Myths of Premier League football.

[Donut]

I think the notion that the lower half Premiership teams arent much of a step up is a myth personally.

 

Ok, Sunderland, probably Cardiff and Norwich/Fulham havent been great this season, but you take a "run of the mill" midtable Premiership team, or even lower into the lower middle half like Aston Villa, Swansea, Stoke, and to say there isnt a significant improvement in quality between those and the majority of championship teams is pretty daft to be honest.

 

You also reach sides like Southampton, Newcastle, and Man Utd even in 7th place, and theyre a team that are 7th in the league possessing Mata, Van Persie, Rooney, Januzaj and all manner of destructive players on their day you simply dont have in the championship

[Langston]

I think we underestimate the Premier League at our peril. Granted it's perhaps not as strong as it once was, but there's plenty of work to be done if we want to stay there.

 

For me, we need five or six quality players in this summer; I don't want to sound an absolute scrote (aware I'm failing by making this point) but we can't have any room for over the top sentimentality once the business gets going.

[Stadt]

I think we underestimate the Premier League at our peril. Granted it's perhaps not as strong as it once was, but there's plenty of work to be done if we want to stay there.

For me, we need five or six quality players in this summer; I don't want to sound an absolute scrote (aware I'm failing by making this point) but we can't have any room for over the top sentimentality once the business gets going.

I agree with all if this, very good post.

I love Wasyl but he'll get murdered on pace next year.

[fuchsntf]

Having read a lot of the post match chat in the last 3 or 4 weeks since we have not been playing 'sparkling football' and I have read a fair amount of bullshit disguised as 'facts' as to what we need to do to stay up.

A) We need a prolific goalscorer.

Hull City = Top league goalscorer has 3 goals

Crystal Palace = Top league goalscorer has 6 goals

West Ham = Top league goalscorer has 7 goals

West Brom = Top league goalscorer has 4 goals.

These 4 teams look pretty solid in staying up, and do not boast a 'prolific goalscorer.' How do you explain this? It really isn't about how many goals individuals score, if we can contribute all around the side (as we have the players to do) then we really do not need to add this mythical '20 goal a season' man whomever he may be.

 

B) These players are good in the championship, unlikely to make the step up.

If you look at teams that have been promoted from the championship in the last couple of years, alot of their core squad is still playing for them.

Southampton= When we saw Lambert play against us for Bristol Rovers did he look an England striker? Lallana? Fonte? Schniederlin? These were all good championship players and have made the step.

Swansea = Ashley Williams to me is very similar to Wes Morgan, and he has done okay, infact been linked with Arsenal. Routledge, Dyer, Britton etc the list goes on.

Palace = In the last few weeks I have seen a few folk saying Morgan and Was aren't good enough. Do you consider Damien Delaney and Danny Gabbidon a Premier League defence?

Apologies for this lengthy post, just think there is a alot of people over estimating the quality of the premier league. We beat Fulham already, gave Stoke a good game with a weakened team and battled well against Man City when they were flying. We need to have realistic expectations as fans, that being better than 3 other teams in the league is enough next season, and with one or two very little tweaks I'm fairly sure this will be done.

Having read a lot of the post match chat in the last 3 or 4 weeks since we have not been playing 'sparkling football' and I have read a fair amount of bullshit disguised as 'facts' as to what we need to do to stay up.

A) We need a prolific goalscorer.

Hull City = Top league goalscorer has 3 goals

Crystal Palace = Top league goalscorer has 6 goals

West Ham = Top league goalscorer has 7 goals

West Brom = Top league goalscorer has 4 goals.

These 4 teams look pretty solid in staying up, and do not boast a 'prolific goalscorer.' How do you explain this? It really isn't about how many goals individuals score, if we can contribute all around the side (as we have the players to do) then we really do not need to add this mythical '20 goal a season' man whomever he may be.

 

B) These players are good in the championship, unlikely to make the step up.

If you look at teams that have been promoted from the championship in the last couple of years, alot of their core squad is still playing for them.

Southampton= When we saw Lambert play against us for Bristol Rovers did he look an England striker? Lallana? Fonte? Schniederlin? These were all good championship players and have made the step.

Swansea = Ashley Williams to me is very similar to Wes Morgan, and he has done okay, infact been linked with Arsenal. Routledge, Dyer, Britton etc the list goes on.

Palace = In the last few weeks I have seen a few folk saying Morgan and Was aren't good enough. Do you consider Damien Delaney and Danny Gabbidon a Premier League defence?

Apologies for this lengthy post, just think there is a alot of people over estimating the quality of the premier league. We beat Fulham already, gave Stoke a good game with a weakened team and battled well against Man City when they were flying. We need to have realistic expectations as fans, that being better than 3 other teams in the league is enough next season, and with one or two very little tweaks I'm fairly sure this will be done.[/quote .........POST OF THE SEASON]

[Tielemans63]

Personally I think that the bottom 10 sides probably do contain a lot players who aren't any better than the majority of players in the Championship.

The difference IMHO, and the reason we shouldn't underestimate any prem side, is that most teams have at least a handful of outstanding players who can win a game on their own. For instance, at Villa, they've got loads of bang average players but then they've got Benteke. At Swansea they've got Michu. At Hull they've got Huddlestone and so on and so forth. Pretty much every side has someone who can make the difference, the teams that don't have that are in the bottom 3.

[veezeeblue]

Myths :

 

- They dont sell Pukka pies (made this one up)

- Pitch invasions - you will get shot on sight!

- Need to spend 63M on players or was it 35M ... anyway ... 

- We done need to buy anybody really !

- Goal line technology will help Schmeichel score mores goals!

- You get more time on the ball !!!!! gotta be kidding did you see Liverpool & Man City game !

- Streaming will be easier (maybe)

- LCFC will be first on MOTD every week

- We will be in bottom 3 by xmas

- We will be in top 3 by xmas

- Only need to finish 17th and I will be happy (yeah really gonna enjoy last few games)

- leaving after 80 mins will be punished by electric shock

- 442 will work

- 442 will not work

- strikers dont need to score goals (did I misread that one)

- Foxes forum will be full of happy chaps adoring life in premier after 10 years

 

lets´s revisit this at xmas

[Carlos88LCFC]

I think that if we took our team into the Premiership as it is now we would stay up. We would score goals, I think Vardy will scare a few prem teams with his pace and work rate.

 

Saying that, if we can't handle corners, long throws, free kicks etc. we will get caught out by some of the managers as in the prem, the managers expose teams weakenesses a lot more than in the championship where they don't have the depth to do so.

 

But still, our counter attacking football and tempo that we play ATM is 100% premiership quality and if we add a bit more depth to our squad and maybe 1/2 gems we will be more than safe as long as we keep the team spirit and can handle not dominating teams as we have done this year.

 

As I said in a previous post, teams go down because they loose their confidence as individuals and stop working as a team and the big names start blaming the players around him etc etc... In Nige I trust to keep the demons at bay and I am sure we will be safe!

 

I hope Mahrez & Knocky can handle the step up. If they keep their workrate up then I'm sure they will. Just think sometimes 'flair' players in the Championship get found out in the prem. The defenders have a lot more pace on the wings and not as easy to get by.

[Dan LCFC]

Totally agree. The Premier League, the bottom half especially, isn't what it was.

[Dan LCFC]

"442 isn't a premier league formation"

 

That's another one to be fair. Not many sides play it but that isn't to say it's automatically weaker.

[cc_star]

Good OP

 

I keep changing my mind on whether the Prem is a load of shit & we'll be alright, or whether it a tough ask

 

Anyway, for now...

 

Ignoring Sunderland, Fulham & Cardiff, can we compete with Stoke, West Ham, Palace, Villa, Swansea etc in taking points off each other whilst knicking the odd point from the top 5?

 

Possibly, maybe even probably if we can improve a couple of positions.

 

But in the Premier League you just don't get the same number of chances we've created this season, which has often been overwhelming, not just occasionally but OFTEN & not just a few chances but an OVERWHELMING number - In lieu of creating chance after chance in the Prem is where set-pieces come in - How many of Palace, West Ham & Stoke etc. goals come from set-pieces? Quite a high proportion I'd have thought.

 

Yes, we haven't got to go toe-to-toe with Silva, Suarez, Hazard, Rooney, Aguero every week, but as players like this are spread around the teams a bit... it's pretty much every other week... and if something doesn't happen on set-pieces the likes of Stoke, Palace & West Ham will do to is in the air just what Suarez, Hazard & Aguero could do to us on the ground.

 

Where will the 40+ points come from, when the likes of Drinkwater, James & RDL aren't camped on the edge of the opposition box like they've been for the majority of this season? Drinkwater, James could be camped on the edge of our box & if they're not, we'll be conceding left, right & centre... The whole reason for our success this season could go out of the window.

 

We don't want to be the plucky team who goes down having given a good account of ourselves & our regularly praised on MotD for having tried but failed to do the right thing.

 

The challenge that awaits us is a tough one

[chapero82]

Can you remember how we did against stoke? That is what worries me

[_Fatboyslow_]

Can you remember how we did against stoke? That is what worries me

[Carl the Llama]

Can you remember how we did against stoke? That is what worries me

We looked fairly competitive fielding a weakened side as I remember it.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Defence is the main priority next season for me, we are poor at set plays, and the likes of Benteke etc will have a field day

I agree, we are pretty shocking at dealing with set plays, and unless sorted, could be our biggest stumbling block next season.

[morris1234]

Having read a lot of the post match chat in the last 3 or 4 weeks since we have not been playing 'sparkling football' and I have read a fair amount of bullshit disguised as 'facts' as to what we need to do to stay up.

A) We need a prolific goalscorer.

Hull City = Top league goalscorer has 3 goals

Crystal Palace = Top league goalscorer has 6 goals

West Ham = Top league goalscorer has 7 goals

West Brom = Top league goalscorer has 4 goals.

These 4 teams look pretty solid in staying up, and do not boast a 'prolific goalscorer.' How do you explain this? It really isn't about how many goals individuals score, if we can contribute all around the side (as we have the players to do) then we really do not need to add this mythical '20 goal a season' man whomever he may be.

B) These players are good in the championship, unlikely to make the step up.

If you look at teams that have been promoted from the championship in the last couple of years, alot of their core squad is still playing for them.

Southampton= When we saw Lambert play against us for Bristol Rovers did he look an England striker? Lallana? Fonte? Schniederlin? These were all good championship players and have made the step.

Swansea = Ashley Williams to me is very similar to Wes Morgan, and he has done okay, infact been linked with Arsenal. Routledge, Dyer, Britton etc the list goes on.

Palace = In the last few weeks I have seen a few folk saying Morgan and Was aren't good enough. Do you consider Damien Delaney and Danny Gabbidon a Premier League defence?

Apologies for this lengthy post, just think there is a alot of people over estimating the quality of the premier league. We beat Fulham already, gave Stoke a good game with a weakened team and battled well against Man City when they were flying. We need to have realistic expectations as fans, that being better than 3 other teams in the league is enough next season, and with one or two very little tweaks I'm fairly sure this will be done.

A point I've made (but much worse than you) in the transfer section.

An excellent view

[leicesterisme]

We looked fairly competitive fielding a weakened side as I remember it.

Spot on, they were better than us, don't get me wrong but considering we made a lot of changes and they didn't make too many (If I remember right) they weren't much better.

[Pegosteve]

Simple really we just need to finish in the top 7 of the bottom 10! What can be difficult about that!!

[cc_star]

Simple really we just need to finish in the top 7 of the bottom 10! What can be difficult about that!!

 

Lets be honest it's not that difficult

 

MoN's Sunderland were awful & flirting with bottom end, but would they have got relegated this following season were he not sacked & a clown replacing him signing a load of crap over the summer leaving the reasonably competent incoming manager with next to no chance

Fulham - what a car crash

Cardiff - even more than Fulham

 

These 3, if they were to go down would be reaping what they have sowed either this season or in the case of Sunderland throughout the summer & beyond.

 

Our problem will be if there aren't 3 kamikaze owners to assist in 3 clubs finishing below us.

[Stadt]

Most of the teams fighting relegation have signed too many average players in one go with WBA being the exception.

Sign 3/4 quality players that have the right balance of quality, experience(between them) and enthusiasm who are good characters and that should be enough.

[Corky]

We should be better than the other two promoted sides, we have up to 8 weeks on the play-off winners to prepare for next season. I know previous champions (should we become one) have struggled but QPR was a mess after promotion, Reading came from a way behind to win the division and it was slightly unexpected and Cardiff just don't seem to have a clue.

 

Norwich, Swansea, Southampton and Hull all had good managers who were secure at the club (at the time) and could bring in their own players. Pearson should have that. We've probably been planning for six weeks about promotion and the squad changes needed.

 

I trust Pearson and Walsh to do their research, not go mad and look for sensible additions. It will be a challenge but we shouldn't be talking about finishing 17th as a maximum, that for me would be the wrong mindset.

 

 

[Stadt]

We should be better than the other two promoted sides, we have up to 8 weeks on the play-off winners to prepare for next season. I know previous champions (should we become one) have struggled but QPR was a mess after promotion, Reading came from a way behind to win the division and it was slightly unexpected and Cardiff just don't seem to have a clue.

Norwich, Swansea, Southampton and Hull all had good managers who were secure at the club (at the time) and could bring in their own players. Pearson should have that. We've probably been planning for six weeks about promotion and the squad changes needed.

I trust Pearson and Walsh to do their research, not go mad and look for sensible additions. It will be a challenge but we shouldn't be talking about finishing 17th as a maximum, that for me would be the wrong mindset.

Spot on as usual.