Leicester City Discussion

[Spike]

Just now, Stan said:

Squad needs reinforcements now though. 

 

Why?

[Stan]

3 minutes ago, Spike said:

Why?

Because some of the current players are not good enough. 

Amartey, Vestergaard, Soyuncu, Bertrand, Soumare, Perez just not cutting it at this level. 

Three of those are CBs, Evans needs a better player next to him. Soyuncu I still have faith in to come good under a different manager, but all signs point to Rodgers staying, sadly. 

We need better quality going forward. Barnes and Maddison appear to be the only players to get a tune out of. We can't rely on them all season. 

Ward doesn't seem great. Iversen is unexperienced. 

Not saying to go crazy, but a few players to get in through the door won't be a bad thing. Next season is big anyway given the amount of players out of contract or likely to move on. 

To be honest, another manager does do better with this group of players. But if Rodgers isn't getting the boot, we go nowhere fast without some new signings. 

[Spike]

1 minute ago, Stan said:

Because some of the current players are not good enough. 

Amartey, Vestergaard, Soyuncu, Bertrand, Soumare, Perez just not cutting it at this level. 

Three of those are CBs, Evans needs a better player next to him. Soyuncu I still have faith in to come good under a different manager, but all signs point to Rodgers staying, sadly. 

We need better quality going forward. Barnes and Maddison appear to be the only players to get a tune out of. We can't rely on them all season. 

Ward doesn't seem great. Iversen is unexperienced. 

Not saying to go crazy, but a few players to get in through the door won't be a bad thing. Next season is big anyway given the amount of players out of contract or likely to move on. 

To be honest, another manager does do better with this group of players. But if Rodgers isn't getting the boot, we go nowhere fast without some new signings. 

Good enough for what though? What are the goals?

[Stan]

26 minutes ago, Spike said:

Good enough for what though? What are the goals?

Challenge for Europe, realistically. What we've had the couple of seasons should not be where it ends for us before we go back to just being a mid table PL club. 

Right now there's a combination of things not going right. Some players have shown they're not good enough. Some aren't anywhere near consistent enough. The manager needs to take some responsibility and stop being so stubborn in playing in a way that isn't working time and time again.

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

Because some of the current players are not good enough. 

Amartey, Vestergaard, Soyuncu, Bertrand, Soumare, Perez just not cutting it at this level. 

Three of those are CBs, Evans needs a better player next to him. Soyuncu I still have faith in to come good under a different manager, but all signs point to Rodgers staying, sadly. 

We need better quality going forward. Barnes and Maddison appear to be the only players to get a tune out of. We can't rely on them all season. 

Ward doesn't seem great. Iversen is unexperienced. 

Not saying to go crazy, but a few players to get in through the door won't be a bad thing. Next season is big anyway given the amount of players out of contract or likely to move on. 

To be honest, another manager does do better with this group of players. But if Rodgers isn't getting the boot, we go nowhere fast without some new signings. 

Tbh around the end of Rodgers tenure with us, a lot of players that ended up being looking a lot better once Rodgers left looked a lot like players that couldn't cut it at the level expected of them either.

I said it last year, but I think a lot of how Leicester have stagnated reminds me of how he just couldn't get things right with us once Suarez had gone. He's a decent manager until he gets stale, then he gets really annoying. Weird tactics, players out of position, results won't go your way and he won't really change much unless there's injuries or suspensions... it's like a rot sets in with him and it just starts spreading throughout the squad.

I think Leicester need to sack him sooner rather than later if they want to keep looking forward without having to recover from too many setbacks.

[Stan]

6 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Tbh around the end of Rodgers tenure with us, a lot of players that ended up being looking a lot better once Rodgers left looked a lot like players that couldn't cut it at the level expected of them either.

I said it last year, but I think a lot of how Leicester have stagnated reminds me of how he just couldn't get things right with us once Suarez had gone. He's a decent manager until he gets stale, then he gets really annoying. Weird tactics, players out of position, results won't go your way and he won't really change much unless there's injuries or suspensions... it's like a rot sets in with him and it just starts spreading throughout the squad.

I think Leicester need to sack him sooner rather than later if they want to keep looking forward without having to recover from too many setbacks.

Agree with it all. Celtic fans stay the same. 

He's past his sell-by date and needs binning. 

[Chickasaw]

57 minutes ago, Stan said:

Agree with it all. Celtic fans stay the same. 

He's past his sell-by date and needs binning. 

I don't know about binning completely. He should certainly leave The EPL and try for a lesser league somewhere.

[Stan]

18 minutes ago, Chickasaw said:

I don't know about binning completely. He should certainly leave The EPL and try for a lesser league somewhere.

I meant binned off by us. 

[Chickasaw]

41 minutes ago, Stan said:

I meant binned off by us. 

Yes Stan, something on which we actually agree at last.

[Dr. Gonzo]

11 hours ago, Stan said:

Agree with it all. Celtic fans stay the same. 

He's past his sell-by date and needs binning. 

It's very interesting imo that it seems his time at clubs seems to follow a sort of pattern. Definitely not a "long term" manager. I think he might do well in a league like Serie A where managers aren't really expected to do anything in the long term - where it won't seem so bad if he floats from club to club every couple of years.

[Stan]

35 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

It's very interesting imo that it seems his time at clubs seems to follow a sort of pattern. Definitely not a "long term" manager. I think he might do well in a league like Serie A where managers aren't really expected to do anything in the long term - where it won't seem so bad if he floats from club to club every couple of years.

Good shout, that. Shelf-life for managers is very short.

He's good at galvanising teams to begin with, but it goes stale. 

[Dan+]

Rodgers needs to go for sure. This isn't some knee-jerk reaction to a poor start. I think he had a lot of benefit of the doubt last season (though I personally wasn't as generous and was quite critical throughout). Our underlying numbers last season were pretty terrible. It all pointed to a side being badly coached and nothing has changed this season, and I'm not sure why anybody thought it would - it's the same errors, the same inability to defend, the same inability to create chances, albeit with a weakened team from last season.

I still think we've got enough quality in our team to keep us safe and think a new manager would release us off the shackles but it's quite depressing to be discussing this already. 8th, 5th and 5th in our last three seasons. To go down after that would be mental.

[Dan+]

Looks like our first signing of note is on his way though - Wout Faes from Stade de Reims. 24 year old Belgian centre half, recently made his debut for Belgium, looks like he's played in the middle of a back three for Reims who seem a bit like a French Burnley, punch above their weight somewhat but are pretty robust and have the lowest possession in their league. He won their POTS. He had the worst discipline in Ligue 1 with 13 yellows and 2 reds. Seen a few clips - can't ever read too much into a defenders highlights but I've warmed to it a bit after some initial scepticism. We badly lack a bit of edge in our side and he strikes me as somebody with it. He's got to be better than Amartey surely.

[Stan]

9 hours ago, Dan said:

Looks like our first signing of note is on his way though - Wout Faes from Stade de Reims. 24 year old Belgian centre half, recently made his debut for Belgium, looks like he's played in the middle of a back three for Reims who seem a bit like a French Burnley, punch above their weight somewhat but are pretty robust and have the lowest possession in their league. He won their POTS. He had the worst discipline in Ligue 1 with 13 yellows and 2 reds. Seen a few clips - can't ever read too much into a defenders highlights but I've warmed to it a bit after some initial scepticism. We badly lack a bit of edge in our side and he strikes me as somebody with it. He's got to be better than Amartey surely.

Plot twist. 

He comes in for Evans, and it's Amartey and Faes at the back

[Danny]

Is part of the reason it's gone bad not because the squad needed re-energising and you've not been able to sign anyone?

[Stan]

22 minutes ago, Danny said:

Is part of the reason it's gone bad not because the squad needed re-energising and you've not been able to sign anyone?

Both if I've understood the question correctly.

Every squad needs some re-invigorating to some extent, especially in the summer windows as January transfers can be riskier.

We've been hit hardest it seems by the FFP changes (UEFA) that came in in April, and something we seemingly weren't expecting because. The 'cash' is there, but with how shrewd our owners are - not a bad thing - they want to make sure we're not screwing ourselves over with the wages more than we already have done recently. 

I mentioned last summer that within the next 18-24 months we'll see a sea of change because of how many players are ending their careers (or approaching) and how many will just naturally leave.

It's already started - Schmeichel has gone. Fofana as one big asset is 99.9999% gone. 

Contracts that end Summer 2023:
Tielemans (will go for free I expect)
Soyuncu (frozen out cruelly by Rodgers, will leave tomorrow or free next summer, or may keep his place if a new manager comes in)
Amartey (needs to go)
Perez (should go)
Evans (new captain, likely to extend)
Mendy (meh)
Bertrand (get the fuck out).

2024 - arguably worse because of how many first-teamers are here:
Ndidi 
Iheanacho
Maddison (!!!)
Vestergaard (can fuck right off too)
Praet (destined to leave, Rodgers doesn't like him, oddly)
Thomas (youth, expect him to be re-signed)
Vardy (just renewed, guessing he retires here)
Albrighton (bit-part player now, but vice captain, so expect to stay til then)
 

Currently, there's 10 players there that have had matchday involvement so far this season, some obviously way more than others. 

But the situation is concerning given how important some are and who we're still trying to tie down - especially Maddison. I expect we'll try to renew Ndidi. Same with Iheanacho, or at least we should but again for some reason Rodgers doesn't favour him. 

 

Basically we need to get rid of lots of deadwood but presumably because of how much we're overpaying them, clubs don't want to match our demands or that of the player. Take Vestergaard for example - not good enough for us, has had a handful (if that) of decent games. Fulham were ready to meet our valuation, but he's chosen to stay because Fulham couldn't match the money he's on.

Vestergaard, Perez, Mendy, Bertrand, Amartey, Soyuncu are all disposable - and all players we could have conceivably got some money in for to help our situation. But we've shot ourselves in the foot in some cases for how much we pay them and now literally paying the price.

 

I suspect we'll see a defender (Faes?) come in with the Fofana money. But it seems like just a case of 'make do with what we have' until January or summer when we are able to spend. 

[Danny]

46 minutes ago, Stan said:

Both if I've understood the question correctly.

Every squad needs some re-invigorating to some extent, especially in the summer windows as January transfers can be riskier.

We've been hit hardest it seems by the FFP changes (UEFA) that came in in April, and something we seemingly weren't expecting because. The 'cash' is there, but with how shrewd our owners are - not a bad thing - they want to make sure we're not screwing ourselves over with the wages more than we already have done recently. 

I mentioned last summer that within the next 18-24 months we'll see a sea of change because of how many players are ending their careers (or approaching) and how many will just naturally leave.

It's already started - Schmeichel has gone. Fofana as one big asset is 99.9999% gone. 

Contracts that end Summer 2023:
Tielemans (will go for free I expect)
Soyuncu (frozen out cruelly by Rodgers, will leave tomorrow or free next summer, or may keep his place if a new manager comes in)
Amartey (needs to go)
Perez (should go)
Evans (new captain, likely to extend)
Mendy (meh)
Bertrand (get the fuck out).

2024 - arguably worse because of how many first-teamers are here:
Ndidi 
Iheanacho
Maddison (!!!)
Vestergaard (can fuck right off too)
Praet (destined to leave, Rodgers doesn't like him, oddly)
Thomas (youth, expect him to be re-signed)
Vardy (just renewed, guessing he retires here)
Albrighton (bit-part player now, but vice captain, so expect to stay til then)
 

Currently, there's 10 players there that have had matchday involvement so far this season, some obviously way more than others. 

But the situation is concerning given how important some are and who we're still trying to tie down - especially Maddison. I expect we'll try to renew Ndidi. Same with Iheanacho, or at least we should but again for some reason Rodgers doesn't favour him. 

 

Basically we need to get rid of lots of deadwood but presumably because of how much we're overpaying them, clubs don't want to match our demands or that of the player. Take Vestergaard for example - not good enough for us, has had a handful (if that) of decent games. Fulham were ready to meet our valuation, but he's chosen to stay because Fulham couldn't match the money he's on.

Vestergaard, Perez, Mendy, Bertrand, Amartey, Soyuncu are all disposable - and all players we could have conceivably got some money in for to help our situation. But we've shot ourselves in the foot in some cases for how much we pay them and now literally paying the price.

 

I suspect we'll see a defender (Faes?) come in with the Fofana money. But it seems like just a case of 'make do with what we have' until January or summer when we are able to spend. 

It's difficult because I can see why things have gone stale for Rodgers when you look at the squad and the lack of investment this Summer...but if someone better is available like Poch and you can get him then it seems like a no brainer.

One thing I'm surprised with your squad is the lack of resale value, I think we have about £200m-£300m sitting in our squad and that's conservative. Obviously if you sell Tielemans, Maddison, Barnes and Ndidi you have that too but as a bigger club you've a lot of deadwood that should really be young players worth around £20m - £40m.

[Stan]

12 minutes ago, Danny said:

It's difficult because I can see why things have gone stale for Rodgers when you look at the squad and the lack of investment this Summer...but if someone better is available like Poch and you can get him then it seems like a no brainer.

One thing I'm surprised with your squad is the lack of resale value, I think we have about £200m-£300m sitting in our squad and that's conservative. Obviously if you sell Tielemans, Maddison, Barnes and Ndidi you have that too but as a bigger club you've a lot of deadwood that should really be young players worth around £20m - £40m.

Interesting first point as some of those signings, on good record, were predominantly with Rodgers' input. Vestergaard and Bertrand in particular, which in turn has caused the lack of fundings for this summer - £15-20m for both of them, and obscenely high wages (£80k/w allegedly). 

Interesting observation for the second bit too - we used to be famed for picking out the gems or younger talent from lower divisions or even abroad. Potentially signing Wout Faes from Reims gives me hope we're going back to basics, but I can't help but think it's a Rodgers-led change when it comes to the transfer strategy - away from that younger purchase with high resale, and going for more experienced cast-offs from other clubs. We used to be one of the most successful clubs in the country doing that - buy young, raise players' stock, sell high. It helped with reinvestment because we had the plans and personnel to get away with selling that 1 asset per summer, with the knowledge that a) the rest of the squad would be okay with losing that one player because b) we'd sensibly re-invest as the scouting was of a high-level and the player fitted the profile - young, hungry, determined, high potential, high ceiling etc...

We've even been linked with Jeremie Boga today, from Atalanta. They signed him in January. They bought Ademola Lookman to take his place. Lookman was with us last season, and now we're signing the person he's taken over from, for more money than we could have bought Lookman .

I know this post is quite anti-Rodgers, but it seems like he's the common denominator (in terms of these transfers but also falling out with players). 

Follows a similar pattern to what he did at Liverpool and by some accounts, Celtic. 

[Waylander]

@Stan, we have the same issue with players we cannot sell or don't want to go due to their well paid contracts with us.

See recently we paid Barkley £7m just to go.

[Dan+]

There is absolutely no way we can financially support something like Pochettino. For us to pull someone like that we need to be a genuinely appealing version of ourselves. Something like what we were in February 2019 when Rodgers came in - where we had money and a really nicely constructed squad for the most part albeit a few finishing touches were needed (which never actually arrived in my opinion). There was always scope for that Leicester side to do well.

Why he'd come here now I've no idea. I think someone like Thomas Frank has a good case to not leave Brentford to come to us at the minute so I've no idea how Pochettino is even a serious debate from our fans. It'll end up being quite underwhelming I think. Put it this way I don't think we're a million miles off a Dyche.

[Waylander]

As a neutral I would like to see Dyche at Leicester to see how he does with better players though of course no guarantee he improves them.

Our fans for some time were jealous of your player recruitment in finding unknown gems.

We have tried to bring through youngsters ourselves with mixed results. 

Currently Silva at Fulham is interesting and I see under him Mitrovic is scoring again yet will it last?

[Dan+]

I always used to make Marco Silva's case a bit on here. Always thought decent coach that made baffling career moves. Seems to have really found the right job at Fulham.

[OrangeKhrush]

if Steve Bruce calls, give home the contact number for cheesy chips then he will stop calling

[Chickasaw]

Going for a Utd win tonight.

[Stan]

21 minutes ago, Chickasaw said:

Going for a Utd win tonight.

Me too