vanity

Amazing f’ing game. Just amazing. They couldn’t even get it out of their own half at the end. It felt inevitable. Goddamn it. I became a Leicester fan their CL season, living out in San Francisco. Didn’t even watch the Prem before, missed the amazing season where they won the league, and began to follow closely, CL, recruiting, etc. I gotta say, with the thrilling and crushing seasons of almost returning to the CL and losing out the last day (f Liverpool forever), to the helicopter tragedy and then the depths of relegation, to winning promotion but losing our manager to ****ing Chelsea of all clubs, to the potential docking of points in our return to the Prem, to looking like we belong and have the ability to stay up… while I closely follow the 49ers, the SF Giants, the Golden State Warriors, and Leicester, and they all have their moments, Leicester has to be the MOST compelling, interesting, enjoyable team I have ever followed. It’s truly a special club, and more than anything, it has been interesting. In a few years, when we’re back on a European tour, I am flying over to catch a couple games in person. Gotta do it.

Erik ten Hag.

We received a record fee based upon the potential of a kid who has not proven he's worth it, who didn't want to play for the club, and who was the exact person who threw a fit and badly weakened and unsettled the whole team. Selling him allows the team to recover and play to its ability. Keeping him after his dramatics would have ruined the season. At least now we have a chance at seeing some decent football out of Leicester. And if you think the club has earned itself a rep for being soft on transfers, that's just dumb. If anything, its obviously the opposite. Which may scare players we recruit. We almost exploded our season with this Fofana play. The one thing that could not, under any circumstances happen, was this little sh1t to stay. Glad to see him gone after all this.

Many people are being ridiculous. We are playing badly. We are unsettled. But we are a much better team than we see showing. Malcontents will do that. We may have made a massive error -- believing our own hype. We are strong recruiters, we are strong negotiators, but we can neither win every deal nor have ever transfer work out. We should have moved Fofana this last week at the absolute latest. They are loaded with talent. If they disn't eant to meet our price, we should have worked a package for what they were willing to pat and a player or two. Because it was obvious the MOMENT Rodgers publicly said we needed a fresh start with new players that it HAD TO HAPPEN or else this wouod be the inevita le consequence. We will be vastly improved if we hurry the f up and dump that punk Fofana. Do it already. Him, Maddison and Tiels can hit the road. We will be vastly improved when the bad attitudes are gone, whomever is carrying them.

We cannot have a "useful" 11 who cannot score though. He gets us goals, one way or the other. He certainly wasn't useless last season, and the way he's been messed about by BR, not surprised he isn't as confident as he might otherwise be. FFS he got replaced this offseason.

We are owed at least 3-4 more of these.

Not sure he'll have a place, what with back-to-back clean sheets and all.

At the end of the day, we simply miss Fofana and JJ am incredible amount. When they are back, these high scoring affairs will suddenly be 3-0, 4-1, not frickin' 4-3 etc. I get that it is the manager's job to solve problems on the fly, but we also have to keep in mind we badly need additional depth, and our Southampton pick-ups may be dead wood at the end of the day. Personally, I'd seek a defender or two, one loan, maybe splash for someone worth a damn during the winter window. I know guys are getting healthy but we can be top-6 again if we get a long-term replacement for Evans in. And we needn't wait for the window to get someone in to help with the defense on corner kicks. Seriously now. It's past time.

They don't, you're right. But you similarly need to see that there is a big difference between being held to a single goal while hitting the post/missed pen/own player blocked goal/etc, and scoring a single goal on, say 1 shot on goal, the way Spartak did. Yes, the end result in the standings doesn't matter, but in evaluating what changes, if any, need to be made, then we need to take the actual details of the match into account. So yes, this shite was frustrating AF, but we are one player away at CB + return of Ndidi from being a force again. Once the team regains confidence in the defense, we will be able to really commit to the attack. The problem is, when we commit, we are getting burned by our defense, so players arn't committing fwd. I seriously doubt James Justin will be much help when he first returns, I tend to think players need a year back after an ACL injury to return to form, but with young players, sometimes they really surprise you. Would really love to see him prove me wrong. IMO, we need to spring for a CB at the winter deadline, and further hope Justin recovers his form quickly now that he may be playing some matches after the intl break.

Last time I saw us play well was the beginning of the Napoli game. Then our defense capitulated. We simply haven't recovered. I will say, I don't wholly agree that our recruitment has been poor maybe the Vestergaard move but we were sort of forced there due to Fofana. If Fofana doesn't get injured, where do you imagine we are? Likely top-6 and leading our Europa group. When you are thin at as critical a position as CB, it exerts a drag on the attack. Everyone is waiting to rush back to defend. There is no confidence in our defense, especially without Ndidi. But I would argue that if we get a quality CB at the very beginning of the winter window, we may quickly see an entirely different team. But we NEED to be able to trust the defense. Without it, we have these sorts of raggedy games where we are afraid to lose possession bc that starts the counter. It affects the ENTIRE team when we don't believe in our defense. Hopefully Ndidi comes back in and things improve.

For Fuch's sake, we have gone 1-1-1 vs. Spartak and Legia Warsaw. And we were lucky AF to not be 0-1-2, having to come back from a 0-2 deficit. Simply pathetic.

Reality is, a team like Leicester need to be able to defend exceptionally well to be competitive week-in, week-out. That is the entire problem now. We are the same team we have been in an attacking sense, but we cannot stop hemorrhaging goals. We simply aren't a strong, cohesive defensive unit, especially with Ndidi hobbled, and while Soumare is impressive for his versatility and athleticism, he is no Ndidi defensively, and it showed on that goal IMO.Their goal doesn't happen if Ndidi is playing. We are timid and hesitant defensively, pointing fingers at one another. And FFS, we pass backwards for no reason all the fuching time with available players up the field. It drives me nuts. We are good when we are aggressive and focused on coming forward. Rodgers needs to ****ing scream in some faces. This performance was an abject failure. There is zero chance we win the group. May even be trouble qualifying for the play-in. Can you imagine if we lose to Legia Warsaw? They still qualify for the knockout with a win vs. Spartak if we lose to Napoli. We could finish last in our group. Huge opportunity blown. Simply pathetic. Tielemans is gone. I can see him mentally checking out each performance like this. Let him go and anyone else who wants to leave (if Maddison, then Maddison, not clear how he feels). We need to shake this team up, it is just flat performance after flat performance. We are stocked with talent, but we do not seem to be a TEAM so much. We need to sign a CB in the winter transfer window if we have any hope of qualifying for Europe again next season. This team, with it's current personnel, are a bit better than a middling side in the Prem. We can beat most anyone, and we can get blown up by most anyone.

Sometimes, it is just not our day. Today is, undoubtedly, such a day.

Gawd how we did not put up 5+ on these lads I will never know. They were a circus, could not keep possession to save their lives. Daka and Lookman need to be more decisive and get the ball forward, Barnes repeatedly had miles of space but they dallied on the ball too much. We have to attack, and we need to do it more quickly. This habit of playing down to our competition needs to stop.

When is James Justin back? Ok. When you are in this situation as a football club, you have to stop the bleeding. You have to figure out how to shore the defense. It is time to try to do that. I hate to say it, but when he is back from his hamstring, move Ndidi to CB like last season. Play Soumare in Wilf's DM slot. Would prob sit Vestergaard. Pair Wilf and Soyuncu, hopefully Justin is back soon and returns in better form than Harvey Barnes. Look to get Justin playing at CB when he returns. We have reinforcements on the way. But everything we do depends upon being able to allow a goal.or less in the majority of our matches. I will say, the team I saw.play vs. Napoli has not made an appearance in the Prem this season. Have to think a lot of our turgid play stems from a lack of motivation. Boys just do not seem to be giving their all. That said, we are a good couple weeks off being in the t6 still, Ndidi at CB followed by Justin at CB may be the way to go.