I’m laughing to myself.
Why? Because whatever I think now is invariably wrong.
Last time out, I predicted we’d beat Brighton quite straightfowardly as we were away and our guests were poor.
I did have the sense to moderate things though and said that anything could happen.
Except nothing happened really, did it? as we didn’t really show up at all.
So looking at things logically, we face Leicester at home. That’s the first reason we’ll lose.
And then there’s the fact that Leicester are one of the most incisive sides in the league. If they get chances, they’ll score. And they’ll probably get plenty of chances.
So it will be a stern test for our defence, which I’ll find particularly interesting.
I’ve consistently stated my dislike for Mings, but I keep coming back to our defensive record which is actually very good. Those two things are not compatible and either the defence gets severely caught out or I have to accept that Mings must be better than I think he is. We’ll no doubt see.
Squad news and the big one for us is that Cash will probably be out for “3 to 4 weeks” after being injured.
Given the club’s previous predictions regarding injuries, I’ll take that to be six or seven weeks then.
Which brings us nicely on to Wesley, who’s close to fitness, but not close enough for the squad.
Nothing else has changed.
As for Leicester, they’re in pretty good shape too, with Ricardo Pereira and Timothy Castagne both being available, although it’s doubtful they’ll start.
It’s guessing game time then and I’m still laughing.
Cash being out is a big blow. Guilbert going out on loan doesn’t look so clever now, but it’s obvious Smith dislikes or just doesn’t rate him, so Elmo will come in. That’s not a problem in the slightest for me, as he does have a very decent cross in his toolkit and I know many of us would like more of our play to come down the right, to balance our game up.
Unfortunately, Elmo doesn’t offer the same energy, which for me means he’ll need more help, which in turn means Traore is less likely to play. I think I’d prefer to see Trezeguet come in for his workrate. The trouble is there, as much as I rate him and thought he’s one of our best goalscorers, he’s gone on to also prove me totally wrong and be totally useless in front of goal.
And then there’s Barkley. Will Smith drop him for Sanson? It’s easy to call for it, but the manager will surely be aware that this will be a tough game for a newcomer to come into?
I personally would tell Barkley I’m giving him the first half and if he doesn’t perform, he’ll be taken off.
I’ll bet many don’t agree with that, but it’s obvious there’s a “must play” clause or Smith just doesn’t want to drop him. Hence I’m just being realistic as to how Smith might be thinking.
It’s all pretty academic though, isn’t it?
If we play as poorly as we have done in the last few games, I think we’re onto a hiding.
Something like 4-1, as we play a team that shows up our performances for what they have really been.
But as we’ve seen over many a game this season, things won’t pan out as I think they will.
I expect us to improve. It’s difficult to see how we couldn’t, in my opinion.
But I still expect us to lose even so.
I’m going for a 2-1 defeat.
Hopefully my generally horrendous prediction run continues and I’m wrong again.
UTV!
Game over
They haven’t turned up, as feared. It’ll be at least 5…
Forget signing Ross this summer. Would have been good in hindsight to have got a marquee signing in January to lift the team.
No such luck…
We’ve been much better since their second goal. What wait so late???
Midfield non-existent again.
If there was a game made for Nakamba…..
Exactly, Badger. Nakamba should’ve come in for Barkley to offer more protection against their quality. That would’ve given McGinn a bit more licence to go forward; he’s as good if not better that Barkley in the final third.
Imo if we want to get back In to this we need to go 2 upfront. Ollie wins a surprising amount of headers but play Davis up there for the headers and ollie running on. Take off traore and Barkley for Davis and Trez and play 442.
Smith made a severe error in ‘deleting’ the Brighton game, without a debrief, apparently. We can’t create a chance, but it’s not due to Grealish missing. It was the same against Brighton. That match should have been analysed as to why Brighton’s keeper had nothing to do for 90 minutes. The same is happening today, so there’ serious work to do on the training ground. A good goalkeeper can’t save you against a team like Leicester.
There’s a danger our season could tail-off and we finish in bottom-half.
Barkley is not even worth 10 million – squad player, as he was at Chelsea. Give me Connor, any day.
I felt this game needed Nakamba and Trezeguet instead of Barkley and Traore. My opinion after the first half hasn’t changed. Barkley is a luxury midfielder and is anonymous when Leicester break. At 2-0 down we will have to play into Leicester’s hands if we try and push forward.
Rodgers is a great manager and we are being outclassed unfortunately. A sobering reminder that we are no where near being a European challenging team yet.
Traore, get in! 2-1
Why is McFadden whilst still up and walking allowed to stop play for treatment? Why isn’t he off the pitch ffs?????
Come on Villa! Poor first 25 minutes but this is much better!!!!
Ramsey on for Barkley 75th minute.
Right or wrong, this predictability is going to count against Smith further down the line, imo.
Sanson on for Luiz.
We look better.
Far too many negative vibes coming off Barkley, that can be infectious. Send him back to Chelsea if possible and get Sanson – our player – up to speed.
I like the fact players have come on for us and shown immediate fight.
Can I just add I really don’t like Brendon Rogers.
What’s happened to the squash-buckling, goal-scoring McGinn? Is it the role he’s being asked to play? Or has he gone for good. We could do with him back.
Martinez was looking for guidance in what to do then and Smith wasn’t even watching. Jeez.
1-2 it is then 🙁
After the Arsenal game, I said we should be aiming for 4th. Since then, I’ll take top 10. Then keep building in the summer, where I can see a ‘marquee’ center-forward coming in.
We improved second half although Leicester seemed content to see the game out. I do like Ramsey and he immediately improved our movement in the middle. A shame really that Smith’s reluctance to change things quickly is proving his Achilles heel. There is no shame in bringing a substitute on in the first half if it looks like we are being overrun.
Apart from the first 30 minutes, we weren’t bad at all. In the beginning we looked like a team playing in their socks with Jack missing, but then we got into it and had a lot of self belief. It could have been 2-2 easily.
In a way it was a great lesson. We far from embarrassed ourselves. Just a shame the subs weren’t 20 minutes earlier. Not angry at all tonight.
Nice to see Citeh have scored nice and early!!!!