It should just be faced up to by most Leicester fans that you aren't hood enough to challenge more established teams.

You had a fantastic year last season, and it was great, bit now you have to get used to returning to standard midtable football.

Too early to say anything concrete, IF we beat Burnley next week we'll only be one point behind last season and that didn't turn out too bad did it!

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

comment by Lubo - Michalik for Manager! (U14008)
posted 9 minutes ago
It should just be faced up to by most Leicester fans that you aren't hood enough to challenge more established teams.

You had a fantastic year last season, and it was great, bit now you have to get used to returning to standard midtable football.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think the point is, we shouldn't really have to return back to where we were. I'm not saying we expected to fight for the title, but the owners are very ambitious and want to push to be a top 6 club.

Why can't we achieve this over time? We have just spent £30m on one of the best strikers in Europe,most we clearly don't have intentions of returning to being a bottom half prem club.

I think the problem is that we haven't strengthened in the right areas. Make no mistake, the owners will not accept gong back to where we were

comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 9 minutes ago
Too early to say anything concrete, IF we beat Burnley next week we'll only be one point behind last season and that didn't turn out too bad did it!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a big IF given the performance against Hull (similar opponent) and yesterday's performance. It's performances, not points that I'm most concerned with.

There's no comparison performance wise to the way we started last season. As a result, we have lost twice already - it took us until Boxing Day to do the same last tear. Chalk and cheese

comment by Blackstarr (U12353)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 9 minutes ago
Too early to say anything concrete, IF we beat Burnley next week we'll only be one point behind last season and that didn't turn out too bad did it!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a big IF given the performance against Hull (similar opponent) and yesterday's performance. It's performances, not points that I'm most concerned with.

There's no comparison performance wise to the way we started last season. As a result, we have lost twice already - it took us until Boxing Day to do the same last tear. Chalk and cheese
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes and last season you were desperately worried about the defence at this point, this season it's the midfield, we will get better and settle down, just give it time.

One big question, if Simpson is out for a while, who is a natural right back in the squad?

comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Blackstarr (U12353)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 9 minutes ago
Too early to say anything concrete, IF we beat Burnley next week we'll only be one point behind last season and that didn't turn out too bad did it!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a big IF given the performance against Hull (similar opponent) and yesterday's performance. It's performances, not points that I'm most concerned with.

There's no comparison performance wise to the way we started last season. As a result, we have lost twice already - it took us until Boxing Day to do the same last tear. Chalk and cheese
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes and last season you were desperately worried about the defence at this point, this season it's the midfield, we will get better and settle down, just give it time.

One big question, if Simpson is out for a while, who is a natural right back in the squad?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I was desperately worried about the defence at the START of last season, let's get it right. As was Claudio. And for good reason which is why he changed it, but he had Kante to bring in....so it was the midfield, as well as changing the full backs, that was key.

Now we are shipping goals (7 in our opening 4 games) and not really creating the chances we were last season. Trust me, Ranieri will be just as worried.

It won't just settle down and get better without something changing

BS, I don't often post / reply, though I read with interest on a fairly regular basis. This is not hindsight but out of the 3, Kante, Mahrez and Vardy, ( all targeted in the summer), Kante was the one I felt we could least cope with leaving, his work rate for the team must have been so inspirational to others and gave the feeling of playing with an extra man on the park.
Indeed, I totally agree, a defensive midfielder was essential, the club, I dare say, were fully aware, but suitable players were either not available or went else where.
We have in my opinion a relatively slow back 4 and Kante provided the protection that no one else is able to do.
It will be interesting to see how Claudio gets us back up and running, this is a big test for our manager to deal with.

I don't think it's time to panic yet.

There have been worrying signs but positive ones too. We easily matched Arsenal and fairly comfortably dispatched Swansea.

Aside from those games, we've had two poor performances and they should lead Ranieri to tweak in order to et us being more creative, and get us more solid.

I don't think Kante is the sole reason for our troubles. As amazing as he was, he wasn't good enough to break 10 other players. But we are clearly not protecting the back 4 as well as when he played. Amarty had a great game against Seansea, and a poor game against Liverpool. Mendy looks steady away.

Also, we tried to sign a defensive midfielder and defender. We just couldn't get the deals over the line. So whilst we can bemoan therapy they didn't happen, that was not all in the clubs control.

I'm still not as concerned by Kante missing as some, but we do need to find a new way of playing to get DD and Vardy more space, or make us more solid. Teams have found ways of stopping us.

We need a new way of playing if plan A doesn't work. We haven't found it yet.

Definitely think it's time to try an alternative to 4-4-2, especially against the better teams who can get at our midfield. Amarty did look lost at times against Liverpool and Firmino got passed him with ease at times which was disappointing considering his decent performance against Swansea, we definitely needed an extra body in midfield but also a striker in my opinion. However I think we left it too late to get both?

I think we have to remember how bad Swansea were. That's not to undermine a good Leicester display, but that pushed up high and let us do what we love doing, pinging balls over the top to Vardy and Mahrez.

As bad as they were, they could well have nicked a point against us. In the Arsenal game, both sides looked well short of match fitness.

Kante gave us the energy across the midfield. He could smell the danger and put the fires out before they started. It's no co-incidence that since he's left we look wide open defensively and he was doing a brilliant job of protecting Huth and Morgan. At the end of the day we have lost a world class DM and not signed anyone for that position.

So where Arsenal that bad BS if we had not lost to Hull if would of been a good start to the season.
We have to come to terms with the lose of Kante rebooting the system this Season and teams know us.

Lets give another few games get to 10 games and lets see where we are.

Yeah agreed Nev. I was at the Arsenal game and by their standards they were dreadful. Both sides were well short of fitness.

While he may have alleviated the problems, I don't think Kante would have changed the result yesterday - attacking wise, Liverpool were fluid and their movement was excellent. It was like trying to swat a swarm of bees. However, as one of the commentators yesterday pointed out, we look focussed on what we're going to do with the ball and have forgotten about defending as a team.

We cannot replace Kante, not like-for-like anyway. He is arguably the best in the world at what he does, and I don't think it hyperbole for me to state that. So we're going to have to make sure that the assistance for the midfield comes from elsewhere, whether that be a striker dropping deeper, the wide midfielders tucking in, or indeed a change in formation for some games. As was also pointed out yesterday, Liverpool were having too much success straight through the middle of the park.

The Brugge match is now a big concern, given how bad we've been away from home over the season and pre-season thus far. I would go Hernandez for Simpson, King for Okazaki and possibly Gray for Albrighton, then go 4-5-1. Away matches in Europe are always tough, so anything we can get out of the match would be great. Let's set out our stall, play on the counter at least until half time, and if it ends 0-0 then so be it.

Good point Dunge. But I wouldn't change the team (with Hernandez in).

We've looked clueless in midfield without Okazaki so I'd keep him in but play 4-5-1. We've also lacked any cohesion and been defensively frail without Albrighton.

These players will ultimately step aside but I'm not sure Weds is the right time.

I like the look of Hernandez but he does need time to adjust and learn the defensive discipline needed to play our system. His throws are amazing!

Big question is, will Slimani come in?

I'm pretty sure Kante would of been closer to Firmino than Amarty was yesterday. We were rarely cut open like that last season im afraid to say.

So far I've thought Hernandez looks very suspect, Right back is suddenly a concern as well as other positions.

Again - why didn't we strengthen in these areas? We have been crying out for another right back - bonkers to let RDL go and bring no one else in.

Ranieri can't be happy with his options (or lack of them) deep down. If Huth gets injured for a long period of time who is coming in? It's just really poor planning - we should have had a number of defensive targets, like we had attacking ones

Im not having a go at Rudkim at all who I know works very hard, but we have failed to sign ALOT of players. I know other clubs do, but we have been involved in some well publicised transfers that have not come through. Maybe we really do need someone with some real clout as a DoF to really sell the vision

With Simpson injured i thing three at the back with Hernandez. He wasn't the issue all the back four looked slow.
Rudkin can't be blamed if players don't want to come toi Leicester we must remember our location etc despite wining the Prem means a lot of players wont want to come here whatever.

I wonder how Albrighton would cope at right back? Either way, we have Hernandez, Amartey or even Wasilewski who could play there. They must have felt they had enough potential cover there to let RDL go.

comment by Nevsaysagoal2city (U5194)
posted 21 minutes ago
With Simpson injured i thing three at the back with Hernandez. He wasn't the issue all the back four looked slow.
Rudkin can't be blamed if players don't want to come toi Leicester we must remember our location etc despite wining the Prem means a lot of players wont want to come here whatever.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't be daft Nev. We wouldn't have been able to sign Slimani 12 months ago - Ranieri said that himself. We have grown enormously in profile and living 2 hours from London is hardly a show stopper. We play CL football in the worlds richest league. Who exactly couldn't we attract - Michael Keane? Troy Deeney?

I'm not blaming Rudkin, but you can't seriously make a case that we couldn't have signed quality strength in depth in defence because we live a couple of hours up the M1. We've just won the league

comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 24 minutes ago
I wonder how Albrighton would cope at right back? Either way, we have Hernandez, Amartey or even Wasilewski who could play there. They must have felt they had enough potential cover there to let RDL go.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
None of those players are actually RBs. It's bizarre thinking....

comment by Blackstarr (U12353)
posted 4 seconds ago
comment by Nevsaysagoal2city (U5194)
posted 21 minutes ago
With Simpson injured i thing three at the back with Hernandez. He wasn't the issue all the back four looked slow.
Rudkin can't be blamed if players don't want to come toi Leicester we must remember our location etc despite wining the Prem means a lot of players wont want to come here whatever.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't be daft Nev. We wouldn't have been able to sign Slimani 12 months ago - Ranieri said that himself. We have grown enormously in profile and living 2 hours from London is hardly a show stopper. We play CL football in the worlds richest league. Who exactly couldn't we attract - Michael Keane? Troy Deeney?

I'm not blaming Rudkin, but you can't seriously make a case that we couldn't have signed quality strength in depth in defence because we live a couple of hours up the M1. We've just won the league
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We did but there is still an element of truth in what Nev says, it's part of the equation similar to the fact we only lost Kante over the summer, apart from Arsenal for Vardy ( a steal at his release clause fee ) there wasn't really any real interest in our players, we are still an unfashionable Club despite winning the League.

comment by Blackstarr (U12353)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 24 minutes ago
I wonder how Albrighton would cope at right back? Either way, we have Hernandez, Amartey or even Wasilewski who could play there. They must have felt they had enough potential cover there to let RDL go.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
None of those players are actually RBs. It's bizarre thinking....
----------------------------------------------------------------------
That was my thinking, they can play theer but aren't natural Right backs, time for 352 then.

If Okazaki plays, would someone please tell him to stop falling over. If he spent as much time thinking about his next pass as he does which ar*e cheek to fall on we might actually create a few more openings.