Is this team even that good?

[Heathrow fox]

Doesn’t ffp play a part in all this?We can’t pay Vardy anymore because we would be breaking the rules.The traditional big clubs are all becoming financial juggernaut’s with world wide support and regular euro money.All have got or are in the process of getting 60000 plus capacities.West ham and Everton are desperately trying to follow suit in that regard (makes you think they know something)

 

Compared to them we will always be smaller.Leicestershires population isn’t huge and we do have the egg chasers down the road to compete with.

 

We have to do things slightly differently.Invest in youth.Builld the best infrastructure we can.Have a philosophy about how we are as a club which is what the

owners have been working on since day one.

[fuchsntf]

2 hours ago, Izzy said:

And realistically, we should be delighted with that.

 

For years we've been a 'yo-yo' club desperately trying to cement our place in the PL. And here we are doing just that yet some are still not happy.

 

We'll never be a 'big club' or compete with the top 6 on a regular basis. We're not a big enough City/catchment and although our owners are rich, they're not in the same rich league as the big boys.

 

If we can consistently try to be 'the best of the rest' that's as good as is gonna get. We've got no divine right to finish 7th anyway as Everton, West Ham and others will also be after that spot.

 

Our squad is decent and probably the best we've ever had. We're spending money and paying decent wages and the clubs in a stable financial position.

 

We've never had it so good and it can soon turn to rat shit overnight as we've seen before. Gotta enjoy the good times really...

 

This beats your humour you can be a clever intellectual,in your best moments....12 day festive period. fantastic...Then you go missing chasing jokes,!!.

[Blue ROI]

7th is a great position to be in.

 

The title win didn't skew things for me at all. It's disappointing not to be rubbing shoulders with the stars like we did from the great escape to the Champions League Quarter final but we had an ageing team along Mahrez and Kante/N'Didi. There was always going to be a comedown after 6-8 years of greatness.

 

We can take a long term view because the club is in some cases very well run and we also have the advantage of it working for us before.

 

Disappointment at losing to Cardiff is a sign of how far we have come really. 5 years ago we were itching to get back to the top flight after a decade away. We would have probably taken a draw in 2014/15.

 

I was disappointed on Saturday but it was better to win the away game after the loss of Vichai. 3 victories against some of the best sides in Europe  and a team in form up until a month ago in just over a week is magnificent.

 

I was ready to throw the book at Claudes after the second half of last season but he has brought in Pereira, Maddison, Evans and improved Chilwell's game. Even the veterans like Morgan, Kasper,  Vardy and Albrighton are showing good form.

 

I would hope he can add a striker to complete the team and take some of the pressure off Vardy. He has bought only 1 player who's a misfit in Ghezzal so I would trust him to find another 'Ulloa' like Nigel did.

 

Bar 3 tough games at the end of Jan/Early Feb we have a right good chance of getting results until the very end of the season.

 

It wasn't so long ago we were hoping for results against Yeovil, Doncaster and Scunthorpe. The club is in a very good place.

 

 

Edited 1 January 2019 by Blue ROI

[fuchsntf]

1 hour ago, turkish14 said:

Agree with most of this except the “we will never be a big club” comment.

 

are you prepared for let’s say the next 10 years to be a 7-10th place club? 

 

Man City and Chelsea not so long ago were averaging 30-35k and regular mid table premier league teams. What’s to stop us aiming high?

 

yes they are in big cities, but sharing catchment with other local big clubs, whereas we have a whole county to ourselves.

 

In my opinion we need to aim high and get away from a small club mentality, without becoming OTT and expecting instant success.

The ambition is fair,and the right mentality if......

If it doesn't encroach into arrogance,expectation of entitlement,and start to delve into campaigns of blame culture,forgetting football even when it's

Frustrating and hurts, is enjoyable for the "" whole" ". Package football all is!!

[BenTheFox]

We have some talented players but so do Everton, West Ham, Wolves, Bournemouth and Watford. Hence why that part of the table is very tight. I've said a few times that our squad isn't really much better (if at all) than the ones mentioned. I actually think if we finish 7th we'd have overachieved.

[ARM1968]

Decent

[lcfc sheff]

Top defensive talent, not enough attackers. Hopefully soon rectified. 

[foxinsox]

2 hours ago, UniFox21 said:

The way some posters talk, yes, they make it seem like we should be in and challenging the top 6. 

We should be ready to exploit any weakness in a Top 6 team, next time that comes. 

 

 

[Lesterlad]

3 hours ago, Fox92 said:

No. People overrate our players massively. I see stuff like "we should be top 6" (on twitter today I even saw someone say a better manager would have us 5th  ).

 

Puel has inherited players he didn't buy, players that are getting old now and need moving on, but he's also added in quality (Ricardo as an example). We're a young side, bound to be inconsistent, and these things will take time. Eventually could I see us challenging for the top 6, yes, but at the minute I think we should be pleased with 7th or 8th in the league (hopefully a good FA Cup run too!).

 

But managers need time to build. Look at Pochettino, who has built a young side, he didn't make Spurs superb overnight.

No they had to learn how to finish 3rd to be superb

[inckley fox]

It's a good squad. We have 29m and 17m signings out on loan, the luxury of splashing out 12m on Ghezzal and not sweating over whether he's any good or not because we have one of the second tier's most highly-rated attacking midfielders waiting in the wings. Adrian Silva and Vicente Iborra can't get a look-in. Jonny Evans and Kelechi Iheanacho can't get a run in the side. There are a lot of sides that have finished above us these past two seasons, or are competing with us now, who'd love to have options like those at their disposal.

 

I'm all for realism, but we shouldn't put a ceiling on how far we can go, or throw our arms up and use the 'we don't invest enough' argument. Every year there are sides who finish comfortably above teams that outspend them. We've done it ourselves. If we'd recruited a bit more wisely over the past 2 years we'd be pushing for 6th already.

 

People forget how comically opportunities were wasted back then. It wasn't only our title win which demonstrated that sides can aim higher, it's also the fact that we're still - incredibly - 7th, at the beginning of 2019, regardless of the 15 months of missed opportunities and chaos which followed the title, and which looked like it was going to cripple us. 

Puel's done a sound job, up to now, of correcting that. I can imagine how his supposed flaws might be more than just the stuff of our imagination, and I don't always agree with how he sets up, especially against sides that sit deep. But if you consider what happened to our Chairman, the transitional nature of the season, the fact that he only took over 14 months ago and we were 14th at the time, the age of some of our players - I think we'd be ridiculed if we sacked him.

 

But I'm convinced the squad can go far, and it's more a case of us having to match their ambitions, than of us asking too much of them. Every game we use 5-6 players who've won the PL in the past few years, which is a rare luxury for any side. At last we've started to replenish the talent pool with new, younger players - Chilwell, Maguire, Pereira - who will want to win trophies, with or without us. We should be patient, definitely, but also ambitious.

[lcfc sheff]

Atleast four of our players are now probably worth around £40m, pretty crazy stuff 

[Babylon]

It's full of potential, even more so with the players still finding their way into the team or returning in Jan or the summer. But we're short of quality in key areas and still have too many expensive flops laying about. To gain consistency we need a few more quality players and for the young players to step up from just potential to proving themselves, like Chilwell has done.

[siraaj_lcfc]

Defence looks great and set up for the future with Caglar or Benko to step in. Evans has been on point. Full Backs- need I say more.

Defence Mids- Choudry looks good, not sure whats going on with Ndidi and Mendy. 

Madderz- Great

Vardy- Fcking Legend.

I love it.

[Koke]

Puel has 2 things going for him

 

1: Stable league position. At no point have we ever flirted wirh relegation under Puel.

 

2: He has actually improved several players individually. 

 

Overall, this is a decent team but not good enough to crack the top 6. Even if we played mildly more entertaining football I still dont think he would win over his critics.

 

I think Puel is meeting expectations.

Edited 2 January 2019 by Koke

[siraaj_lcfc]

This team IS that good!

[Gwyn]

11 hours ago, boots60 said:

7th in the league would mean playing qualifying rounds of the Europa league which would essentially knock a month or so off the pre season break. Look what happened to Burnley this season. Disastrous. F.A cup win would enable us to go straight to the group stage but we all know where the cups are on Puels priority list.

 

Totally agree. People banging on about Europe are a bit selfish IMO, seems they just want the excuse to sing dilly ding dilly dong again..If we do get through the knock out stages there's no chance in hell we would win it, so whilst writing off the whole pre season, we would have an absurd more amount of traveling and risk of players becoming injured.

I think these people should just go to Belgium instead of Majorca for their summer holidays. ???

[Gwyn]

11 hours ago, turkish14 said:

Agree with most of this except the “we will never be a big club” comment.

 

are you prepared for let’s say the next 10 years to be a 7-10th place club? 

 

Man City and Chelsea not so long ago were averaging 30-35k and regular mid table premier league teams. What’s to stop us aiming high?

 

yes they are in big cities, but sharing catchment with other local big clubs, whereas we have a whole county to ourselves.

 

In my opinion we need to aim high and get away from a small club mentality, without becoming OTT and expecting instant success.

We also have (not at the moment) a very successful rugby team, and a stadium that fits 30,000 max 

Not enough to roll with the black belts yet.

[Realist Guy In The Room]

12 hours ago, Cadno'r Cymoedd said:

Only part of the reasoning for me. The other major factor is that we are necessarily in transition style wise, and personel, bringing through younger players. Puel has to take some credit for that. The league stability should allow us too to enable that more effectively. 

 

Aside from that, I am not too bothered about a Europa League place if it means a crap summer and early start that messes up next season's preparations. Others may disagree. 

I dont disagree with that.  My personal

frustration is that the transition in style and personel should be showing more than it is on the pitch.

 

I find it hard to believe that after the time Puel has had with the squad, we still churn out performances against weaker opposition like the Cardiff game.

 

Completely with you on the Europa League.  Take it or leave it.

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

3 minutes ago, Realist Guy In The Room said:

I dont disagree with that.  My personal

frustration is that the transition in style and personel should be showing more than it is on the pitch.

 

I find it hard to believe that after the time Puel has had with the squad, we still churn out performances against weaker opposition like the Cardiff game.

 

Completely with you on the Europa League.  Take it or leave it.

Not quite the realist guy in the room today

 

I don't get people not wanting the Europa league.  We shouldnt let Everton and Burnley's poor shows make us pessimistic about it.  Our progress as a club needs to include the Europa league

[Mullet1]

Palace: poor all game 

Chelsea: poor first half 

Man City: Poor first half 

Cardif: Poor all game 

Everton: Poor all game 

 

we we always seem on a knife edge. 

We either don’t do enough or do just enough 

we always seem to be close to a hiding 

 

Edited 2 January 2019 by Mullet1

[Tom12345]

14 hours ago, Fox92 said:

No. People overrate our players massively. I see stuff like "we should be top 6" (on twitter today I even saw someone say a better manager would have us 5th  ).

 

Puel has inherited players he didn't buy, players that are getting old now and need moving on, but he's also added in quality (Ricardo as an example). We're a young side, bound to be inconsistent, and these things will take time. Eventually could I see us challenging for the top 6, yes, but at the minute I think we should be pleased with 7th or 8th in the league (hopefully a good FA Cup run too!).

 

But managers need time to build. Look at Pochettino, who has built a young side, he didn't make Spurs superb overnight.

One good thing about Puel is that he didn’t whinge and whine about the players he had or insisted on spending big and signing players. Unlike Mourinho the Special One. Or Martin O’Neill who destroyed Aston Villa by spending big on players year after year (only to leave them on the bench) who eventually were let go by subsequently managers on a free. Villa was badly managed in that respect - we are one of the beneficiaries too by acquiring Albrington on a free.

[Nicolo Barella]

18 minutes ago, AlloverthefloorYesNdidi said:

Not quite the realist guy in the room today

 

I don't get people not wanting the Europa league.  We shouldnt let Everton and Burnley's poor shows make us pessimistic about it.  Our progress as a club needs to include the Europa league

Much rather qualify through FA cup and finish 12th than finish 7th and ruin our preseason.

[Realist Guy In The Room]

22 minutes ago, AlloverthefloorYesNdidi said:

Not quite the realist guy in the room today

 

I don't get people not wanting the Europa league.  We shouldnt let Everton and Burnley's poor shows make us pessimistic about it.  Our progress as a club needs to include the Europa league

Didn’t say I didnt want it.  Just that I wouldn’t be overly disappointed if we didnt qualify for it.

 

 

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

6 minutes ago, Nicolo Barella said:

Much rather qualify through FA cup and finish 12th than finish 7th and ruin our preseason.

Well, yeah, obviously i'd take a cup! 

 

Europa league is our best chance for CL football though

[Tom12345]

2 minutes ago, AlloverthefloorYesNdidi said:

Well, yeah, obviously i'd take a cup! 

 

Europa league is our best chance for CL football though

What are you guys talking about? We have not even started playing in the FA Cup yet! And we are not going to win it unfortunately.