What happened in first half yesterday?

[Matt10]

Vietto was not as bad as everyone is making out

Hmmm, I cannot see what he does well. He tries to put himself about, but is so weak, it's totally ineffective. He looks skillfull but then I don't think he's ever gone past an opposing player with the ball since we signed him. He can't finish, and doesn't seem to be heavily involved in our goals when he plays. My patience has run out now, and I don't mean to be harsh but think he is just a waste of a shirt really.

On the other side of that coin, you, Ranieri and even Vietto, would never know that if he had not played yesterday.

Just because it wasn't what we wanted, this was another match where Ranieri needed answers. Answers of depth, answers of strategy and answers of who is up for the fight. The tough position was that it needed to be done, but ideally not this super important match. However, Hudds is a weak opponent compared to what we have upcoming, so if not then, when?

We also have Arsenal days away, better Ranieri got his answers about Vietto, Cairney and Sess now rather against Arsenal.

In addition, as I've said in another thread, we didn't just sit back for 45 minutes. We dropped back into our shell for 25 minutes, then from minute 25 to 38 we pressed high, before dropping back again right before half-time. That spurt of high press though gave Ranieri the answer he needed in that he could now high press the majority of the second half. Which is exactly what we did. Pair that up with Cairney dropping central, and Kamara inserted, we looked much better.

Ranieri kept Vietto in for as long as he could, but he's just off the mark, unfortunately. Had his chance to shoot but opted to pass. Reminds me a lot of Fonte in terms of not trying to stand out, just being very very safe.

[YankeeJim]

We've been playing a lot of games in a short period of time. I'm sure part of the plan was about keeping players fresh.  Also Sess still needs to be nurtered and protected to a certain extent.

Apart from that tho' - I'm with Statto: 'just crap'

If the lad finds out that you want to neuter him, he'll be off in January for sure.

[Lyle from Hangeland]

A deliberate strategy by Claudio to make sure we kept a clean sheet, conserved energy with a view to hitting them with sess and kamara in the second half.

Or were we just crap?

I think the former.

[Twig]

Chasing the ball for 45mins is hardly a brilliant strategy. In fact, that's what we did to the other teams last season. Made them chase the ball for 60mins and wore them down. And then we went for the kill.

The first half looked like we were trying to get a 0-0 draw in a relegation 6-pointer AT HOME! And that starting line-up... Cairney at RW??? Vietto over Sess???

And then there's the pre-match interview where Ranieri said Sess was lacking tackling strenght vs Schurrle and Vietto... 064.gif
Hopefully just a language thing because if he REALLY thinks that he's completely lost it.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts too.