Next season

[Corky]

I think it was @Ric Flair who said during lockdown that he was happy not to play as he wasn't annoyed at weekends- sums it up for me.

 

I've really not enjoyed watching us for a while, labouring and struggling in matches. Not optimistic about next season- the squad looks lightweight, I don't believe everything is happy behind the scenes and the manager in public doesn't seem remotely bothered by our downturn in form and is making excuses.

 

Given what we've generally produced since February, would you want to watch this every week? Lack of goals, lack of shots on target, little conviction going forward and an alarming lack of discipline in recent matches leading to red cards and howling errors.

 

I keep thinking "come on, we're in Europe, pull yourself together" but I can't lie, watching us has been a chore in the main.

[volpeazzurro]

1 minute ago, Webbo said:

Compared to the clubs above, that's still the case.

Yes I agree there's a big element of truth in that and it's doubtful we'll ever change it, I fully accept that it's the way in football. But ... for one season only, we had a more than possible chance of securing a huge step forward for our club not merely in terms of monetary incomings,  but more in terms of retaining our better players and attracting bright young players for our future. However, I believe that  egotistical mismanagement has scuppered that.

[nnfox]

Next season depends entirely on the mentality of the players.

 

We have a lot of youth in the squad and this season was the first time many of them had experienced a weight of expectation.  A weight they didn't handle very well.

 

My hope is that they will learn that they all need to turn up to every game.  If a couple of our draws had been wins or a few of our defeats had been draws, then we would have Champions League football.  It has been a stark illustration of "fine margins" that are often spoken about.

 

We need a couple of quality signings, to strengthen us at the back and someone who could put away chances at the other end more often.  Maybe Barnes or Maddison could be that player.  I'm sure Nacho could if he had more game time. A stronger squad is necessary in any case due to European commitments.

 

No reason why we can't have another strong season.  Champions League qualification through league position will be a tough ask but we should aim for back to back top 6 finishes.  That would be a phenomenal achievement.

[Paninistickers]

Can't wait for next season. 

 

All the lads have three weeks off now. Pissing off to Dubai and various other football bling jaunts. 

 

Get Maddison fit. Ricky and Chilwell a month nearer. Wes up for the first three games. 

 

Reckon we'll have one big signing in our pocket. 

 

Sheff Utd a busted flush. Everton and West Ham miles off us. Wolves a level lower. We'll be tussling with Spurs and Arsenal and maybe Southampton or 5/6/7 ..... life's good. 

[volpeazzurro]

11 minutes ago, Hales said:

If you don't want your season ticket hand it over! There are plenty of us that would love one!

No chance, been going since the 60s and seen out pretentious characters like this before,  though in fairness, not many were this pretentious, just not very good. This man has had one of the most talented squads we've had post Bloomfield and blown it due to his egotistical tinkering ineptness. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, volpeazzurro said:

No chance, been going since the 60s and seen out pretentious characters like this before,  though in fairness, not many were this pretentious, just not very good. This man has had one of the most talented squads we've had post Bloomfield and blown it due to his egotistical tinkering ineptness. 

A talented but limited and very thin squad which he did manage very effectively for the first half of the season. He's not covered himself in glory since January or since the restart but nobody has. Let's be honest, it's not all his fault, is it?

[CrispinLA in Texas]

I am really worried about next season, Vardy's been great in the 1st half of this season banging in the goals for us, but I don't think he will being as good next season. Game after game this year I always wonder if we going to score. 

I don't have any confidence in Brendan Rodgers recruitment, only James Justin has been a success in Brendan's 4 signings for the club. Brendan Rodgers has always liked to have alarge pot of money to spend in the transfer market, where as LCFC have always had successful recruitment when buying footballers whose money value isn't high at the moment. Brendan seems to always pay more than double the amount for players than they are actually worth. I am worried about giving millions to Brendan and Congerton to spend on mediocre players. 

While other teams are on the up this year and i think will vastly improve next season our form this has been going down.

I used to love it when we used to beat the so called top 6 clubs but now we don't seem to know how to even score a goal against them.

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

4 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

Can't wait for next season. 

 

All the lads have three weeks off now. Pissing off to Dubai and various other football bling jaunts. 

 

Get Maddison fit. Ricky and Chilwell a month nearer. Wes up for the first three games. 

 

Reckon we'll have one big signing in our pocket. 

 

Sheff Utd a busted flush. Everton and West Ham miles off us. Wolves a level lower. We'll be tussling with Spurs and Arsenal and maybe Southampton or 5/6/7 ..... life's good. 

You genuinely think we are better than all those judging by how we have played since Christmas? 

[PrecociousFox93]

1 minute ago, Cadno'r Cymoedd said:

You genuinely think we are better than all those judging by how we have played since Christmas? 

Can’t disagree with this. Based off of the last 25 games we’re 12th on form in the league. This includes dropping points to all 3 relegated sides (losing to both Bournemouth and Norwich). 
 

Of course with where we’ve finished it can be accepted, but the way we’ve played has been far from convincing and this worries me quite a bit. Next season could be a huge flop if fans base expectations off of our first 10-15 games!

[peach0000]

Strengthen with a couple of quality players. Keep hold of all the young ones who will be more experienced. Challenging for the top four and a deep run in the Europa League is more than possible. 

Edited 26 July 2020 by peach0000

[Dames]

I hate to say it but with the current trend of form and results, additional games and a short break between seasons more than likely means we’ll be fighting relegation next season. 
 

Rodgers couldn’t get it right after having 3 months off, unless there are some miracle signings I cant see him getting it right in 2 months either. 
 

Absolutely heinous decision to give him a new deal in hindsight. Even without hindsight, who gives someone such a whopper of a deal after half a season? Whoever is in charge of this has a lot to answer for, Matty James, Slimani, Silva. So many mistakes which leaves us with less room to make improvements. 

[NewEnglandFox]

To reply to the original post I don't believe in the establish-ourselves-as-a-top-6 club concept anymore. Frankly league position season to season seems like more roulette than hard work. We can't ever let a great opportunity to waste because we don't know when a good one will come around either. Grab what you can because there is no guarantee of anything else. And we let a great opportunity go to waste over 2nd half of the season. I was hoping the league shutdown would give us a hard reset to cement our position in the top 4 but we continued our downward trajectory instead.

 

We have to enjoy the Europa League next season because who knows if we'll be able to fight for top 4 or a cup final.

[Webbo]

39 minutes ago, Cadno'r Cymoedd said:

You genuinely think we are better than all those judging by how we have played since Christmas? 

We beat Sheff Utd the other week.

[dmayne7]

4 hours ago, TheUltimateWinner said:

I know it’s raw, but does anyone else feel completely apathetic about next season?

 

Genuinely feels like this season was our chance to get champions league and firmly establish ourselves as a top six club. 

I definitely did have this line of thought all season long. But for some reason, I'm just not as completely devastated that we've missed our chance. We are going to need to hit the ground running though.

[Ian Nacho]

Next season will be a brilliant opportunity for the youngsters in the Europa League. Will be vital for the development of Hamza, Thomas and others. 

[Mythyaar]

Rodgers has a ready made excuse as and when we continue this atrocious relegation form into the league next season, and that will be the Europa league.

 

Thursday football, players are tired, squad is threadbare, too much football, too much travel, difficult for the lads to focus, we clearly over performed last season, why did we even qualify, we're in a real fight now make no bones about it, but the squad and I are up for that fight, etc etc.

 

These excuses will be rolled out. Guaranteed.

[Mythyaar]

45 minutes ago, peach0000 said:

Strengthen with a couple of quality players. Keep hold of all the young ones who will be more experienced. Challenging for the top four and a deep run in the Europa League is more than possible. 

keep taking the deludamol mate.

[weller54]

Got a horrible feeling that the disappointment of throwing away CL football is going to linger into the start of the new season..

Think we'll get off to a poor start and we'll be playing catch up all season...

Think we'll finish 12th ish.. Rodgers gone by Christmas.

Can't see how the mentality of this squad is going to change?

[peach0000]

7 minutes ago, Mythyaar said:

keep taking the deludamol mate.

We got unlucky this season with injuries and a little bit of inexperience. We have a young talented squad who will only get better with time. A little bit of optimism never hurt anyone.

[volpeazzurro]

5 minutes ago, peach0000 said:

We got unlucky this season with injuries and a little bit of inexperience. We have a young talented squad who will only get better with time. A little bit of optimism never hurt anyone.

We got 'unlucky' before the injuries even occurred!

[whoareyaaa]

1 hour ago, Corky said:

I think it was @Ric Flair who said during lockdown that he was happy not to play as he wasn't annoyed at weekends- sums it up for me.

 

I've really not enjoyed watching us for a while, labouring and struggling in matches. Not optimistic about next season- the squad looks lightweight, I don't believe everything is happy behind the scenes and the manager in public doesn't seem remotely bothered by our downturn in form and is making excuses.

 

Given what we've generally produced since February, would you want to watch this every week? Lack of goals, lack of shots on target, little conviction going forward and an alarming lack of discipline in recent matches leading to red cards and howling errors.

 

I keep thinking "come on, we're in Europe, pull yourself together" but I can't lie, watching us has been a chore in the main.

Good post that pretty much sums up how I feel in terms of the performances, I'm optimistic before the game but as soon as the whistle blows you know whats coming, 1st part of the season we looked a completely different team though

[ozvaldo]

I honestly feel like we need a re-structure; we can’t keep building a team around one player. 
(This isn’t because of today, this is something that’s been on my mind for months). 
 

We’re at a critical point whereby we need to carefully manage the transition of the club and the introduce of new, quality players and systems. Whilst Vardy has scored 23, and been fantastic for us, it’s not sustainable to rely solely on him. We need more from other players (and we need more players!). 
You can see he’s not the same player - rarely pressing the opposition or making intelligent fast runs into channels.  
 

So, to me, it feels like we need to spend some good money and offload the likes of Silva, James, Slimani, etc., to free up more cash and invest wisely into the following areas:

 

- Striker

- Winger

- CM

- CB

- RB/RWB

- LB/LWB

[splinterdream]

36 minutes ago, Mythyaar said:

Rodgers has a ready made excuse as and when we continue this atrocious relegation form into the league next season, and that will be the Europa league.

 

Thursday football, players are tired, squad is threadbare, too much football, too much travel, difficult for the lads to focus, we clearly over performed last season, why did we even qualify, we're in a real fight now make no bones about it, but the squad and I are up for that fight, etc etc.

 

These excuses will be rolled out. Guaranteed.

Christ almighty man, let's see what we do in the transfer window and how we perform pre season and in the first couple of games before writing them all off

[UpTheLeagueFox]

5 hours ago, TheUltimateWinner said:

I know it’s raw, but does anyone else feel completely apathetic about next season?

Nope, can't wait for it to start, new season, new hope.

I'm not going to spend the next few weeks being fookin miserable (I'm not saying you are) but others can if they want to.

 

1 hour ago, nnfox said:

Next season depends entirely on the mentality of the players.

Let's hope we can do what we did in 2013, after throwing away a great chance for automatic, then Deeney Day and all that - we used disappointments as a motivation.

[Mickyblueeyes]

The coaching staff need to take a genuine week or two off without the pressure surrounding the virus clouding their judgement.

 

They need to reflect on what is a good first season finish. Then they need to understand what caused: a) the downturn; and b) how to stop that or limit it for next year. 
 

It is a good finish but we cannot ignore the downturn in form. How can we ensure that we do not suffer as much next year.