ALC Fox

Vardy will have opportunities and will see a lot more of the ball if/when he gets on vs Belgium.

Fair point. If he does well, we could give Leuven say £5m for him, which would give them a nice little slice of our PL money to strengthen their squad.

And they've had 2 enforced defensive substitutions. It's all gone riggt for Belgium today. But, they can be got at in behind and down the flanks.

Belgium have been ahead since the early stages though and Tunisia have been chasing the game. We allowed them back in through a stupid/debatable penalty so they were far more negative against us and have left spaces in behind against Belgium as they press forward. But, I get what you're saying. Our build-up play does seem more laboured and has less zip. If we'd have taken a couple more of those chances (Lingard twice), then maybe we'd have seen a game where Vardy could profit as Tunisia chased.

Belgium look susceptible to pace and good wide play. Rashford, Vardy, Rose and Trippier should be effective against them. If our defensive players have a storming game, we could beat these. Trouble is Belgium are clicking going forward.

In the Leuven thread I expressed my sympathy with Sheffield Wednesday over this. I am still sympathetic, but more to the fans than the club. With the player being frozen out, there's no doubt that moving on is the best thing for him. And, if it's true that he was frozen out of the youth teams as well, then Wednesday have really shot themselves in the foot. If they'd have shown some faith in him, the situation may have turned around for them and he may have signed a new contract. The stubbornness Sheff Weds have shown is to their detriment. You look at the World Cup, where players like Musa and Dzyuba had fallen out with the Nigeria and Russia coaches respectively, but they're now both starting and scoring goals on the biggest stage for their countries. I know it's a smaller stage, but something similar could have happened with Hirst. The club could have put it behind them, realised he's a star of the future and showed their faith in him. They didn't and now they've been screwed out of a couple of million quid they could have done with and a player who may have been able to kickstart a promotion push.

That commentator did also say that Leicester fans will be calling for Musa to get another chance

I do feel for Wednesday. We've been interested in Hirst for a while, and seems to be quite highly-rated, so I think the suggestion that he'll end up here is pretty accurate. I know this is a business, but we've mugged Wednesday off with this one, I think.

His yellow card is currently the reason why they're second in the group despite being level on points, goal difference head-to-head record and goals scored: https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/the-bizarre-fifa-ruling-set-to-decide-euro-giants-wc-fate/news-story/664680595c8dd35c2ad24007ce193238

Does anyone else find it weird how new signings sometimes wear a shirt and hold up the same shirt at the same time? Bit odd. Anyway, I'm genuinely excited by this signing! Glad it's done and that we got in there ahead of Southampton and Everton

COME ON SHINJI!

I like the idea of English players going abroad for game time and to broaden their horizons, play in different systems, experience different cultures, etc. I still think Gray can do the business here though. He's still very young with bags of potential.

I wouldn't mind seeing 'replacements' like in rugby. So, a player is injured and needs treatment. If they can get up and walk or be carried off, the replacement can come on temporarily in his place. The injured player is assessed and treated on the sidelines. Then, either: (a) The injured player comes back on for the replacement (this could be done in-play to save time) (b) The replacement stays on the field as a permanent 'substitution' (indicated to the fourth official so as not to stop play (c) A different permanent substitute can replace the replacement (say, if the manager wants to change shape/tactics). There would be no limit as to how many times a player can be used as a replacement, except for when they're made a permanent sub. In that case, the only time they could go off and come on again is if they themselves become injured and are temporarily replaced. All seven players on the bench could be used as replacements if needed. Perhaps this would stop a bit of timewasting as only the most serious injuries would keep a player on the pitch for a significant length of time. Also the team with an injured player wouldn't be at as much of a disadvantage because they wouldn't be a man down for a couple of minutes or so. It may also help safeguard against injuries if a player can be properly assessed on the sidelines without the fear of that team having fewer players on the pitch. It may also help medical staff do proper concussion assessments before allowing a player to continue. Or perhaps this just means that going down and waiting for a stretcher will be a new gamesmanship tactic. Just an idea, but it probably opens up other new avenues of timewasting/gamesmanship.

I just can't see it happening. Puel was a major reason - if not the major reason - why Pereira joined us. The Pearson comparison isn't the same. Sure, he signed Fuchs and Okazaki and made Huth a permanent signing, then got the boot. But, he wasn't sacked for footballing reasons. I can't believe the owners would let Puel bring in one of his old players and then sack him. If they sack him, it's for footballing reasons and surely they'd have done it when the season ended. Perhaps Rodgers is on the radar if we're absolute dogs**t in October/November.

They have to capitalise on their momentum. We sort of did with spirited performances against Everton (last gasp draw), Arsenal (draw), Chelsea (defeat but decent performance), Stoke (away win) and Man Utd (5-3!) but then went on a huge slump that saw us almost nailed on for relegation. Every promoted team will have some sort of slump. Brighton, Huddersfield and Newcastle did this season. It's how they cope and how they drag themselves out of it that's the question. We've seen how Wolves are when they're top of the league and winning every week. The question is how will they cope when they haven't won for 6 games? I think they'll stay up, but we'll finish higher.

Sounds like they're trying to finance their season's transfer dealings now they have to cut their cloth because they didn't get promoted.

Yeah I can see why they did it. I work there and so know a few Cov fans, and they'll be loving it after what they've suffered in recent years. The turnout on the streets, the quality of the bus and the enthusiasm of the players just goes to show the gulf between winning the League Two playoff final and winning the Premier League. They belong higher up the league pyramid and I'd like to eventually have the M69 derby back on the fixture list, so long as it doesn't mean we'd be getting relegated of course!

That run by Lineker in that rain on that pitch is something to behold ? What a kit as well!

"Grealish was their stand-out performer at Wembley. He was outstanding, almost scored one of the best goals ever in a play-off final and did not deserve to be on the losing side. "His consistent form in the second half of the campaign has been a huge positive for Villa and he is sure to be a target for Premier League clubs this summer, so keeping the 22-year-old at Villa Park will be paramount to Bruce's side mounting another challenge for promotion next season." ^^From the BBC's write-up on the game. He sounds alright to me. Not sure Cairney will move on now he's achieved promotion, and we're after a number 10 so Grealish could be worth a punt.

Roberts looks like a seriously talented player. I'm always a bit wary of signing players who have suffered bad injuries though. We're also still heavily linked with Norwich's Maddison who has a knee ligament injury. Although the injury isn't as bad as first feared, it's still anticipated he'll be injured for a total of 8 weeks, and with it being a knee injury, you just never know how it'll affect him over the long term. Hamstring injuries don't tend to be as complex as knee injuries but some can last a while, like it seems to have happened with Roberts. On the face of it, potentially signing two highly rated players like Roberts and Maddison is exciting for us. I'm just a little worried about the injuries.

The likes of Wilshere and Hart taking to social media to express their disappointment at not making the squad is just crazy. They don't need to make that kind of public announcement. It stands to reason that they'd be disappointed. We already know this. Wilshere stating he could've made an impact and Hart saying he's proud of playing every minute of the qualifiers is just coming across as bitter. For me, the national side should be treated as if it's the biggest club side in the country. If you're eligible but not playing regularly enough, well enough, or even hinting that you can recapture form that you once showed, you're not getting picked. It's as simple as that. If you're a keeper, you don't get picked for picking up clean sheets against teams that barely had a shot on target against you.

Good to see business being done early and it's tremendous support for Puel. I do hope he can get us playing regularly like we did against Spurs and Arsenal (without the leaky defence of course). We need to move the ball quicker against teams that sit back as well. We don't pull players out of position enough. Hopefully Silva and a new number 10 could help with that. I also don't necessarily think that this is the end for Danny Simpson at Leicester. With what we have so far, the likely signing of Pereira, and Mahrez probably leaving, I could see the potential for something like this: Kasper Simpson Dragovic Maguire Pereira Chilwell Ndidi Iborra Silva Iheanacho Vardy

From the official LCFC site: In preparation for the launch of the 2018/19 adidas kits, the City Fanstore at King Power Stadium will be closed for refurbishment from Friday 1 June. The new-look store will then re-open with a special family launch event on Sunday 1 July, when the 2018/19 adidas home kit will go on sale.

Taking 6 points off them this season would more than make up for that 6-1 home thrashing we got off them last season, even though it was a nothing game.

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