Kasey McAteer

[Dan LCFC]

I thought against Cov he looked a bit out of his depth but he's actually looking increasingly like he belongs in this side. This is a proper example of actually giving academy prospects a chance - the likes of Barnes, KDH, Chilwell etc... were nailed on for our side (the same way Alves & Braybrooke are), but McAteer I didn't think would. He's surprised me in a good way.

[SafewayFox]

I’m guilty of it (massively) but as fans we always compare players to current/previous players.

 

A huge respect goes to Kasey/Enzo for his obvious huge development in the space of a few months, he’s been a big surprise and however his career pans out, just enjoy his contribution right now.

[Bert]

4 hours ago, Dan LCFC said:

I thought against Cov he looked a bit out of his depth but he's actually looking increasingly like he belongs in this side. This is a proper example of actually giving academy prospects a chance - the likes of Barnes, KDH, Chilwell etc... were nailed on for our side (the same way Alves & Braybrooke are), but McAteer I didn't think would. He's surprised me in a good way.

Me too. 
 

Out of all of the academy graduates that have made it for us, he looks by far the most unnatural of the lot. But fair play to him, he’s our top scorer in the league and works his arse off every game. 

[Aus Fox]

On 16/09/2023 at 00:58, filbertway said:

I admit it's a brave call from me considering he's bagged 3 in 2  

 

If I break down his goals so far

1. Header on the line
2. Allowed 3 touches and time to set himself about 14 yards out and hit a fairly central shot the keeper should save
3. Well taken 1 on 1 opportunity that I'd expect coalvilles attackers to put away.

 

His pros certainly seem to be his pace and work rate. He just doesn't seem to be on the save wave length as other players, or too slow to make a decision sometimes. He killed a few attacks yesterday through a lack of awareness of his surroundings. 

 

People won't be bothered about these things while we're winning. I'll no doubt see these complaints surface if we go through a sticky patch though.

 

I can see him carving out a decent career in the game, but if he's in the championship, I'd expect it to be more with a Rotherham/Barnsley than teams genuinely looking for promotion.

 

Right...which other threads need the optimism sucking out of??

 

I think what your failing to give him credit for in your review of his goals, is the intelligence and skill that’s involved in making sure you’re in the right place at the right time to finish chances.

Yes the chances themselves are fairly routine, but to get those chances in the first place you need to be doing something right.

[Strokes]

I love watching him celebrate goals.

[Greg2607]

He is this generations version of mark Albrighton for us.   Works hard, is quietly effective and earns his place in the team by making it a better sum of its parts. 

 

He doesn't really have tricks or skills to beat a man one on one, but takes up intelligent positions and works back hard. 

 

That is in no way a criticism of him, but players like that sometime don't "stand out" in youth football or at lower levels as it's also reliant on others around them. 

[ALC Fox]

I admit it's been a bit of a surprise seeing him come through and perform so well in these first few games of the season.

 

The thing is, sometimes you just don't know how a player is going to react when given a chance to step up and play with and against much better players than he previously has done before.

 

Obviously he doesn't look the finished article but he's risen to the challenge really well. Compare even his miss against Coventry to his finish against Southampton. He's performing well at this level and improving game on game.

 

Plus he's constantly making the right runs. I can't tell you the amount of times I've seen analysis on Match of the Day where strikers are too isolated and moves are breaking down too easily or defenders can get back. McAteer is making intelligent runs at the right moment and supporting his left-sided and central attackers well.

 

Long may it continue.

[foxfanazer]

The thing I like about him the most is how happy he looks to be there. The last couple of years we've been watching players that think they're above the club so to see a young kid buzzing to play for us and seizing his opportunity is a breath of fresh air

[Salieri]

Been a breath of fresh air and I must say I didn’t think he would make the step up like he has, fair play. 
 

Would be amazing if Braybrooke and Alves could come back and have a similar impact. 

[Shane]

i wonder if Enzo will try play him as a CM

[davieG]

Sometimes you have to give credit to the manager,  he may have been anonymous elsewhere and average in the u21s but that could be partly due to how he was instructed to play by those managers. It seems obvious to me that Enzo has seen something in training and preseason and has the confidence and given him the opportunity and confidence to perform. He's looking like he's taking that opportunity full on.

[Salieri]

10 minutes ago, davieG said:

Sometimes you have to give credit to the manager,  he may have been anonymous elsewhere and average in the u21s but that could be partly due to how he was instructed to play by those managers. It seems obvious to me that Enzo has seen something in training and preseason and has the confidence and given him the opportunity and confidence to perform. He's looking like he's taking that opportunity full on.

Definitely and this is something we’re already seeing with a lot of the players, improvement in their overall play thanks to quality coaching. 
 

Polar opposite to the regression in most players form witnessed under Rodgers in the last couple of years. 

[LCFCJohn]

On 16/09/2023 at 08:58, filbertway said:

I admit it's a brave call from me considering he's bagged 3 in 2  

 

If I break down his goals so far

1. Header on the line
2. Allowed 3 touches and time to set himself about 14 yards out and hit a fairly central shot the keeper should save
3. Well taken 1 on 1 opportunity that I'd expect coalvilles attackers to put away.

 

His pros certainly seem to be his pace and work rate. He just doesn't seem to be on the save wave length as other players, or too slow to make a decision sometimes. He killed a few attacks yesterday through a lack of awareness of his surroundings. 

 

People won't be bothered about these things while we're winning. I'll no doubt see these complaints surface if we go through a sticky patch though.

 

I can see him carving out a decent career in the game, but if he's in the championship, I'd expect it to be more with a Rotherham/Barnsley than teams genuinely looking for promotion.

 

Right...which other threads need the optimism sucking out of??

 

I tend to find I agree with you on many things but I do think this is a harsh take on the goal the other night and the winner at Rotherham to a lesser extent.

 

It’s fair to say there’s no evidence either way as to whether he’ll develop into a Premier League player or if he’d leave and make a career at this level if we go up. But he seems to be really taking his chance at this level so far so he definitely looks capable of carving out a career where we are now.

 

Even if we progress more than he is capable of, it’d be nice for us to be producing academy players who we can sell on in the way Man City do as well as ones who break through and got for the big money such as Chilwell and Barnes.

[foxfanazer]

52 minutes ago, davieG said:

Sometimes you have to give credit to the manager,  he may have been anonymous elsewhere and average in the u21s but that could be partly due to how he was instructed to play by those managers. It seems obvious to me that Enzo has seen something in training and preseason and has the confidence and given him the opportunity and confidence to perform. He's looking like he's taking that opportunity full on.

And for him to identify something so quickly from a player that even the average Leicester wouldn't know much about is incredible really. It's so exciting to have a manager that trusts youth and has no qualms giving them a chance 

[filbertway]

1 hour ago, LCFCJohn said:

I tend to find I agree with you on many things but I do think this is a harsh take on the goal the other night and the winner at Rotherham to a lesser extent.

 

It’s fair to say there’s no evidence either way as to whether he’ll develop into a Premier League player or if he’d leave and make a career at this level if we go up. But he seems to be really taking his chance at this level so far so he definitely looks capable of carving out a career where we are now.

 

Even if we progress more than he is capable of, it’d be nice for us to be producing academy players who we can sell on in the way Man City do as well as ones who break through and got for the big money such as Chilwell and Barnes.

I fully accept that making this kind of post when a player is in his form and an academy graduate is insane and not going to get much backing  

 

I stand by it though, not really seen anything from him that makes me think "cor, he's some player in the making". He had all the time in the world to put in a couple of crosses against Southampton. One he chipped over the bar and the other was dreafully overhit.

 

I think people are getting carried away due to the goals and him being an academy graduate.

 

On the goals, they were both decent finishes and he still had to do the job, but if he didn't take either of them he'd likely be getting pelters. I urge anyone to watch that Rotherham goal back. So many touches and then the keeper makes it look more impressive by pushing the shot into the top corner. I think it annoyed me that it drew comparisons with Mahrez from some people 

 

I wish the lad the best and hope he carves out a good career for himself. So far, he strikes me as an Albrighton in terms of his key skills being workrate and physicality. Usually there's something that stands out about a player, especially attackers, that means you can see them making it at the top end of the game. I've just not really seen any of that yet myself. 

 

As you say, it's in our interest to produce players that could be seen as good championship players as it's another revenue stream we don't really have atm. If we get promoted and outsiders see Kasey as a good signing, we may be able to shift him for 10-15 million. Just think of the dross Rudkin could overpay with that money  

 

 

 

[dmayne7]

16 minutes ago, filbertway said:

I fully accept that making this kind of post when a player is in his form and an academy graduate is insane and not going to get much backing  

 

I stand by it though, not really seen anything from him that makes me think "cor, he's some player in the making". He had all the time in the world to put in a couple of crosses against Southampton. One he chipped over the bar and the other was dreafully overhit.

 

I think people are getting carried away due to the goals and him being an academy graduate.

 

On the goals, they were both decent finishes and he still had to do the job, but if he didn't take either of them he'd likely be getting pelters. I urge anyone to watch that Rotherham goal back. So many touches and then the keeper makes it look more impressive by pushing the shot into the top corner. I think it annoyed me that it drew comparisons with Mahrez from some people 

 

I wish the lad the best and hope he carves out a good career for himself. So far, he strikes me as an Albrighton in terms of his key skills being workrate and physicality. Usually there's something that stands out about a player, especially attackers, that means you can see them making it at the top end of the game. I've just not really seen any of that yet myself. 

 

As you say, it's in our interest to produce players that could be seen as good championship players as it's another revenue stream we don't really have atm. If we get promoted and outsiders see Kasey as a good signing, we may be able to shift him for 10-15 million. Just think of the dross Rudkin could overpay with that money  

 

 

 

Is anybody actually suggesting he's going to be a top 6 player? I've not seen that but I'm also noy saying he definitely won't be. I think there's plenty of us that are pleasantly surprised that he's contributing so much. The exciting thing is this is a kid who's been played all over the place and a few games in the same position, and we're seeing him excel. That gives us plenty of hope for his future development. And don't underestimate his off the ball/positional play; that's often the differentiator between somebody making it at the higher levels of the game.

 

He could completely tail off from here yet he'd have still contributed to any success we've had this season which is a bonus.

[StriderHiryu]

2 hours ago, foxfanazer said:

The thing I like about him the most is how happy he looks to be there. The last couple of years we've been watching players that think they're above the club so to see a young kid buzzing to play for us and seizing his opportunity is a breath of fresh air

Our best spells as a club have all been when we've had motivated players and members of staff.

 

At the start of Rodgers' tenure we had players that wanted to make an impression to get their next move. Rodgers himself had something to prove. It led to a bit between the teeth and some great performances and results. But by the end the manager thought he was too good for us and many players were resigned to their next move, even if it was a step-down from the move they really wanted. The motivation was gone.

 

In this new era, I feel like we are getting back to having motivated players. Enzo Maresca has higher ambitions than us, but he knows this is an exciting multi-year project where he can stamp his play style and personality on a club and mould it in his own image. That he's sleeping at Seagrave shows you how motivated he is. Many of our new players that have come in have something to prove and / or see this as an opportunity to progress to an elite club on a big money move.

 

I love players like McAteer. He'll run all day, he won't complain. All he wants to do is play for the club, and you can see what it means to him. It's like one of the fans playing for the team.

 

How good he ends up being we don't know. But it's exciting to see his emergence, so let's just enjoy the journey!

[Chelmofox]

I'd rather not pigeon hole him as anything right now. Its wonderful that he has taken this opportunity head on, and will hopefully serve as inspiration to Braybrooke and Alves too. This is the best development he could have hoped for, and it will be fascinating to see how he develops from here as its clear to me that he is 'at least' this level. A big part of that development will include how he deals with things not going so well, so i expect ups and downs. 

Edited 19 September 2023 by Chelmofox

[Finnegan]

44 minutes ago, filbertway said:

So far, he strikes me as an Albrighton in terms of his key skills being workrate and physicality.

 

Marc Albrighton has played over two hundred games for us and I don't think he's made a single progressive run off the ball as positive as the one McAteer made for his goal against Southampton. 

 

This is probably why McAteer has already scored like 1/4 of the total goals Albrighton has for Leicester.

 

I don't mean to imply McAteer is Messi in the making, if you'd have asked me a month ago I'd have probably agreed that he looked out of his depth at this level. 

 

But he probably just needs and needed time to find his role in the team and for us to get a handle on his strengths and weaknesses. I don't think he's ever going to have blistering pace or skin a man with skilful dribbling but his movement off the ball has consistently put him in space. 

 

You say he was given way too much time against Rotherham but maybe there's something in that, maybe he's making space and time for himself with his movement because it's pretty consistent so far? Hell, first game of the season he kept finding himself in absolute acres against Cov and had probably the first major chance of the game. 

 

[Foxdiamond]

49 minutes ago, filbertway said:

I fully accept that making this kind of post when a player is in his form and an academy graduate is insane and not going to get much backing  

 

I stand by it though, not really seen anything from him that makes me think "cor, he's some player in the making". He had all the time in the world to put in a couple of crosses against Southampton. One he chipped over the bar and the other was dreafully overhit.

 

I think people are getting carried away due to the goals and him being an academy graduate.

 

On the goals, they were both decent finishes and he still had to do the job, but if he didn't take either of them he'd likely be getting pelters. I urge anyone to watch that Rotherham goal back. So many touches and then the keeper makes it look more impressive by pushing the shot into the top corner. I think it annoyed me that it drew comparisons with Mahrez from some people 

 

I wish the lad the best and hope he carves out a good career for himself. So far, he strikes me as an Albrighton in terms of his key skills being workrate and physicality. Usually there's something that stands out about a player, especially attackers, that means you can see them making it at the top end of the game. I've just not really seen any of that yet myself. 

 

As you say, it's in our interest to produce players that could be seen as good championship players as it's another revenue stream we don't really have atm. If we get promoted and outsiders see Kasey as a good signing, we may be able to shift him for 10-15 million. Just think of the dross Rudkin could overpay with that money  

 

 

 

Let us see if he can develop. I think you are over analysing the goals particularly the Rotherham touches. Even the greatest players have had a poor first touch or a bit of luck but put the ball in the net. We don't then criticise overly. Do you think every finish by Lineker or Vardy etc was a clean precise finish. Currently Enzo rates Kasey enough to be in the side. Let us wish him well. If he achieves what Marc has done then I will be happy.

[AjcW]

His time here can be summarised quite easily.

One bafoon of a first team manager, and our U21 bafoon, played him mostly as a left back.

 

The current manager is playing him as a right sided attacker.

 

Mismanaged horrendously here but pleased to see he's taking his chance in what looks like a natural role for him. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Really pleased for him. Was a bit underwhelmed against Cov but he seems to be improving game by game. Hopefully he can put a bit of bulk on this season as well and really kick on. 

[casablancas]

On 16/09/2023 at 08:58, filbertway said:

I admit it's a brave call from me considering he's bagged 3 in 2  

 

If I break down his goals so far

1. Header on the line
2. Allowed 3 touches and time to set himself about 14 yards out and hit a fairly central shot the keeper should save
3. Well taken 1 on 1 opportunity that I'd expect coalvilles attackers to put away.

 

His pros certainly seem to be his pace and work rate. He just doesn't seem to be on the save wave length as other players, or too slow to make a decision sometimes. He killed a few attacks yesterday through a lack of awareness of his surroundings. 

 

People won't be bothered about these things while we're winning. I'll no doubt see these complaints surface if we go through a sticky patch though.

 

I can see him carving out a decent career in the game, but if he's in the championship, I'd expect it to be more with a Rotherham/Barnsley than teams genuinely looking for promotion.

 

Right...which other threads need the optimism sucking out of??

 

I used to smoke a lot of weed. But Jesus man. What on gods green earth are you on? That goal against S’hampton was fantiastic, king bursting sprint combined with composure, fantastic first touch and a classy finish. Finish was vardesque

[StanSP]

Is he a Leicester fan? 

[SafewayFox]

6 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Is he a Leicester fan? 

Nah, he was born in Nottingham wasn’t he? 😜