Should Leicester City continue to attack against Arsenal?
Leicester City’s new attack-minded approach worked wonders against one team from north London but after a humbling at Old Trafford, should it continue against Arsenal?
Despite being lauded since the arrival of Kristiansen, Souttar and Tete, the balance of the side still worries me a bit - especially away from home.
We’ve allowed 45 shots on goal in total across our last two away games.
It’s been said that Arsenal look at home when they’re playing away, so should we treat this like a home game or look to tighten up a bit? In an ideal world, I’d prefer the defence to have a bit more protection. Even at home, I don’t think we can rely on the top teams looking quite as stale as Tottenham did recently.
How we achieve that balance though is another thing altogether. We don’t really seem to have the kind of in-form, defensively-minded central midfielders you’d want to slot in front of the centre-backs when you’re playing two wingers who can’t defend.
In short - and I realise the fanbase is still split 50/50 between this being a realistic option and something from a fantasy world - we may need a bit of a Rodgers tactical masterclass where he thinks outside the box and comes up with a genius solution.
David Bevan
Technically, we should probably play safer but I just don't think we've got that in us, so I'm all for the attack and intensity.
You've got to play to your strengths and defending still isn't ours. It's improved, but this game isn't one we need to be trying to prove that improvement by playing safe. I also think it'd need a formation change which I'm not keen on.
Arsenal have beaten most teams this season, most of whom will have sat back. Saturday is another free hit - it's not what Brendan is going to do, but going for it would really get the crowd more up for it.
I’m fully expecting us to be beaten, so it may as well be exciting.
Becky Taylor
I want to say no to this - we must tighten up defensively. But I'm not sure we can?
If we continue to allow 20-odd attempts at goal per match for the opposition, as we have done for a lot of the season, there will be more games like Sunday where we're well beaten than games like away at Aston Villa where we rode our luck.
To compound the above, we've also got a goalkeeper that will only make 'regulation' saves - the sort where the commentator would say "it's a good save but one you'd expect the keeper to make". Ward simply won't be saving ones like De Gea did on Sunday.
While some will argue that he's not cost us goals recently, it's those saves that De Gea made on Sunday and ones like the Schmeichel save from Mount in the cup final that win you games, and Ward's shown no evidence of being able to do that.
However, I just don't think we can flip a switch and tighten up. Let's not get carried away, we're not gung-ho offensively like Keegan's Newcastle but we're certainly better going forward than defending.
It's often said that Brendan is an "elite-level" manager but in my view, while that may be true in an attacking sense, I don't feel it is the case defensively. Despite having some truly amazing defenders over the years, you could argue that at no time during his tenure here have we been solid or consistent defensively.
Liverpool fans had similar grumbles about his time there too. A specialist defensive coach (a real specialist, not a wonderful human being!) would be most welcome if Brendan stays beyond the summer.
To conclude, we have to find a balance (we miss 2016-2020 Ndidi so much!) to make sure we stay up.
Iain Wright
We have to continue to play on the front foot like we have done the past few weeks as that is when we're at our best.
We were fantastic at Villa Park and against Tottenham, and the better side in the first half at Old Trafford, especially now we've got a more balanced side with Barnes, Maddison and Tete all in the team behind a striker.
Arsenal haven't been in the best run of form recently and were fortunate to get three points against Aston Villa, so hopefully we start quickly and take the game to them.
Jordan Halford
Continue to attack - let's try and get some more confidence into our front line.
I felt prior to the Spurs game that three points from the next three games was a target. We've achieved that already, so the Arsenal and Man Utd games are effectively free hits.
We’ve scored eight in the last three games, and could have scored a couple at Old Trafford had it not been for some De Gea wonder saves.
Play how we've been playing, and there's every reason to think we could get something against Arsenal too.
Ryan Hubbard
