Kitchandro

Same one I was going to say, I thought Wes would be a horrific signing.

This is delusional. If we’re a ‘better all round side’ then we’ll win games like they’re winning them. Until then and whilst we’re below them in the league, they’re better than us. Maybe they had an off day against us. If 95% of this league are crap low block sides and we can’t break them down, well then we aren’t a very good team are we.

But our failings as a club are just as much about the boring style of football as they are about the crap players. People are bored. Even when we were promoted two seasons ago no one remembers it fondly. Even though purely on finishing positions we did well under Rodgers, and even Puel, no one remembers it fondly. And it wasn’t about the players then because we had an excellent squad. This shite football has been going on for nearly 10 years with only short bursts of the promise of entertainment. That’s why managers like Marti will get little leeway. I personally think we are about (or slightly above) where I would have thought we’d be in this league, though I think we will fall away below the play-offs. Yes, our squad is average for this league when you take attitude into account. But we’ve got a few very exciting attacking players for this division - we shouldn’t be having 1 shot on target per game. You don’t need great players all over the pitch to play exciting attacking football. Even Holloway managed that at this level with Blackpool and DJ Campbell up front.

He’ll be sacked within 18 months after failing to get promoted and remaining mediocre. I want him to do well but let’s be honest, you can tell very early on if a manager has positive tactical ideas. If everyone is bored already (including the players) then it’s not gonna work out for him. Bringing in new players won’t pick up the tempo or cause the manager to make positive subs.

Well, it does matter, those are separate issues and disliked for reasons other than simply the volume of noise.

Without trying to focus on specific decisions too much, I’m not really sure what these phrases actually mean. If you go in with a slide tackle, your studs are going to be off the floor and by definition you’re going to be out of control. You’re out of control when you shoot because that’s what momentum is. Now, ‘two-footed’ and ‘above the ball’ are far better phrases to indicate and unnecessarily dangerous tackle, because neither are necessary for a slide tackle. I’ve not seen the tackle today but Bannan made a very normal slide tackle and was in no way above the ball (EDIT: watched it again and his foot rolls over the ball inadvertently, so unfortunate, not dangerous or even reckless). Collisions happen and people get hurt, it doesn’t need to be a red card purely for that reason. There’s always some risk.

Bannan’s was never a red.

This is true but it doesn’t really help. Realistically we have an older, middle-class fanbase, not the working class tribalism that a lot of European or fashionable British clubs have. I’d love us to have the latter, but it’s like banging your head against a brick wall. Realistically, the only thing that is likely to improve the atmosphere is the team. If it starts entertaining people and showing fight in difficult moments, the fans will get more involved. The club controls how the club is marketed and perceived and that attracts the sort of fans that sit on their hands and buy the merchandise. It would take a Herculean effort to change this.

It’s not Forest or Cov It’s not Saudi sports washing It’s not Brendan I’m happy.

I’ll never understand why manager after manager thinks it’s a good idea to pass it out slowly from a goal kick just to then blast it up to short people when it invites pressure.

So many players just play like they’re here for the money and it’s been the case for years. There’s no thought whatsoever to entertain or play like they’re committed / enjoying it.

No ambition to score a 2nd goal at all. No pressing, lazy, boring. Same old flaws every single season. Soumare is a bizarre player.

I’d dispute both these things, neither have much to back them up with. Skipp may get worse and be a lost cause. This idea that young players always need to play sporadically isn’t based on anything. If they’re better than our other players, they should play. In fact, if you think Skipp is going to get better and more confident with a run of games, why does that not also apply to Monga and Page? Especially when Monga has built his confidence with a great goal the other week, how is dropping him going to help that?

Very strange to drop Monga but not…well almost everyone else in that starting 11. We’ve not got a great squad but not picking your best players is not going to help.

Should be disallowed absolutely no question. It’s a 2 handed shove which prevents him heading the ball. Considering the penalty was given for an equal offence Fulham can rightly claim some ‘big club’ bias there.

That’s not the point. Players should be signed because they offer something to the football philosophy we’re supposed to have. Fuchs was the same. He’s wasn’t a pacy full back, which are and were popular, but we didn’t need that for the system. Okazaki wasn’t great but he was an effective partner for Vardy. If Kante had been half as good it would still have been a great signing. Skipp could be twice the technical player that he actually is and he’d just be Dennis Praet. We don’t have a philosophy so we don’t sign players for any real reason other than to make up the numbers.

When we had Kante, he wasn’t a silky player or a great passer. But he was exceptional, perhaps the best I’ve ever seen, at fulfilling a specific job for the team. Kante is the yardstick for how and why to scout and sign a player. Skipp is the complete opposite of that. He’s a player signed without any particular idea of what his strengths are and what his role is. It’s very strange that he ever stood out at any level to end up at Tottenham. This signing alone should have resulted in about 10 sackings. Anyone who had anything to do with it and didn’t question it should never work in the sport again.

I know it’s not his best position but I’d rather see Ricardo in there by himself instead and try something radical like 2 up front. I know Daka and Ayew are both crap but that doesn’t mean their differing styles couldn’t, in theory, give their defenders more problems as they wouldn’t be as isolated as they are when on their own. Anything to break up this terrible SAS midfield partnership.

It’s not too late, it’s just like anything. People need the will to change something. I don’t think there are enough people with the will to do what’s necessary to force something like this. Footballers and the associations will look after themselves, fans of bigger clubs won’t want it, and fans of smaller clubs might want it but think there are more important things to take a stand for. And the majority of people are just fairly apathetic. I think if the 70-odd English league clubs felt they were majorly disadvantaged by the system and actually cared enough to do something, they could easily disrupt the league system enough to force through change or even just start a replacement Football League without the biggest clubs.

No idea if he could be converted into a good striker but there’s no way we would try to anyway. He’s not good enough out wide so if we can get some cash it’s probably about time.

Well, this is why people might suggest this attitude is part of the problem. The club and the owners are not the same thing, defending the owners is not defending the club. I can’t really be bothered to debate the logic here because it’s been done so many times on other threads that you must already know the arguments, but needless to say not everyone believes Top or King Power deserve a load of credit right now. Some of us are adamant the club needs to improve in every aspect (by the club being sold, or otherwise), so the whole debate of this thread is how the fans can help achieve that.

I agree with you in general but I don’t see ‘giving up’ as an ‘absolute’. It’s a rational decision to stop doing something if it’s no fun, costs you money and no longer has any deeper meaning. I think it’s strange to do something purely out of habit. I could go if it was convenient and I didn’t feel ripped off, insulted, unwanted, controlled, bored, emotionally detached from the players etc. I still obviously care somewhat because I’m on here but I don’t miss going. I’d love football to feel like a community expression of local pride and raw tribalism but the fact is that it’s just a corporate show now. LCFC is particularly bad version with the generic stadium, sellout KPFC kits, unfashionable reputation that attracts middle classes rather than working classes who are more likely to create an atmosphere. A lot of it has been intentional gentrification by the way. A phoenix club owned by the fans would have meaning, but if you see the current club for what it is, and not what you want it to be, it’s not a dramatic decision to just remove yourself (physically at least) from something that drains the life out of you.

Was that period in the summer of 2016, 2021, 2022 or 2024? All were terrible and even in 2023 we signed Coady.

I know it’s hard to believe because we’re used to Rudkin’s ‘unique’ way of doing things but other clubs don’t scout just by watching them in one game.

As others have said, our record in finding good players is extremely poor so I’d rather we didn’t sell him. If we are adamant that players like Winks need to be shut out for their attitude (which is fair) then we can’t do without Bilal as well.