10 Games In - Your Verdict

[Guest Col city fan]

My analysis after a few games remains intact

We’ll score enough but concede for fun. Our defence isn’t good enough 

Smacks of mid to upper table finish 

[Fox92]

Just now, Col city fan said:

My analysis after a few games remains intact

We’ll score enough but concede for fun. Our defence isn’t good enough 

Smacks of mid to upper table finish 

Who's gonna finish above us though Col?

 

Obviously Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City will do. I'd also say Manchester United and West Ham too.

 

After that, I still think we'll be competing for the last top 6 place with Arsenal. Possibly Brighton/Everton. It'll be interesting to see if Brighton can keep their early form up (a good draw at Anfield for them yesterday). Wolves maybe also although they don't seem to score many goals, same as Spurs. 

 

I've been impressed with Palace but they seem to draw to many. 

[Guest Col city fan]

Arsenal, Palace, Brighton, even Spurs (if and when they get going), all have the potential to finish above us this season I think mate.

Unless we can sort the defensive side of the game out.

We’ll score more goals than any of the above I think. But we concede goals far too readily 

Edited 31 October 2021 by Col city fan

[Farrington fox]

Good going forward. Vulnerable at the back, too inconsistent.

[weller54]

23 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Enjoy the rest of our European campaign because we won't be in it next season. Not the end of the world of course but we have not looked good so far this season.

Might be a few years until we have European football again.

You say we haven't looked good this season, but realistically we didn't look good for the 3rd part of last season either!

Our stats over the last 30 games or so would make sorry reading.

[CosbehFox]

3 hours ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

It's not been good but its far from a disaster. We can still achieve all of our aims from the season, despite fofana having a serious injury.

 

I think if anyone comes in for soyuncu I would sell. We could get 40 odd million for him and that could fund someone like Carmo at Braga. We need to sort ourselves out defensively, going forward we look fine, the side has goals in it but defensively we don't dominate and are too reliant on Evans.

 

I also think leaving mendy out the squad is a mistake, he's our only real holder bar wilf and we could have done with him in Europe. KDH is miles off being as good as praet too.

 

With JJ back soon we need to switch back to 4 at the back, we're far too easy to cut open at the moment.

A lot to agree here. 
 

I think there’s quite a melodrama about our situation. We will be a win off the European places after this weekend. Just need to thread a few wins together 

Edited 31 October 2021 by Cardiff_Fox

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

42 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

A lot to agree here. 
 

I think there’s quite a melodrama about our situation. We will be a win off the European places after this weekend. Just need to thread a few weeks together 

Of course there is. Its not just this forum either. Football is either a crisis or a cakewalk apparently.

 

I think we need to sign that young centre half we were after in the summer. Carmo or Caceres would be the obvious ones and if there's money available for soyuncu's and tielemans new contract and theyre not going to spend it yet its better to spend it now.

 

That said, we don't tend to spend anything in jan so I imagine we won't see a lot unless we can get a buyer for soyuncu.

Edited 31 October 2021 by Chocolate Teapot

[coolhandfox]

Simple, we got Evans back and lost Ndidi.

 

Get both back, we then go back to a back 4, with Castange and Riccardo at fullback.

 

Add in both JJ and Fofana thing with be much better after Xmas, stay in the hunt and finish strong.

 

Would be more worried if we had everyone available and were conceding goals.

 

 

[moore_94]

3 hours ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

It's not been good but its far from a disaster. We can still achieve all of our aims from the season, despite fofana having a serious injury.

 

I think if anyone comes in for soyuncu I would sell. We could get 40 odd million for him and that could fund someone like Carmo at Braga. We need to sort ourselves out defensively, going forward we look fine, the side has goals in it but defensively we don't dominate and are too reliant on Evans.

 

I also think leaving mendy out the squad is a mistake, he's our only real holder bar wilf and we could have done with him in Europe. KDH is miles off being as good as praet too.

 

With JJ back soon we need to switch back to 4 at the back, we're far too easy to cut open at the moment.

At the time we had to register the squad leaving Mendy out was the right decision to make as he still had options to and was looking at moves out of the club

 

Although his move to Galatasaray did break down, at the time we had to register the squad the club will have most likely been under the impression he wouldn't be with us much longer

[An Sionnach]

Looking like a snakes and ladders season, when we are allowed to dictate as we were last week, we will look good. When we are not , like yesterday, we will be indifferent. I can't see any chance of consistency until the defence is sorted. This is down to Rodgers and his team and is not about individual players, they have the necessary quality.

[Hammo]

W4 D2 L4 with a -2 goal difference is mid-table form, and that is the kind of team we have been throughout 2021. We have the squad of players to be far better than that, which makes this season a disappointment so far, but the good news is that there is still plenty of time for things to improve and for the club's ambitions to be met.

 

Too many injuries to key players at inopportune moments - in most cases, excruciatingly, when they have been in great form (Barnes, Justin, Fofana etc) - is a misfortune that has been aggravated by this crazy obsession (presumably an instruction from the manager) with building up slowly and cautiously from the back, especially at the start of games, a tactic that just makes it ridiculously easy for a well-organised opposition to defend - and, when we misplace a pass, which we often do, to counterattack from. We are so much better when we drive forward with pace and turn and worry defences, although annoyingly, because we are so ineffective at set pieces, especially corners, there is scarcely any benefit to be had from winning them.

 

As for defending corners ourselves, that is obviously our biggest weakness, has been for ages and will be for as long as our esteemed goalkeeper refuses to ever come off his line and Rodgers continues to adopt zonal marking. Why on earth both captain and manager persist in doing so is utterly baffling. The writing has not just been on the wall for ages re our ineffectiveness, nay uselessness, at defending corners, it's been flashing at us - and the opposition - repeatedly in bright neon lights.

 

We have lots of qualities other PL teams must envy - Schmeichel's shot-stopping, Evans' experience, Ndidi's tackling, Tielemans' all-round brilliance, Maddison's skill on the half-turn, Barnes's pace, and, above all, three (yes, three!) strikers who know where the goal is - so there is plenty of room for optimism in the months ahead. But while our weaknesses continue to counterbalance our strengths, and unless a lot of underperforming players start consistently doing themselves justice (Soyuncu, Ricardo, Barnes, Maddison etc), our objective of challenging once again for a Champions League place will sadly but inevitably be stifled.

 

Still, onwards and upwards...

[Always Next Year]

More downs than ups.

[jerry]

3 hours ago, Farrington fox said:

Good going forward. Vulnerable at the back, too inconsistent.

Consistent in that we only seem to play for one half of a match.

[squidsworth]

A bit disappointed, definitely not firing on all cylinders.

Nacho hasn't started where he left off last season

Madison still got his head in the clouds but maybe signs of improvement. 

Missing fofana's energy and skill at the back. Thomas can only play when Barnes plays in front of him yet often they play apart

we're missing Ndidi but at least we got soumare to cover

Thank God we got Evans back!

Start games too slow, infact we play too damn slow most of the time, about time we upped the tempo.

Probably finish about where we are, mid table.

I'd say Thomas and Barnes should start as got a good understanding together and bring the energy and tempo to the game we need. Maybe more of Daka and Nacho you can see something building there too. 

Vardy to the bench. :-(

 

 

 

 

 

[ScrumpyJack]

Transition season. Hopefully no Europa League next season, and we can build back stronger for 2023. 

[l444ry]

The way we're playing will take 3 points off another Europa place. Can only get better when Wilf, Fofana and Justin return.

[Grebfromgrebland]

5 hours ago, ScrumpyJack said:

Transition season. Hopefully no Europa League next season, and we can build back stronger for 2023. 

That's right there's always the season after next!

[sacreblueits442]

On 30/10/2021 at 20:31, davieG said:

I think you’ve got it about right. Ido wonder if there’s a bit of complacency present because it seems to take conceding or an incident to get this team going so maybe the 2 cups has made them soft or unaware that we are now a great scalp for teams to get. If we want to be a top team then we need to start playing as if we want to.

....in order to change the way the players think then we either shake up their environment or the personnel!!!

After a few years of hearing the same instructions over and over again you start to tune out even if you are not aware that you are doing so. Probably we haven't the players with the right mentality, they might have the skillset just not the ability to self motivate, the manager cannot do every thing for you.

[davieG]

19 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

....in order to change the way the players think then we either shake up their environment or the personnel!!!

After a few years of hearing the same instructions over and over again you start to tune out even if you are not aware that you are doing so. Probably we haven't the players with the right mentality, they might have the skillset just not the ability to self motivate, the manager cannot do every thing for you.

I should have included all the comforts of home plus at Seagrave as well.

[RoboFox]

21 hours ago, ScrumpyJack said:

Transition season. Hopefully no Europa League next season, and we can build back stronger for 2023. 

This is absolutely not what we want though, surely? "Transition season" is usually a euphemism for falling well short of expectations. 

 

The moment the Leicester City of 2021 starts to fall below a certain level, people start to jump ship. We're not an elite club that can retain personnel on reputation alone.

 

This is arguably the best squad we have ever had, and thus the best chance we've ever had to 1. attain success and stature and 2. continue to build upon what we've already achieved. 

 

The moment we let it slip, things can go backwards very, very quickly. We can't afford to allow that to happen. 

[ScrumpyJack]

39 minutes ago, RoboFox said:

This is absolutely not what we want though, surely? "Transition season" is usually a euphemism for falling well short of expectations. 

 

The moment the Leicester City of 2021 starts to fall below a certain level, people start to jump ship. We're not an elite club that can retain personnel on reputation alone.

 

This is arguably the best squad we have ever had, and thus the best chance we've ever had to 1. attain success and stature and 2. continue to build upon what we've already achieved. 

 

The moment we let it slip, things can go backwards very, very quickly. We can't afford to allow that to happen. 

I’m happy with it. We’re going to have to find out how to play without Tielemans consistently at some point, as well as blooding some new defensive systems.

 

Europa’s fun, but I’d rather miss out for a season with the expectation of building back better for more sustained long term success.

 

Perpetual growth is unrealistic, especially with the shortcomings in the squad that need addressing at the moment.

[mohammedsaqib]

I think we’ll end up anywhere 6-14 depending on how quickly Little Wes/JJ get back to fitness and at what level they come back at. I would like us to have a real go at UEL instead. 

[MalletFox]

17 hours ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

That's right there's always the season after next!

And the one after that too!

[Grebfromgrebland]

15 minutes ago, MalletFox said:

And the one after that too!

Onwards and upwards!

[hackneyfox]

On 31/10/2021 at 15:43, ScrumpyJack said:

Transition season. Hopefully no Europa League next season, and we can build back stronger for 2023. 

ffs