TheFish

In terms of expected goals, you're not doing great, only 5 teams creating fewer per game. Only 4 teams allowing more the other way. However expected goals aren't a perfect measure of a team. When you've got an arch-poacher like Vardy or someone like Maddison, both consistently out perform that measure. Genuine question, how often have you been able to name your first choice 11?

I'm definitely not trying to say I know more about your club than you lot. Everything I say about Leicester has to come with the implicit caveat that it's an outsider's pov. You're definitely not a passive side, you're struggling to create good chances and you're giving up some. I dunno the reasons cos, like you say, I don't watch you a lot. I'd say that missing Maddison, must have impacted your form post world cup, but if you say you've been abject for 3 seasons then I've got to take your word for it. I know I got frustrated when other people said Bruce was doing a good job when it was the worst football I've seen at SJP for over 30yrs.

So has Klopp.

Since the World Cup you've played Newcastle, Liverpool, Fulham and Brighton + Nottingham Forrest (dunno if you consider them a derby or not?). Look, you know your club way better than me. My point is just that Everton aren't suddenly going to lurch up the table just cos they've appointed Dyche. When Maddison and the rest are back to full fitness I'm confident you'll get enough points to stay clear of the relegation nonsense.

Short term.

Nope, because of the World Cup and other commitments some teams haven't yet played each other at all. e.g. Arsenal have to play Man City home and away, Leeds have to play Man Utd home and away. Everton have to play Arsenal twice Also, Southampton only have 1 win at home but 3 on the road. Newcastle and Arsenal are unbeaten at the Emirates and St James' so you'd rather face them at the King Power, right?

Dunno why you all think Everton bringing in Dyche is going to guarantee their survival. They're terrible. Not creating chances, giving up loads of chances, hugely reliant on Pickford. Very reminiscent of how Dyche had Burnley playing. Yes, they'll get a little more organised at the back, but they've serious issues up the other end of the pitch as well. DCL is as fragile as a teenager's ego, and he's the only actual goal scorer they've got. Add to that the toxicity of Goodison. If they didn't enjoy Allardyce and Benitez' -ahem- pragmatic football, I can't imagine they'll be cock-a-hoop for Sean Dyche's stuff. Honestly if I was in your position, I would 100% prefer Rodgers, for all his faults. Your issues are as much down to misfortune with injuries as it is his limitations as a coach. If you owned Blackburn, or Millwall and wanted to get into, then stay in the Premier League, sure go ahead and appoint Dyche. But he's not the manager to take over a massive, circus of a club with 18 games to go and little-to-no money to spend. As an aside, have you seen the fixtures they've got left? Arsenal (H) Liverpool (A) Leeds (H) Villa (H) Forest (A) Brentford (H) Chelsea (A) Spurs (H) Man Utd (A) Fulham (H) Palace (A) Newcastle (H) Leicester (A) Brighton (A) Man City (H) Wolves (A) Bournemouth (H) Where are they getting the 21pts they'd need to get to 36pts?

Don't think Everton appointing Dyche spells doom for you. He might make them a little harder to break down, but they're still poor up front. They've got players in their squad from a stack of different managers. A stack of different styles. Once Maddison and the others get back to full fitness, you'll be fine. There are six clubs below you and six clubs who deserve to be there. West Ham are the only team I could see going on a real run.

Reminiscent of our 2012 season where, inexplicably, we finished 5th, then in the summer that followed we made 1 first team signing in Vurnon Anita and a squad purchase Gael Bigirimana. If, IF, IF we manage to hang onto 4th spot I don't for one second imagine that these opens would have any interest in resting on their laurels. The extra commercial deals CL competition would attract, plus getting the prize money for the high league finish, getting a few dead wood off our books, should mean we have the FFP wriggle room to fatten out our squad with competition for places. I think it shows the opposite, we've had to name players when they aren't really fully fit. But I guess it's semantics and unimportant to the point you're making. We've been lucky with injuries, it's true. I honestly think a lot of the timewasting we've been doing has been as much about disrupting play as it has been about managing energy levels. Pope could be replaced by Dubravka who remains a very good 'keeper. Bruno is irreplacable, but if Shelvey came back to full fitness we could kind of make up for Bruno's absence in the aggregate? Maybe? Botman is a Rolls Royce, our defence wouldn't be as dominant, but Burn would switch into the centre and Target would play at LB. We'd not get 4th, but the reason for our lofty league positions isn't individual quality throughout the squad, but the system Howe employs. Joelinton works best at CM now. Joe Willock is more of a threat on the left, but when ASM is fit and motivated, there are few better at what he does. Part of me understands why we're after Gordon. He's essentially Almiron, but left sided and that feeds into how Howe plays. I still prefer ASM because I'm a big ol' dumb romantic and I love a mercurial winger.

Some of that is reasonable, but only Pope, Trippier and Almiron have started every match. Wilson has only started 13. Our two biggest attacking threats (ASM and Isak) have started fewer than 5 matches for us. It belies a lack of depth in the squad. We have 4 central midfielders fit, and 1 of the group is pushed into a left wing position. We have no fit substitute right back. Got 5 goal keepers though.

I knew he was good, didn't think he'd be this ****ing good. He hasn't conceded since November, against Southampton.

I'm a Newcastle, I was being ironic.

Buying success. Disgusting.

That bit is the problem. Leicester would not have looked at newly minted Newcastle, desperate for striking options, and agreed to a £25m fee. You would have, quite rightly, tried to rinse us for every penny you could. I would have preferred Iheanacho though. That said, I don't watch him every week, does he put in the amount of effort pressing that Eddie Howe demands these days?

We were short up front, needed a fit Premier League goalscorer, he had a release clause and was open to the move. It was a needs must transfer and honestly if he'd been on your books with the same release clause, we'd probably would have done the same deal to get him. Yeah it hurt Burnley and that was a boon, but honestly, with Wilson being made out of Faberge eggs and spun sugar, we needed a striker, immediately.

Looks like he's off to Nottingham Forest. Loan Fee + £15m if certain criteria are met. If he does, we've filled a gap in our team for a season, had a useful option from the bench and sent Burnley down for around £5m. That's pretty good business.

Aye, we're in a similar pickle. I think ours is 95%. Hopefully we'll be able to get a few players off our books by writing off their contracts. But we've got a lot of stodge, sounds like we're sending Wood to Forest with an option/obligation to buy. But we've still got players like Ryan Fraser, Karl Darlow, etc.

Deloitte says your revenue is beaten by only 16 teams. That's pretty, pretty rich.

Geordie here, not on the wind up or owt, just genuinely curious. Leicester are one of the richest clubs on the planet, so why's there lots of talk about you needing to reduce your wage bill or sell your stars?

Geordie in peace, not on the wind up or owt. Fair play to the brave souls who made it up for the match. Can't have been much fun. Hope they managed a few beers before/after at least. Given the number of changes you were forced to make due to injury and the likely focus on the league games, it wasn't a massive surprise that you looked a little disjointed. When you switched from trying to play through the press and instead went over it, you looked way more likely to score. Had Daka taken the shot on instead of passing it to Barnes (I think?), you could have taken the lead. Been on the other side of these results/performances, and it's shit but I honestly think when you've got your first team fit, you'll be a vastly different prospect. Had a browse of your match-thread and fair play for the gallows humour in there. Anyway, like I said, hope those who came up had as good a night as possible.

If you're already in Gateshead and fancy braving the weather, get down to the By The River Brew Co. under the Tyne Bridge.

Our owners are vile and shouldn't own a football club, no argument there. Dunno how we're cheats, mind you. If we'd gone off and thrown £200m at Mbappe, and Bellingham and all that, run roughshod over the FFP rules and announced shirt sponsorship deals for £300m a year and shit like that, I'd say fair enough. But we haven't. We've appointed the right people, made some good signings, kept with FFP, and of course Howe's got the most out of the existing players, and the fans have got behind the team. There's plenty of references to our murderous owners, don't think I've seen a broadsheet match report that doesn't mention how controversial they are. They're not going to do it on Match of the Day every week, they don't have the time and they're there to talk about the football, not the mucky world of politics. It was covered at great length at the time, when we made signings in the first January, and it'll be rightly referenced whenever we sign a player or win something. If you want to read about it, read Tariq Panja, Miguel Delaney, Oliver Holt and so on.

30th April 2022. Liverpool.

Ah, you're right I took their silent scream as anguish, not celebration.

You're mental if you don't think the media will be cockahoop if we get knocked out of the FA Cup and the League Cup, go 4 games without a win and haven't managed to sign anyone yet. We're the bad guys now. Don't be surprised if we come out to Darth Vader's theme.