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PL: Leicester City v Arsenal | Sunday, February 28 | KO: 12:00 UTC | BT Sport

Match Prediction


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    58
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Mrs Bergkamp

Double Dusted
Dusted 🔻
The start was horrendous but our comeback was very measured, structured and deliberate. I thought the team that started was a good shout by Arteta although I hoped Partey would start. Xhaka’s error shows he still struggles when pressed and he was overly safe thereafter until Partey came on. Mari was getting a a lot of blame but he had to wait for Luiz to get in to position and Elneny failed to track back quick enough and I'm not sure he smelled the danger. After that, we had a lot of control with nothing to show for it until Luiz scored with his clever and brave header. Pepe was very good today and it was his movement and involvement that got us all three goals. Willian also had a good game and actually ran fast. Keown said he's looked glum and in mourning for Chelsea so hopefully he's over that now. In essence, there were no real passengers and it showed. We still need someone to partner Partey as the centre midfield is an ongoing issue and has been for ages. 13-8 tackles won doesn't sound like much difference but the top three tacklers and interceptors were also Leicester players. Leno also made more saves than Schmeichel If we can sort this out, it will make a massive difference. I'm happy with the result considering we've only won one game after an EL match. Now let's hope ESR's injury is minor and we thrash Burnley.
 

dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
Yeah but it would be the wrong call tbh. Xhaka clearly operates better with a better partner at CM. He gets to quietly do his job without having the responsibility to create/carry the ball.

I do think Xhaka would thrive with some rotation and competition, bringing in a lower quality midfielder in the summer would mean that he doesnt really get that. I think we should be aiming for at least a potential starter with a different skillset to Xhaka (Ceballos for example is too similar to him). But yeah as you say it probably does hinge on if we get European football next season. With a much emptier schedule maybe they won't see a good CM as a priority in this climate.

Yeah, if we're not in even EL next season it's not really a case of what we want, it's a case of what we can do. I mean you can still buy a new midfielder, we'll have to do that anyway, it just might not be a Partey-type 45-50m midfielder.
 

Red London

Anti-Simp Culture
Trusted ⭐
Yeah, if we're not in even EL next season it's not really a case of what we want, it's a case of what we can do. I mean you can still buy a new midfielder, we'll have to do that anyway, it just might not be a Partey-type 45-50m midfielder.
I was hoping for a well performing player from a top league (PL, La Liga), someone in the 30-35m zone who has a good age profile.

I just don't want a player who we know will be a back up even before he comes, its just stupid but we repeatedly do it and bloat our squad with average players.
 

Dutch D

Well-Known Member & FPL Champion 19/20
The start was horrendous but our comeback was very measured, structured and deliberate. I thought the team that started was a good shout by Arteta although I hoped Partey would start. Xhaka’s error shows he still struggles when pressed and he was overly safe thereafter until Partey came on. Mari was getting a a lot of blame but he had to wait for Luiz to get in to position and Elneny failed to track back quick enough and I'm not sure he smelled the danger. After that, we had a lot of control with nothing to show for it until Luiz scored with his clever and brave header. Pepe was very good today and it was his movement and involvement that got us all three goals. Willian also had a good game and actually ran fast. Keown said he's looked glum and in mourning for Chelsea so hopefully he's over that now. In essence, there were no real passengers and it showed.
I could only watch the final 30 minutes and I don't want to be negative, but Cedric looked dreadful.
 

Mrs Bergkamp

Double Dusted
Dusted 🔻
I could only watch the final 30 minutes and I don't want to be negative, but Cedric looked dreadful.
Cedric is not the best but he did a decent job today. He made a run which drew players away to help Pepe get our third goal. He overlapped, put him some decent crosses and was in the box and should actually have got a shot on target. He, like Bellerin doesn't have the physical tools to get up and down regularly but no complaints from me today.
 

Legend14

Established Member
Few very poor passes, crosses, first touches that killed some attacks from the right hand side and once or twice had the team caught out of position.
His job was to protect Pepe, since Pepe is the better attacker. Its not a wonder that Pepe had a man of the match performance when we finally put a defender behind him.
 

Pop Tart

Established Member
So does this mean that our squad is not crap like some Arteta fans would have us believe?
In some cases it is arteta style of play and negativity that have cost us at times as well as us gifting teams easy goals like today or benfica etc. This squad should be to 6 at least imo.
 

Melquiades

Active Member
Really solid performance given the players that were rested. Not gonna lie, I didn't exactly have faith when I saw Willian was starting with no Saka.

Early goals have to stop happening. In the last month alone - 3nd minute against Southampton, 2nd minute against Villa, 2nd minute against City, 6th minute today. We've salvaged wins in two of those games but it's tough to get results when you're continually falling behind early.

Hopefully it isn't a fluke that leads to more trust and more terrible performances, but Willian actually looked something like the player he is supposed to be today. Even actually ran by some players a few times.

Pepe absolutely wore out their teenage LB. Played well but that was a really good matchup for him as well.

Pablo Mari played the first goal horribly but was a rock from that point on. Seems like whichever 2 of the 4 CBs are playing, we get similar quality results.

Tierney played well but needs to stop the diving BS. Embarrassing for such a tough player.

Outside of some EL league games against Rapid Vienna-type teams, that was Elneny's most positive performance with the ball at his feet this season. Actually progressed the play well, while delivering his usual solid defensive performance. Nice improvement.

Xhaka did poorly on the 1-0 goal but was a rock from that point forward.

Losing ESR is a blow but we really didn't miss a beat with Ødegaard.
 

Let's play Aubamawang

Well-Known Member
Xhaka has been our best player with Saka over the last months.
He's not only been solid, but intelligent and what most people dont see is his passing speed, that weight of pass, where hes probably the best in the League, that gives a Player receiving his pass an extra tenth or two to attack from a slightly better Position at Times.
I felt he was equally good in the first half vs City.
Willian was motm with Pepe. Completely different approaches. Willian is smart and looks not to make mistakes, strikes twice for good assists while Pepe is constantly on the run, freed up with positioning and tactics for 1on1s and he freaked out that Thomas kid blatantly. Also hes winning like every header and hes our only player bar Laca that can do smth with Lenos Long service . if the hate wasnt so big, people would realise that we won this game bc of those 3.
Laca held the ball up well and played his 1-2s like its his strength as well today.
I think we should keep him for two more seasons, it wont be hard to prolongue that contract either.

We have a beautiful big squad now, with different attacking options.
Absolutely need EL next season.
I would trade giving up on any chance for CL if it meant getting EL for sure next season.

Martinelli Willock wont play any games if we dont get Europe and we'd have a way to big squad in other Positions as well.
To be fair, 6th place doesn't even guarantee EL next season. Could be stuck in the new wannabe EL with something daft like £5mil prize money for winning and having to travel to Cyprus, Kazakhstan and Bosnia...
 

Arson Finger

Active Member
I think Arsenal's players were mad that Evans went down with a fake head injury in the first half, so my theory is that is why Luiz and Tierney went down with fake head injuries in the second half.

Also, I am not going to bash Mari for following Vardy's run into our area. If Mari had come out to close down the man with the ball, he would have just passed to Vardy, who would have been wide open near the goal. El Neny should have closed down Tielemans, and/or Luiz should have told Mari he was taking Vardy.
 

Moah

Well-Known Member
Great team display. I never thought our team could play this coherently without Saka but its surprising to see what minor changes bring.
 

andeoch1

Active Member

Country: USA
The start was horrendous but our comeback was very measured, structured and deliberate. I thought the team that started was a good shout by Arteta although I hoped Partey would start. Xhaka’s error shows he still struggles when pressed and he was overly safe thereafter until Partey came on. Mari was getting a a lot of blame but he had to wait for Luiz to get in to position and Elneny failed to track back quick enough and I'm not sure he smelled the danger. After that, we had a lot of control with nothing to show for it until Luiz scored with his clever and brave header. Pepe was very good today and it was his movement and involvement that got us all three goals. Willian also had a good game and actually ran fast. Keown said he's looked glum and in mourning for Chelsea so hopefully he's over that now. In essence, there were no real passengers and it showed. We still need someone to partner Partey as the centre midfield is an ongoing issue and has been for ages. 13-8 tackles won doesn't sound like much difference but the top three tacklers and interceptors were also Leicester players. Leno also made more saves than Schmeichel If we can sort this out, it will make a massive difference. I'm happy with the result considering we've only won one game after an EL match. Now let's hope ESR's injury is minor and we thrash Burnley.

leno may have made more saves than Schmikel but alit if those were long distance speculative shots which didn’t cause Leno much problem
 

Melquiades

Active Member
leno may have made more saves than Schmikel but alit if those were long distance speculative shots which didn’t cause Leno much problem

I wonder if some of those were part of a plan by Leicester given the brutal sunlight Leno was looking into in the first half.
 
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