Chris Mepham

The ex-pro commentator on the channel I watched the game on kept complimenting Mepham and saying how reliable he was. He is athletic, he put in a good few last ditch tackles and I think he will be learning so much from Cookie. I think we bought a great player for the future and he has started very well. Biggest thing going for him is that he always seems to give 100% and obviously cares deeply when we concede. I think the education he is getting alongside Cookie will bring him along in leaps and bounds. He is still learning and improving, I'm very happy with him and especially with his attitude.
 
Neil Dawson said:
I think Mepham is ready to play against certain teams where the battle is more aerial and physical or where the forwards don’t have searing pace. He was good against Sheff U and Forest Green.

When people get behind him he doesn’t have the five to ten yard burst you need. He does have it over long range. This has been seen in a number of fixtures last season before he was dropped but notably against City in the last game.

That was the worry. Leicester’s analysts would have been all over this knowing Vardy plays against the right sides centre half. To expose Mepham to this was madness (not hindsight I wrote it before the game) and the Vardy in behind to score was nailed on unless he forgot his shooting boots which unfortunately he hadn’t.

Vardy has never got in behind to score before against us we have always played him well. Penalty and header if my memory serves me correctly.

It should have been Ake and Cook with Rico or Stacey in at full back.
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"Leicester’s analysts would have been all over this knowing Vardy plays against the right sides centre half. To expose Mepham to this was madness (not hindsight I wrote it before the game) and the Vardy in behind to score was nailed on"

what you've failed to consider is that exposing mepham to vardy was probably a deliberate tactic if cook's got a dodgy groin

only eh knows the state of cook's fitness and he might have specifically chosen mepham ahead of cook for the right sided CB position

vardy was clearly better than him on the day, but who's to say that cook wouldn't have been even worse on that side at half pace?
 
'what you've failed to consider is that exposing mepham to vardy was probably a deliberate tactic if cook's got a dodgy groin'

A deliberate tactic to achieve what?
 
Ake had a superb game against Vardy at DC last season, controlling him throughout. It was high risk on Saturday to push Ake to FB, leaving a wobbly CB partnership to deal with the striker. But what was Eddie to do? Kelly out, Daniels out, Rico looking flaky. So he played Mepham and hoped for the best .... it didn’t work.

We have to hope Kelly’s fit soon. We may also need a stronger, more resilient CB - someone to marshal the defence and show leadership - often lacking in the present line-up (key issue for January window). Meanwhile, if S Cook has to take a break to get over the groin problem we could be badly exposed.
 
langham said:
Ake had a superb game against Vardy at DC last season, controlling him throughout. It was high risk on Saturday to push Ake to FB, leaving a wobbly CB partnership to deal with the striker. But what was Eddie to do? Kelly out, Daniels out, Rico looking flaky. So he played Mepham and hoped for the best .... it didn’t work.

We have to hope Kelly’s fit soon. We may also need a stronger, more resilient CB - someone to marshal the defence and show leadership - often lacking in the present line-up (key issue for January window). Meanwhile, if S Cook has to take a break to get over the groin problem we could be badly exposed.
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"We may also need a stronger, more resilient CB - someone to marshal the defence and show leadership". That chap Mings at Aston Villa looks to fit the bill. Maybe we should buy him ?
 
fritter said:
'what you've failed to consider is that exposing mepham to vardy was probably a deliberate tactic if cook's got a dodgy groin'

A deliberate tactic to achieve what?
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prevent cook, struggling with a groin injury, from getting into a one on one footrace with vardy
 
NWCherries98 said:
I agree that our starting CB pairing should be Ake and Cook. However, I thought that Mepham had a better game overall than Cook on Saturday. Cook is looking very lethargic atm, probably due to the injury he's been playing through.

Certainly don't want to see Ake playing LB ever again; it's not his fault that he doesn't play well there, its not a position he plays anymore. Play Rico there or sell him, no point messing him about if he doesn't rate him anymore.
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Agree regarding Mepham.....unfortunate mistake for the third goal but otherwise the pick of our defenders on Saturday.... needs games if he is to progress even if its at the expense of Cookie....
 
New CB ... “instead of Ake”? No - possibly instead of Steve Cook if this long-term injury continues. Look at the Leicester highlights and see Cook trying to get back for the first Vardy goal ... surely he’s not fully fit and may need further treatment and rehab.

Also, see the S Cook interview on COWS. That’s a damning assessment of the performance, in which he says his team-mates weren’t at it. Serious, coming from the captain of a club in which “Together, anything is possible.” That is worrying.
 
Topfarrier said:
Agree regarding Mepham.....unfortunate mistake for the third goal but otherwise the pick of our defenders on Saturday.... needs games if he is to progress even if its at the expense of Cookie....
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He cost us the first and third goal. I’m sorry but you can’t be the pick of the defence with that record in my opinion. He played alright inbetween but a defenders job is to stop goals.
 
Topfarrier said:
Agree regarding Mepham.....unfortunate mistake for the third goal but otherwise the pick of our defenders on Saturday.... needs games if he is to progress even if its at the expense of Cookie....
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How can he be the pick of our defenders when he cost us two goals with defending that it would be generous to call schoolboy? His defending for the first goal was quite simply unacceptable whether he is the finished article or not. The third wasn’t much better either. Think he has potential but if we play him he will continue to cost us goals because he simply isn’t up to it at the moment. Poor defending for 2 goals vs Man City, cost us another 2 vs Leicester, very lucky not to cost us one in the first 30 seconds of the Sheff United game. It amazes me that anyone could have watched these first few games and still want him in the team. Our best defensive performance this season came the only time he didn’t make the pitch.
 
Both Cook and Mepham had individual moments where they each potentially saved a goal with an intervention, but as a unit together they were awful, and also each had individual moments where they were directly culpable. Not helped at all by the wider shape of the team which set them up to fail.
 
He’s a good footballer, but I do worry about his lack of pace. I can’t imagine McGoldrick will get in behind many centre backs this season, but he did it with ease against Mepham. Vardy will do it to many, so not quite so concerning, but it was still rather easy.

Positioning etc can be, to a certain extent, taught. Pace you either have or you don’t. You do worry as to how much it’s going to hold Mepham back over the course of his career.
 
Given this thread, it does make us look a bit silly that we sold an apparently rather good CB just this summer, that has earned an England call-up... Albeit for a very good price, that enabled us to spend elsewhere...
 
Druss_the_Legend said:
Why are you scapegoating Mepham? Why have you not listed all the other bad players in the team? Why only mention one player?!?!
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Obviously scapegoating one player doesn’t wash for you anymore then Druss.

Jordan Ibe will be really relieved to hear this news. A new era. Wipe the slate clean. From now on people... Druss will not be focusing in on one player and looking at the whole team.

Can’t wait!
 
Listening to the post match interviews, with Eddie, Cookie and Callum, I can't remember who said what but they mention : we defend as a team, we knew how they play up to Vardy, we worked on drills to prevent it, some people switched off, didn't do their job. I take that to mean, when the ball fell to Chirwell, our nearest player should have closed him down/ tactical foul, whatever it took to stop him lining up a 50 yard pass to Vardy.
Agree about Ake, we played without our best Centre half, to accommodate an adequate Left back, Ake and his replacement Chris Mepham. Eddie must have thought it a worthwhile gamble, unfortunately it didn't pay off.
 
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