StriderHiryu

Amazing post! Never forget this: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/champions-league-superclubs-liverpool-man-utd-barcelona-real-madrid-a9330431.html “We don’t want too many Leicester Citys.” These were the words spoken by a senior figure from the Premier League’s ‘big six’ clubs, in the kind of high-end London hotel you can easily imagine. “Football history suggests fans like big teams winning,” the official continued, to the group of business people and media figures present. “A certain amount of unpredictability is good, but a more democratic league would be bad for business.”

One word of caution on him, seems like he's pretty weak mentally. Both Leverkusen and Sparta fans were saying that he's got unquestionable talent, but he seems to bottle it when the pressure ramps up. So sounds perfect for Leicester! At the same time, it's well known that we are a club that goes for "broken" players and tries to fix them. The issue I think is that even if you can patch it up, some of these things will always be there, Tielemans being the best example of this. I suppose if such players come here on loan, it's not nearly as bad if they don't work out, so maybe we will see someone like him here.

My assumption is that we'd only sign one of the 3 players. I think in total we will only spend 20-30m after Fatawu is signed on a permanent. But as others and you point out, these players are going to cost at least 20M. Adam Wharton went for 18M in January, Alex Scott to Bournemouth for over 20M at the start of the season. So maybe none of these represent value and we need to gamble in the Scandavian markets again instead. Hermansen cost 6M, so perhaps players like Nanasi and Gronbaek are available for 10M or less? The more I think about it, Callum O'Hare on a free is probably the most sensible signing we could make, assuming Coventry don't go up.

Yeah you've got me there! I am pretty sure Whittaker was being quoted as 25M in January. Maybe you could get Szmodics or Stuart Armstrong (if Southampton don't go up) for that money given Szmodics is going to be 29 next season and Armstrong is 31. I think these are both good players that don't neccesarily have to be first choice but can be good options to create impact and push the first team. And worst case scenario they are proven in the Championship.

This all assumes we are conservative with our transfer budget. It's more than posible that we spend a lot, the theory being that if we are being deducted points anyway, and getting relegated could be catastrophic again, we might as well gamble. I don't agree with that thinking, but it's not my decision to make! It was interesting that we were linked with Adam Hlozek of Leverkusen, who they signed for 15M Euros a few seasons back. I'm working under the assumption that if we signed anyone, it would be under £10M unless the clause is loan with buy option.

I think it's highly likely that next season we will be hampered with PSR and a points deduction making it risky to sign permament signings. For that reason, I expect to see quite a few loan players come in. Players I think are realistic and would be good for us are: Loans w/option to buy: - Fabio Carvalho. Scored 10 times already for Hull since January, can play as an 8 or a winger. We need depth here. If we signed him in January, we would not have had our slump. - Omari Hutchinson. Great season for Ipswich. Most likely he goes back there, but if he doesn't, would be a great pickup. - James McAtee. The Blades are going down, he would make a great option in the 8 position. - Callum Doyle. Personally I wasn't that impressed with him, but if he's available on loan again, then not the worst option. Free Transfers: - Stefano Sensi. If we can still get him on a free, then having him as rotation with Winks would be a good option to take. - Callum O'Hare. If you ignore that he plays for Coventry, he's a pretty good player that would be a very good option as another attacking 8. Permanents: - Jack Clarke - Jaden Philogene - Morgan Whittaker All of these players had great Championship seasons and I think would make for good competition with Mavididi. Clarke has more end product, Philogene I think is better at beating his man. Whittaker is left-footed, but really stood out for Plymouth when he was there. - Trai Hume. If you look at his underlying data, he seems like a a hybrid between Justin and Doyle. None of the suggestions I have made here are that exciting, but I think they are realistic and protect the club if the worst should happen. Fees and wages need to be reigned in massively next season, for a bigger spend if we survive. The biggest difference I see next season is that almost no teams in the league play a deep block anymore. Glasner replaced Hodgson, leaving just Moyes (who is likely to leave) and Dyche. Most teams play a high or mid-press, which means that I would prioritise players that are great on the transition. The Southampton games, and to a lesser extent the Bournemouth one I think will be more indicative of the type of games we are likely to face. We need to be defensively stable, but pack a punch on the break. We are good at that already, but when our wingers or 8's have bad games, we lack options that improve the team. Defence could be an issue. I couldn't think of a good option for Faes, who IMO is the player that loses concentration the most. We could put JJ that side if we signed a LCB, but I have a feeling Enzo will stick with him regardless. Vestergaard might not be such an issue given that I don't think there will be many games where we have over 60% of the ball. I think he was one of our most consistent players this season and didn't have too many bad games.

The best it's been in a long, long time. Crowd were absoultely superb in the WBA match. They were battering us, but the crowd (and Hamza!) did their part!

What a game!

Regarding Fatawu: https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/leicester-city-transfer-chief-praised-9244832 “We are very happy with Abdul,” Maresca said. “He’s a player that is thanks to Martyn Glover. He’s a player he showed me this summer. When I saw him I said this is the right profile we need. It was Martyn Glover’s idea.” Unfortuantely the same article also says: But amid City’s transfer embargo, Fatawu’s future remains uncertain, even for Maresca. Asked if he knew the situation over a potential permanent move for the 20-year-old, the manager said: “I have no idea. I don’t know what’s going on. It’s complicated.”

Great game to watch to be fair! I’d love to see either Carvalho or Hutchinson here next season. Both would be great options. Tufan has probably been Hull’s best player though!

They’re having an amazing season, their manager Thiago Motta is probably going to be the Juventus coach next season. They will be in Europe and look to be upwardly mobile.

Too little money for what we are seeing, that is the reality. and wanting this player to do what Geny is doing, is a crime, you know... Yes, there is drama because you will receive very little for the quality the player has... and Sporting is the one who loses It must be admitted that Fatawu was poorly used. Sporting was buying Tabata, Arthur, Rochinha and others and letting out a pearl like this, well... Another thing only with a player other than Geny on the right. As can be seen in the third goal (of the team), he is perfect at receiving the ball wide on the line/side, making the diagonal from the right inside and shooting. He is not a player to play with his back or receive in interior areas in tight spaces and have to play with just a few touches. Check out the assistance too. When he receives the ball, he is always the player who is furthest to the right of the entire attack. This Fatawu business is on par with Palhinha and Raphinha. My goodness, how is it possible to send this kid away??? That 2nd goal looked like Saka... we're all going to eat a big bucket of shit when Leicester sells him for 80 million to a Chelsea team... The Demiral of recent years… Nothing to say, poorly managed and poorly used. Everything else is fait-divers. Fatawu wasn't worth what they were going to pay for it a year ago, if it's been here you don't know if it was valued this way. You know better than anyone that football is the moment and the circumstance. Was it a crime? It's very similar to what he's doing in England, it occupies practically the same spaces. He would have more defensive responsibilities, but it wouldn't be a problem. That's not quite true, the potential was all there. Everything. Sporting should have made a deal safeguarding what is happening, either with a buyback clause or with a % of the pass to be negotiated later. So, it's like watching the notes fly. The same thing that Coventry, Lecce, the Danes who sold us Diomande, City who sold us Porro, etc. can do... it doesn't always get right. With Geny, Edwards and Trincao, Sporting is more in need of right-handed openers on the left flank than left-handed ones on the right. Of course, Fatawu could be here instead of one of them, but no one would pay for Geny what they are going to pay for Fatawu, nor are Trincao and Edwards bad players... that's part of it. It's depressing to see the influence of this player on Leichester... And knowing that he was offered for 17m, having only 50% of the pass... Business reminiscences of Sporting in the past… Obviously Leicester will keep him and obviously he will have a great career in English football, here the 50% will be known shortly but I don't know if there was interest on the other side when he came here to already have that percentage guarantee. Ever since I saw the way he destroyed Ajax in the YL (ok, Ajax wasn't a great player) it was more than obvious that he was a player already well above others of his same age, I think it's absurd that people are making bullshit comparisons with other players. But I maintain that in addition to Amorim's responsibilities, the businessman made outrageous demands and wanted to get into England, Amorim only gave him the pretext.

Did the same thing against them at their ground too. They had more possesion and passes that day too and lost 4-1. Our last goal summed them up, pushing suicidally high, getting caught out and then concede in the blink of an eye. This bodes well for next season as almot every team will turn up to play and not park the bus. Plymouth and Millwall put bodies on the line. Southampton put those bodies 60 yards up the pitch with no cover!

That is briefly discussed at some point during the post match on Beyond the 90: He's been doing that in a lot of our recent games. I personally wouldn't say it's a new thing, if we lose the ball, the idea is to win it back within 8 seconds with short, sharp pressing. Vestergaard has no pace, so if he presses to win it back high up the pitch, that's more likely to be succesful than if he's caught in a foot race. When we push up there is enough time for other players to get back if caught on the transition. When he goes up, one of the other two drops a little. What we do mention here is how Janik started his career as a CDM. He's excellent on the ball and a great passer. If it wasn't for his lack of mobility (not just pace, but ability to turn), he'd probably be a really good one. When the game is played in front of him, he's a quality player and IMO unlucky not to be in the Championship team of the season.

Half decent player

ENZO OUT

In the previous fixture, Southampton had more possesion but we pressed them when trying to play out from the back and killed them on the break. I hope we play more of a counter attack style again as I think it will be a lot more effective. It doesn't matter how we win, we just need to get the job done! We were getting killed on the transition today, and Southampton have a lot more quality than WBA. Maybe the Saints misfired a bit today, but on paper they have more quality.

IMO that's one of the reasons we fell off a cliff so badly. In every game there's a pattern, if you bypass Winks and either Ricardo / Hamza, you're in immediately. On the transition we were so vulnerable over and over again today. I am a bit suprised he's gone so far off the boil. Anyone can have a bad game, but he's been bad since Leeds away, which even though we lost wasn't down to him. IMO it's a position we need additional cover and rotation in, which is why I think we tried to sign Sensi in January.

@HankMarvindoing god's work here, a bit like Hamza himself!

Un-****ing believeable stops against West Brom. I think he made more saves than our Keeper! Unreal!

MASSIVE

I don't think we even need to have a physical forward per se, we just need to go for more 50/50's. This style of play relies on making the perfect opportunity. We have Ndidi in central midfield, you can aim a cross for him to head it down to someone else, ditto Mavididi. The more gung-ho you are, the more likely you are to get caught on transition, as we saw against Milwall after we started chasing the game. But if you don't take enough risks, you aren't going to score. All of our strikers are good finishers. If you attack the box enough, chances will break to them and they will finish the chances they are given. In too many games after we go behind, you get the feeling we aren't capable of scoring enough goals to win the game. See QPR, Bristol City and Milwall. In the Leeds game away we did actually make tons of chances, that game was an outlier where it was not down to the system that we ended up losing the game. But in the others, given we are at the business end of the season, it's super frustrating.

Yep that’s my point. Setting up for the first 10 minutes to get control is smart. But then I’d favour ramping up the pressure afterwards. Against a top Premier League team the controlled approach throughout would be better. Against Sheffield Wednesday, Bristol City or Millwall it’s not!

When it works, it's brilliant. When it doesn't, it looks awful. I expected by now during the title run-in for the style to be perfected. I expected it to be poor to begin with, get slightly better, start looking great and then be incredible. What is unexpected is after going on that amazing run where we did play some great stuff, we regressed. The issue with this style is that when it doesn't work, it doesn't work at all, and the team looks awful. That is a big issue with system football in general and many teams have suffered from this, even Liverpool and Man City at times over the last 5 years. What Enzo doesn't realise or does realise but is too stubborn is the ruthlessness of the Championship. Every team that gets out, even the very best ones, have tons of crap games where they aren't great but get over the line. How do they get over the line? Through blood and thunder, and using their man for man player advantages. When Pearson got us out last time, we had many games where the game had to be more physical and we had to win it the ugly way. In the Milwall game, in the last 10 minutes we did make quite a few great chances, the Riccy P and Daka ones come to mind. Nacho had a good chance. We made those chances because we were taking risks, and Milwall could easily have scored a second themselves. But that is the Championship in a nutshell. Sometimes you have to take those risks because it's all about points on the board. There is too much control. If we played like we did in those 10 minutes we would see more scorelines like 4-2. But I also think we'd have picked up more points. One thing I will say though is that Ipswich at home and Leeds away, the players lacked the minerals to see the game out. If we had won both those games, we'd be up by now!