8th place

[Kilworthfox]

17 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

A squad, which, over Christmas had 17 players missing. Most of the season we've played without with between 4 and 8 of the best 16 players missing

17! 

 

Don't worry I wont ask you to itemise it. We have had injuries without doubt, yet so has every club.

[LCCFox96]

In the end we rose above all of the sides who finished 9th and below, whom we would argue we should be beating. Nice to end the season in good form which we can hopefully carry over into 22/23. We've also salvaged circa £14mil in prize money which is most welcome.

 

Disappointed to have been edged out by West Ham for 7th but no real complaints on the balance of play throughout the season. The Top 6 all got the better of us this year which is no great shame on our part, but hopefully with the chance to regroup over the summer we can ruffle some feathers again next season.

[Stinkenzo]

Charity Shield just isn't enough for some people, is it?

[Foxdiamond]

There have of course been disappointments but good end to the season and 8th is still among the higher places we have had in our history. Perhaps my benchmark is too low but remember far more and many poorer seasons.

[TJB-fox]

25 minutes ago, filbertway said:

10 points and +10 on the GD when there's nothing to play for to help mask a very poor performance is about as Brendan Rodgers as you'll get

 

I'm happy this season is over. 6 weeks off off to switch off from football and get the excitement back is just what the Doctor ordered

 

Future defining 18 months coming up for the club, the hard work begins now for Rudkin and the recruitment team. 

 

Shout out to @Dahnsouff and @TJB-fox who have put up with my miserable ways this season, I've enjoyed out back and forths. Hopefully we're all enjoying a much better season and more in agreement over the next season

 

@Ric Flair for providing his usual dose of humour and banter throughout the season. FInally @Stadt as someone who seemed to see things as I did, which helped me feel like I wasn't going crazy at times

 

We go again next season!

Haha great post mate. Can’t say I always agree with your opinions but that’s what the game is all about. You certainly stick to your guns! 

 

Im looking forward to a break from Leicester city and this forum to be honest, it’s been such a flat season. 

 

[Guest Col city fan]

25 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

If Evans could stay fit but we know with his injury issues it won’t be easy, key has to be buying a first team Centre half next season to partner Fofana.

I agree. Evans can’t stay fit for long enough. 
The club must go out and sign a first team CB to play (hopefully avoiding injury), the bulk of the season alongside Fofana 

[Stinkenzo]

9 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

There have of course been disappointments but good end to the season and 8th is still among the higher places we have had in our history. Perhaps my benchmark is too low but remember far more and many poorer seasons.

Your benchmark is just realistic and accepts that sometimes things don't go as well as you hoped.

[UniFox21]

At 8th, still the best team in the Midlands 

[FoxCal]

8th feels a bit flattering given that the majority of the season has felt like such a disaster. 
 

Going around in circles with myself. Thinking that actually, 8th is somewhat of an accomplishment given the number of injuries we’ve dealt with and games we’ve had to play.

 

But then I think back to the number of collapses we’ve had. The number of set pieces we’ve failed to defend. The amount of turgid and blunt performances we’ve put on display and I can only think about where we could have finished. I’m conflicted.

 

Given the pitiful defence of the FA Cup and underperformance in the Europa League (though a good run in the Conference League was some recompense), I’m glad the season is over because I’m just feeling burnt out. Worry about this ‘rebuild’ but we’ll go again in August with whatever we’ve got and by then I’ll be in chomping at the bit for it.

[CosbehFox]

Frustrating, annoying but wouldn’t quite class it in bad. Somehow we’ve maintained the facade of us being up an upwards mobile club. 
 

I ain’t having the argument about well the season was over and the last four opposition didn’t have anything to play for. That’s the same every season and it’s exactly where it fell  apart in the last two. 

[Super_horns]

No European football for a distraction so guess you will hope to improve on that .

 

Sorry we cannot help you with 6 points next season !

[foxfanazer]

Not a horrendous position to finish in by any means but I have to admit I'm glad the seasons over. I could do with a break from it and I think some of our players could too 

[Parafox]

1 hour ago, Monk said:

At times this season and even quite recently it seemed impossible that we would finish in the top half, yet with a strong finish we have managed 8th. 
 

I’ll take it, definitely. It’s frustrating as without the stupid collapses we could have finished higher. 
 

Are you happy with 8th?

I think we got 8th because we got beaten in the Europa Conference League quarter final. That monkey on our backs was finally lifted and we could play more freely.

[StriderHiryu]

17 minutes ago, SafewayFox said:

I remember earlier in the season you thought Soumare might be awesome for us.

 

Was there a particular game/moments in various matches that made you change your mind?

 

Do you think he could turn it around at all mate?

 

It was noticeable that in many games he started in we would lose or he would come on and we would concede. For some reason the 3-2 loss against Brighton springs to mind, but not sure if he was especially poor in the game. I think unfortunately for him that he came into a team that were struggling so he wasn't able to bed himself into the team. It also must be noted that Soumare started something like 12 Premier League games in a row in the early season, so he was 100% given a chance to stay in the team and prove himself, but didn't.

 

To answer your first question there wasn't one specific game that comes to mind. I do remember him being amazing against Spartak away, but he was always poor in the Premier League.

 

At the end of the day KDH came on away against Southampton around Christmas time, put in an incredible performance and took Soumare's spot from that point on. Since then Soumare has been a bit part player and became the player Soumare was supposed to be in terms of ball progression.

It will be interesting to see if we keep faith with him. Soyuncu didn't play at all in his first season really, then after Maguire left he came in and was the better player, making team of the season even. But Soumare never looked like a Ligue 1 winning midfielder... if anything the player that did was Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall!

 

Not all signings work out. In this case we already have a player in KDH that does what Soumare was supposedly brought in for. Mendy is better deputy if Ndidi is out too. So I imagine he will get shipped out to France or Italy.

 

Do I think he could turn it around? I think he could, but some of Rodgers comments make it seem like he thinks he can't cut it in the Premier League. And players like Adrien Silva, Vicente Iborra and Dennis Praet have all had similar stores to their careers here too. The latter two in fact did a lot better than Soumare did.

 

I've got nothing against him, I thought he was going to be a revelation! But he's been a flop and we were lucky KDH stepped in and stepped up. Him and Maddison dragged us to 8th IMO.

[tom27111]

Eighth has probably papered over the cracks a little bit.

 

Shows how 'the greatest league in the world' is actually a little bit weak.

 

I guess we're second in the 'best of the rest' category.

 

But...with a fully fit Fofana and Vardy, plus an in form Maddison and hopefully a couple of smart acquisitions and no European distractions, let's go and upset the establishment next season.

 

Sixth will do, but let's aim for fourth. Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal are only just above average in my opinion.

[CosbehFox]

I also think it’s greatly underestimated how mentally tired this squad is. The whole scenario of missing out twice but completing a club goal which has existed for hundred years. 
 

Id love to see our running stats because we don’t run enough off the ball and that’s where KDH. Greatest respect to the kid but his appearance this season are representative of our fall in performance 

[ALC Fox]

With my optimistic hat on:

 

A decent enough spot in the table to hopefully show that we're still a decent enough side considering the injuries we've had and so we still should be able to sell the club to a good calibre of prospective signing even though there's no European football on offer.

 

Then, with only domestic cups to worry about, we can hopefully focus on having a fantastic league season with a refreshed squad hungry to challenge for another FA Cup and/or a top 4 finish.

 

Oh, and also blood a few of the youngsters who we don't send out on loan.

Edited 22 May 2022 by ALC Fox

[Koke]

8th has papered over the cracks IMO. But we'll take it. My only worry is last summers signings haven't pulled up any trees. Here's hoping this summers signings will be a success. We need it to be. Plus rectifying the defending. 

[Guest ttfn]

I think the fact that we finished as close to the relegation places as we did to 5th probably explains why 8th feels underwhelming to many. We were never in contention for the European places despite having finished one position below them.

 

It will be another thing that gets thrown on the Rodgers In/Out debate when it inevitably next rears its head. 8th is a pretty good finish, 52 points is not.

Edited 22 May 2022 by ttfn

[fazzyfox]

I’d say look who’s above us - the six with ridiculous budgets including Arsenal who had no draining European involvement and then West Ham, gifted a stadium expansion whilst we cut our cloth. With some (realistically you’ll never have all) of our missing players available, just Wes and Wilf all season for example, how many more points would we have earned? I think we’d have finished 6th above a poor Man Utd. Next season Man Utd may / may not sort their s**t out, Arsenal will have more games to contend with and Wild card Newcastle will..,. We’ve finished as high as we could have done with the cruel cards we were dealt.

Edited 23 May 2022 by fazzyfox
Wilf not Wolf! Bloke from Gladiators doesn't play for City!

[whetstonefox]

Although it has felt underwhelming this year we must still the look of the best of the rest to perspective players so if we can get the right players in we can go again. Our last 5 finishes have been 9,9,5,5 and now 8. That also looks stable unlike the likes of Leeds and Everton. 
 

let’s hope this is just one step back so to speak and 2 steps forward next year.

[Samilktray]

I can’t believe people still have the energy to tell us all they want Rodgers out. It’s exhausting reading it and he’s clearly not going anywhere at the moment 

 

I say this as somebody who would welcome a managerial change aswell 

[peterborofox]

8th is a lot more acceptable. 

 

But it shows how tight and shit the league is outside the top two. 

 

Look at how many points we've chucked away with late goals, Brighton, West ham, Spurs to name a few. Give us those points and we'd come sixth. 

 

So for me it's been a season of missed opportunity, we could have got so much more.

 

I'm actually pleased we're not in Europe again, as long as we use it to push again next season I'll be happy. If this time next year we've finished 10th I'll be fuming probably

[lcfcbluearmy]

Frustrating because I felt that we could and should have done better but at the end of the day 8th a European semi final only 6 points of Europe isn't bad with the injury's we've had but want us to kick on next season

[Hammo]

In a 38-game league you finish where you deserve to finish. 
 

It’s great to have ended the season strongly with ten points from the last four games and a perfect sign-off today. But nobody can deny that the 2021/22 season (in all competitions) has had many more low points than high.

 

How special was that win over Liverpool at Christmas though? A title decider in all but name. The highlight of the season by a country mile.