Where would we be if we hadn’t had all the injuries?

[AKCJ]

2 hours ago, Mark said:

Schmeichel, Castagne, Fofana, Soyuncu, Ricardo, Ndidi, Tielemans, Albrighton, Maddison, Iheanacho, Vardy

 

This starting 11 was 0-4 down at home to Steve Bruce’s Newcastle.

That starting XI is missing Barnes, Evans, Justin and Lookman to be fair haha

[AKCJ]

1 hour ago, ttfn said:

Fofana gets better with every game he doesn’t play.

Fofana was arguably our best player last season barring Justin and Tielemans and he was 19/20.

 

Not sure why people are desperate to make put that he doesn't massively improve us. We've just been to Anfield and played two midfielders at centre half with two centre halves on the bench.

 

If Fofana was to play and be back to our best we are instantly improved. 

[FoxinNotts]

This season, more than any I can remember, has been littered with problems that can fall into two categories, that have cost us dearly;

 

- individual errors. (Poor passes, poor clearances, poor stepping up on offsides etc)

- set piece defending 

 

eradicate these two things, and our results would be majorly better.  
So in answer to the question, if those who were out injured were in place of those making the mistakes, or defending set pieces better, then we’d be well up the table

[coolhandfox]

1 hour ago, ttfn said:

Fofana gets better with every game he doesn’t play.

All that matter is he's better that the 3 current options 

[Bourbon Fox]

The surprise Fofana-Perez partnership would have yielded 17 goals

[daddylonglegs]

3 hours ago, Mark said:

Schmeichel, Castagne, Fofana, Soyuncu, Ricardo, Ndidi, Tielemans, Albrighton, Maddison, Iheanacho, Vardy

 

This starting 11 was 0-4 down at home to Steve Bruce’s Newcastle.

Tbf still 2 key players missing there for me. 
Also an isolated game which we needed to win, so realistically we were never gonna turn up regardless of who we picked 😂

(also funny how we easily could’ve been 5-0 down)

 

 

[Guest ttfn]

36 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

All that matter is he's better that the 3 current options 

True, I’m just not sure he’s worth more than a small handful of points given the underlying systemic problems we see repeated week-after-week. Personally I think Evans is a bigger miss, we’ve not looked defensively organised without him other than the Cup Final which is the big outlier of the last 12 months.

[coolhandfox]

4 minutes ago, ttfn said:

True, I’m just not sure he’s worth more than a small handful of points given the underlying systemic problems we see repeated week-after-week. Personally I think Evans is a bigger miss, we’ve not looked defensively organised without him other than the Cup Final which is the big outlier of the last 12 months.

One thing Fofana has is power and pace. 

 

If we had them both fit and a full up to speed Justin and Riccardo, I think we would be 10 points better off ish and 7th.

 

Add Vardy to that too. 

 

 

Edited 14 February 2022 by coolhandfox

[dannythefox]

I’m going 6th or higher. 

[TheStig]

Maybe slightly higher than now but we have been awful for a long time. Its apparently more Brendans tactics than the actual players - a few apart -.......

[HybridFox]

Could say the same about every other team that has injuries. It's part and parcel of the game and the brutal reality is we've simply not been good or smart enough to deal with it

[FoxyLeon]

"All the injuries"....

 

We had just Fofana and Justin missing until recently.

Who we actually replaced in the summer in the 25 man squad with Vestergaard and Bertrand.

 

We've had a 25 man squad, nearly fully fit all season, at least until the turn of the year anyway.

 

Even with Fofana and Evans back, I see no reason why we wouldn't be exactly where we are now.

We have a lot of individual quality in this squad, but we're terribly coached.

[Raw Dykes]

18 hours ago, FoxyLeon said:

"All the injuries"....

 

We had just Fofana and Justin missing until recently.

Who we actually replaced in the summer in the 25 man squad with Vestergaard and Bertrand.

 

We've had a 25 man squad, nearly fully fit all season, at least until the turn of the year anyway.

 

Even with Fofana and Evans back, I see no reason why we wouldn't be exactly where we are now.

We have a lot of individual quality in this squad, but we're terribly coached.

That's such rubbish. Ricardo and Evans have both been missing for most of the games so far this season for a start. Castagne has missed around half, as well.

Edited 15 February 2022 by Raw Dykes

[Stadt]

We could have prime Pique and Puyol together at the back and still concede far too many because it's a structural issue. We just can't limit the opposition, in the last 5 PL games we've conceded 30 shots on target and had 12 of our own (admittedly we've played Spurs & Liverpool, twice, in that period). 

 

Goals conceded 

18/19: 48

19/20: 41

20/21: 50

21/22: 41 

 

[Corky]

Higher. What's galling right now that a bit more composure and calmness in the last three home games and we could easily have 7 more points despite the situation overall.

 

 

[Guest Col city fan]

I don’t know? 🤷‍♂️
But if my auntie had a set of bollox, would she be my uncle?

[Guest SO1]

A lot better than we are.

[Guest SO1]

6 hours ago, Raw Dykes said:

That's such rubbish. Ricardo and Evans have all been missing for most of the games so far this season for a start. Castagne has missed around half, as well.

Its borderline delusional. Talk about serving an agenda. Memories can be a dangerous thing.

Edited 15 February 2022 by SO1

[FoxyLeon]

7 hours ago, Raw Dykes said:

That's such rubbish. Ricardo and Evans have both been missing for most of the games so far this season for a start. Castagne has missed around half, as well.

 

All 3 of the above have constantly been injured under Rodgers.

 

So.....

 

1 - Why is Rodgers relying on 'Injury prone' players?

2 - Why does Rodgers have the worst injury record at our Club, possibly ever, despite having the most depth we've ever had?

3 - Why does Rodgers start the above players, and play them for say half a dozen games, straight after returning from injury?

 

 

We have the worst defensive record of all Premier League teams, that's nothing to do with the players we're missing.

Liverpool lost Van Dijk, Gomez, Matip and still managed to get top 4, despite missing Fabinho, Keita and Thiago for a large portion of the season too and had nowhere near the problems defensively, with far weaker players. 

[Raw Dykes]

9 minutes ago, FoxyLeon said:

 

All 3 of the above have constantly been injured under Rodgers.

 

So.....

 

1 - Why is Rodgers relying on 'Injury prone' players?

2 - Why does Rodgers have the worst injury record at our Club, possibly ever, despite having the most depth we've ever had?

3 - Why does Rodgers start the above players, and play them for say half a dozen games, straight after returning from injury?

 

 

We have the worst defensive record of all Premier League teams, that's nothing to do with the players we're missing.

Liverpool lost Van Dijk, Gomez, Matip and still managed to get top 4, despite missing Fabinho, Keita and Thiago for a large portion of the season too and had nowhere near the problems defensively, with far weaker players. 

You've completely changed your position all of a sudden! I thought we've had a nearly fully fit squad all season?

 

Not arguing about Rodgers. Our injury problems have been a major concern since he's been here.

 

To say our defensive record is nothing to do with the missing players is a bit ridiculous, though, don't you think? Out of our best back 4, one hasn't kicked a ball yet all season, one has only just come back, and the other two have barely played 10 games each. Any team is going to struggle with that.

 

You don't think comparing us to Liverpool is a bit unfair? They're competing for the title, usually, not top 4.

[Royston.]

Without injury, Fofana and Ricardo will have been sold for big money by now which we could reinvest into strengthening.

 

As it happens we've stood still while the likes of villa, west ham and wolves have overtaken us.

 

Still, we'll get around 30M for Youri which we can use to pay someone's severance 

 

[shailen]

We'd have definitely been better but I think the issue is that our confidence was shot when we lost a few players and haven't been able to recover since! Injuries led to bad performances which is now leading to a confidence crisis. It will need a couple of good wins to turn this around imo, and even if they are scrappy that'll do, but it'll help to turn the confidence around! 

[purpleronnie]

Are peoples predictions based on us having no injuries and all the other clubs still having all of theirs?