Muzzy_Larsson

Yeah definitely, but I think a club like Chelsea would be a more attractive proposition to him (his emotional attachment to them aside) as they are somewhat in transition with the transfer ban, relying on younger players and their ability to perhaps spend the money to properly challenge the top two clubs. Spurs look to have hit their ceiling and won't spend the money to A: sign new players and B: keep their top players to allow them to push on to that next level.

Yeah I get what you mean, that's the bit I found difficult when he left us in the main, all the waxing lyrical about being in his dream job, etc. In hindsight he says far too much at times and best not getting attached to that as don't mean this with any bitterness but he's no different to any player/manager these days in that if he feels he can further his own career then he'll take the first chance to do it. I'd be careful if I were him in jumping at the Spurs job though as I don't see him being able to take them further 3rd/4th, where they already are.

That’s a good point, the danger is with many clubs going down the director of football route nowadays it’s not a manager in the traditional sense that’s required, more of a head coach and as far as coaches go Rodgers is one of the best about.

Like I said every football forum is the same, whether it be Leicester, Celtic, Rangers or whoever else. Football fans are fickle.

Tbf I think the first paragraph is indicative of every football club’s fans forum, rightly or wrongly. exact same on Celtic forum’s, everyone calling for Lennon’s head after Cluj now he’s the best thing since sliced bread. As always the truth is somewhere in between.

I wouldn’t be worrying about him leaving for the Spurs job tbh. I’d start to worry if Lampard got the bullet at Chelsea though, he’s mentioned before about wanting to go there as manager if he ever gets the chance as that’s the club that made him as a coach.

Unlucky from Vardy there.

With the lack of genuine width (Barnes aside) I don't understand why Rodgers doesn't at least try pairing Perez with Vardy up top and playing a diamond in midfield which would get more out of Maddison as opposed to sticking him out on the left wing. Could have Ndidi at the base of the diamond, Maddison at the top and Praet and Tielemans in between.

Good result for the hoops last night away to Rennes. Sets us up nicely with two home games coming up next in the group.

Fair enough on that should have noticed. Rest of what I says still stands though, too many variables not just from a Leicester point of view but from the other 19 teams in the league and their respective points totals to afford any sort of credence to such calculations. One game at a time.

I'm always weary of raw calculations like this as there are too many variables ignored for it to be given any sort of credence. For example looking at it the other way, you went and won at Stamford Bridge, and took four points in total against Liverpool and Man City last season which will be a hard ask again so if you factor that in it skews your calculation further. Even ignoring the above for a second, even the statement "only need to convert 6 of our draws into wins" is a outlandish as this in itself is a big ask. Point i'm trying to make is far too much to consider in terms of variables to boil the outcome of any team's season into a calculation. Furthermore standing still and getting the same points as the previous season is no given in the competitive nature of the EPL which invalidates the calculation further imo. Best taking it game by game and tempering expectations accordingly or else people just get hysterical and demand manager sackings etc such is the way of modern football. That cluster of sides from 15th - 6th in the premier league is so saturated and so close that 5 or 6 points can be the difference between finishing 15th or 8th in some cases, a scenario whereby a bad spate of injuries or loss of form at the wrong time could contribute to. All that said I feel not significantly strengthening out wide in the summer may be Leicester's undoing this season unless it can be rectified in January.

Heartbreaking and an absolute b*stard of a disease,fought it remarkably for nigh on 7 years, may he rest in peace.

Very interesting that graph, thanks for posting. That said those kind of stats can be a bit misleading sometimes as a lot of the time, Benkovic would surge forward but it would usually lead to a pass out wide which would in turn lead to a chance, so more often than not the centre back moving into midfield would create an indirect chance if that makes sense. On the point of the long ball I'd say yes, Rodgers absolutely vetoes it and never plays it, which can be to his sides' detriment sometimes. For example, we'd try and pass it from the keeper (who was poor with the ball at his feet) inside our own 18 yard box against Neymar, Cavani and Mbappe and ended up getting caught out every time and getting a pasting. That PSG away game is the hardest game I've watched as a Celtic fan as it was like footballing suicide, even after shipping 5 goals with 30 minutes still to play we were still trying to do it. As great a coach as he is one of my few criticisms of him is he's too stubborn in sticking to his idyllic principles at times, even when it's obvious it's to the team's detriment. It feeds into an interesting debate that's raging on just now around Rodgers and Lennon. Domestically Rodgers was the master and untouchable and over the piece undoubtedly the better manager (maybe coach is more accurate). However in Europe we did and probably will achieve far better results under Lennon as he's aware we can't play expansively and try and beat better sides at their own game.

The thing about shoehorning players out of position (Maddison for example) to accommodate two holding midfielders suggests to me he's being overly cautious and a bit uncharacteristic in that regard yes. That's why I mentioned Maguire who was very good at stepping into midfield with the ball, had he still be in situe then I imagine this conversation would be moot. You can only assume he doesn't trust any of his current centre back's to encourage them to do this yet. Maybe he's playing two holding midfielders all the time as a way to try and compensate for this, who knows.

Yeah that's one of his biggest strengths imo, his ability to pass out from the back and step into midfield when required. I don't know if it's due to losing Maguire but I've been surprised when I've seen Leicester this season that there isn't a CB stepping into midfield regularly and breaking lines with the ball as Rodgers was huge on it at Celtic, with Boyata in his first season, Benkovic in his second then last season he really developed Ajer's game in doing that.

I find his approach thus far this season a bit strange, one of the biggest criticisms of his time at Celtic was not showing the bigger sides in the CL, such as PSG, Barcelona enough respect and expecting to play expansively and beat them at their own game. Needless to say it resulted in a few bloody noses and there was a frustration that lessons weren't being learned. This season it appears he has gone the opposite way and is being uncharacteristically cautious, playing players out of position to accommodate two holding players. I know he is also big on a lot of numbers in the midfield and having control of the game in there but Man Utd were there to be got at on Saturday if he had shown more ambition and bravery in putting out a team who would press high up the pitch, attack and really get at them.

It was the exact same at Celtic in the invincible season (his first season) and then in the second season it shifted to be pretty much the polar opposite like you guys are seeing now. Can only comment on what I saw in Scotland but it looked like when teams got a bit wiser to how we played Rodgers was too stubborn to adapt. He persisted with us shuffling the ball from side to side as opposed to trying to be a bit more direct and getting defences turning and in behind. I can't help but think this slow, ponderous approach utterly kills Vardy's game in particular. The Maddison thing also puzzles me a bit with him as one of the things he was great at up here and which made a massive difference was that he played players in their proper positions all the time and only never when he had no choice. For example players like McGregor and Armstrong were re-born because of this.

That side is mediocre if you ignore the fact they are Man Utd. Leicester should be going there to play on the front foot and beat them.

In terms of value so would I but they are very different types of players.

Giggs Scholes Cantona Ronaldo

Not a player so slightly off topic but always loved and admired Sir Alex Ferguson after reading his books, despite the fact he was at Rangers in his playing career.

Imposters like Lingard. It's always shit players who do that as well, boils my piss.

He was lucky to stay on the pitch agreed. That said so was Ryan Jack, the referee was unusually lenient for an old firm game.

It's all based on how you define world class to be honest which is subjective in itself. To me it's one of the top 2 or 3 players in the world in your position so on that basis no he's not world class. Someone else might interpret it differently and based on that interpretation he may be in that persons thinking. A good example of the interpretation would be when Sir Alex Ferguson said during all his years at Man Utd he only ever had four world class players. Whatever he is he is one hell of a striker and will go down among the EPL greats imo. The fact he's stayed with Leicester heightens that as well imo.

I said pretty much this on the Andy King thread when he signed when folk were going on as if he'd come up here and look like Zidane. The quality up here is far less than the EPL and overall the championship but due to the intensity and physical nature of our game a lot of EPL players, especially ones who are at the tail end of their careers come up here and really struggle.