Most of you will know I’m not exactly an optimist when it comes to Leicester. I’ve been saying ever since the title win that something has changed within the club - and what I mean by that is what’s going on behind the scenes.
The club during that title winning season were the envy of many with Peter Schmeichel proudly declaring Leicester as a model for how a football club should be won. The reality is we are in a very different situation now. Muddled thinking on transfers followed that title win, the people that delivered that success have pretty much all left the club and we look devoid of a sustainable strategy going into the new season for delivering what the owners see as a realistic top 7 finish.
For the first time possibly in his life, Ian Stringer is right. How has Leicester let a situation develop where we are going into the new season with an unbalanced squad, with too many midfielders, too many youngsters who can’t get a game, not enough centre backs and no real attempt at replacing a player who single handedly was involved in delivering 42% of our goals last season.
The squad looks a bit of a shambles with a manager the owners have backed even after a run of games last season that would make Pardew look good. Where is the strategy here? I mean beyond just wanting to be top 7. Why are we about to start the season with a squad too heavy with midfielders yet one that hasn’t addressed the mahrez problem or the defensive issues. Are we seriously going to play United with Benny in central defence?!!
I’ve said for a long time that once the title winning squad starts to disintegrate, so will Leicester. The owners don’t seem to understand what delivered that success in the first place and see no issue in placing their full trust in Jon Rudkin to deliver sustainable top 7 football - despite his complete lack of experience in doing so. Muddled thinking will lead to a culmination of problems that in my opinion could see us relegated this season. It’s as serious as that for me
Starting to get very worried
posted on 2/8/18
I’d be happier if we got thorgan hazard in. Janujaz is decent but never really stood out for Sunderland
posted on 2/8/18
I think it’s taking shape well. Positive view:
We did good early business on Evans, Maddison and Periera.
CP has trimmed his back room team to who he wants and with fewer people involved can communicate his plans more effectively.
Iheanacho continues his scoring run from the end of last season and goes into manu game scoring successively.
Maddison is looking a great addition and solves our number 10 role.
The youngsters are stepping up and looking good.
Musa looks to be off for c15 and at the same time we’re linked with 4-5 wingers suggesting we’re effectively managing the wage bill, 1 in 1 out.
There are plenty of rumours linking Slimani away.
Other than Evans we fairly unscathed on the injury front given it’s a World Cup year.
We’ve got 60m for Mahrez and have left a gap between getting a replacement to lesson the pressure on who we bring in.
We start the season with 2 right backs, the 25 man squad will be more balanced than previously.
CP may be playing mind games with whether Vary and Maguire and ready for Manu given his comments on Maguire.
No ones really talking about us - we’re back to being under foxes!
posted on 2/8/18
Oh the doom and gloom
Get your money on us to finish bottom of the league
Derbys record is in danger
At least if we don't go down it will be a bonus
and if Stringer spoke to Nige like that, he would have just not got another interview all season, and rightly so
Bring on the new season and some real football
In the meantime Rudders get your finger out and get some players in.l
UTF
posted on 2/8/18
I was getting worried. Not been able to log into my account for a few weeks?
I'm back anyway, I know you all missed me terribly
Admin - Any reason why I couldn't sign in?
posted on 2/8/18
Sounds like a ban to me
posted on 2/8/18
I know that BS tends to err on the side of: “glass half full”, but I have some sympathy with this position. I admit myself that, whilst I pretend to myself that I am a realist, I am also a natural worrier.
I said on the other thread that I can’t currently side with the optimists. The form under Puel was dreadful towards the end of last season and we shouldn’t dress that up. So I’m looking for signs that as Puel’s ethos and style becomes more settled that we won’t look so blunt and lacking in creativity.
I like all the signings so far in that they are all in positions that we’ve badly needed to fill. But the loss of Mahrez is a big one that won’t be easy to mitigate.
There haven’t really been any statements of real ambition from the club and I don’t see how currently we’ll be any better than we were last season. In fact there are some signs we could be worse without Mahrez.
The fact that we started the last season with Andy King so close to the first team displays a certain negligence in the transfer market. This year we could have Benny as a starter or first reserve. That’s not really good enough.
The realist in me suggests that we’ll only be successful if Puel’s style suddenly clicks and evolves to have an attacking edge. Another part of me thinks that this thread is a little premature and we could see 2 or 3 incomings and outgoings in the next few days that would make the world of difference.
So: “starting to get worried”? Well, yes, I’m afraid I can’t help it.
posted on 2/8/18
We could well see 2 or more incomings in the next few days. My concern is that they probably won't be starters due to fitness, and/or lack of knowing our tactics or set-up.
Why do we leave it so late if the owners want the ambition?
You need a fast start, hit the ground running if we want as many points to achieve our target in the league. Not get off to a slow one trying to catch up.
A smart club, on the ball, will succeed better surely?
Liverpool look to have done this?
That's them fooked then.
I think we should give Vardy & Maguire starts on Friday. Their fitness levels should be quite high still. If they struggle, pull them off at some point.
Rather start them both than bring them on if we need to chase the game. Get at Utd full pelt from the off.
It might be our best chance to rough 'em up?
posted on 2/8/18
comment by Black Starr - Keep an eye out for Uganda (U12353)
posted 1 hour, 21 minutes ago
Sounds like a ban to me
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Could be. I've not been banned before and couldn't understand why, if i was?
posted on 3/8/18
Stop being so argumentative Cheesy or you’ll get banned again.
Anyone who knew me during our title season will know I’m the most pessimistic optimist you will find. I always believe we can do the impossible, whilst also thinking it’s all going to go wrong.
I would say though that to remove emotion, we should look at the evidence.
Puel had us in relegation form in the second half of last season playing “his way”. His way seemed to be “keep the ball but never ever, under any circumstance, try to score a goal”.
Now, I’m not stupid enough to believe this is what he was trying to do, but it was certainly the outcome of the team we put out.
Then, in the last 3 games, it looked like in a bid to save his job he actually reverted to a higher press and got lots more out of the players at his disposal. Was this a sign of things to come, or a clever ploy to ward off any major concerns from the owners.
So, in a system that didn’t work for the players we had, we needed a summer to clear out those not fitting Puel’s style and bring in ones that did.
An attacking right back ✅
Someone to link the midfield and Vardy ✅
Someone to get on the ball in midfield and get us going forward ❌
Someone who can take the pressure off Albrighton as a wide forward if Gray and Diabate don’t step up ❌
Clear out the deadwood to achieve a positive and balanced squad ❌
Backroom staff reshuffle with no issues ❌❌❌
So, some hits and some misses. My biggest concern in all of that is not our defence. When Maguire, Evans and Morgan are all fit that is a good selection of centre backs.
No, my concern remains whether our midfield remains capable of supporting Vardy.
Based on the evidence as I see it, we are relying a lot on Maddison and Pereira being the key pieces of the jigsaw missing last year.
I still think we have some of the pieces from 3 different jigsaws at the minute. This, coupled with the reported exit of one of “Puel’s men” really doesn’t give me confidence for the season.
As always, I hope I’m wrong!
posted on 4/8/18
Mersey; a few counter points to what you have mentioned;
Someone to get on the ball in midfield and get us going forward ❌ - we have Adrien Silva who, on the face of it, would fit this bill. With a WC and pre-season behind him, I'm hopeful he'll step up this year.
Someone who can take the pressure off Albrighton as a wide forward if Gray and Diabate don’t step up ❌ - Looks like we're signing Ghezzal, who is a bit of a Mahrez-lite player from what I've heard. Could possibly do with another wide player as I think Diabate would benefit from a loan spell.
Clear out the deadwood to achieve a positive and balanced squad ❌ - We've sold Musa and aiming to get rid of Slimani, two of our biggest wage earners. Simpson could also be off soon, although he may still have had some use. Others on long contracts are harder to shift, especially when they are injury prone (why did we give Matty James a new 4 year contract again?)
Backroom staff reshuffle with no issues ❌❌❌ - apart from that Plancque guy, who we don't know for sure whether he left after Bonnevay came in, not sure why this is a problem?