic and he is in) that I think we needed some extra energy that I don't think Matic/ Pogba bring.

Lets hope we now see an upside after this loss as we have seen throughout the season and we get a final push over the final games to remain in second and go for the Europa.


6.) 22 Mar 2021
22 Mar 2021 11:23:22
you can have players that run and show passion who are also good footballers.


7.) 22 Mar 2021
22 Mar 2021 13:30:26
You sure can bolger.


8.) 22 Mar 2021
22 Mar 2021 14:25:38
I'm sorry but what yesterday showed me more than anything else is how much better a manager Brendan Rodgers is compared to Ole. Let's not forget leicester were without Barnes, Maddison and Pereira they are 3 of their best players along with Vardy and they still beat us easily.

Ole just doesn't see danger we played very poorly 1st half and were extremely lucky to be level. That is when changes should have been made to get a grip of the game he just doesn't see what's infront of him and is totally inept and clueless.

If Pogba couldn't last a full game why start with him? Fred was the last player to be subbed off at 83 minutes when he was the worst player on the pitch? Atrocious decision making he should have been the 1st player off not the last. Just an all around disaster again yesterday from Ole.

What a golden opportunity to get to a final that was thrown away again. Top 4 might well be good enough with his bosses but winning trophies is what it's all about for the fans. We will beat granada and no doubt go out to Ajax or Roma in the semi's. I have no confidence at all and feel it will end the same old way in failure.