Tom12345

Maybe I could have phrased this better, but all I was saying is that we could have managed the contracting situations better so that we don’t have too many valuable players that we could otherwise sell for something run down their contracts. Of course though I recognise it is not as easy as we just “let” it happen but there are people who get paid to manage this at the club. This season is a bit harder though given that we are in the Championship. It is part of the cost of relegation I suppose?

Haha. Thanks for noticing. It is never anything personal for me. But the scar from the train wreck that I saw coming for the last few years (started from our first choke and definitely the second choke in getting CL qualification), which ended up with relegation with the squad we had, was deep and it takes a while to recover. Unfortunately, Ndidi was a big part of that given the role he played just in front of the back 4 and his repeated inclusion (and this was the biggest frustration) in the first team squad even though we could barely get out of our own half and we had an alternative in Mendy. But I am enjoying watching us again and with Enzo Ndidi has indeed improved so credit to him for that. PS. By the way, there was a time when I was quite positive about Wilf - before his injury a few seasons ago - he was passing better and doing more all rounded stuff in that CDM role. Then he regressed and then the tactics never changed while other teams caught on to how to play us (high press rather than sitting back in case we counter).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakgarnerpurkis/2023/04/29/why-relegation-for-leicester-city-this-year-wont-be-a-disaster/amp/

“Currently we're averaging 2.67 points per game, which is incredible. If we keep that up we'd be on for 123 points! Incidentally, Ipswich are averaging out at 112 points, Preston are on for 102.” This proves that the data is too unreliable. I don’t think anyone thinks Ipswich and Preston will finish with more than 100 points. It is not unusual for a team to go through a run but eventually many will suffer a poor run so this is why you can only compare after quite a distance has been run. It just so happened that Ipswich and Preston are having theirs at the beginning. Same as us. Yes, we are more likely to be able to sustain a much longer run than others so it would be interesting to see. Back to my point though, I think therefore it is more useful if you can keep up the data comparison by comparing against the first 10 games only and so on. If you compare against the full season, then you have not taken into account the poor runs that most teams inevitably suffer. If you don’t, the comparison is flawed as shown by the fact that all three teams this season are at the top of your table.

Look. Same here. I would have definitely taken the money as he has been atrocious for us last two seasons and the blind loyalty Rodgers shown added to many’s frustration in his inclusion and performances. Let’s face it, he is still not even at Championship level in terms of ball control - balls still bounce off his feet and his attempted step over against Blackburn was pretty hilarious. He could never go back to be a pivot in midfield or even a defensive defender in the modern game where teams generally employ the high press. He just does not have the ball skills to get himself out of trouble and as a result as we saw in the last few seasons he was basically trying to avoid the ball altogether - he was a total handicap. Imagine playing that Ndidi in the Winks or new Hamza role where you need to demand the ball - not going to happen. But his strengths are still in pressing and intercepting, which Enzo ingeniously used in an area where a mistake does not matter as much while he can in turn cause problems in the opposition third (and this also underlines why Rodgers was so poor at adapting). He always had the vision though so his passing intent has always been there but his actual execution was poor especially when under pressure in our own half. He is still suspect in that regard, but if he pulls one off out of every three creating a chance for Vardy like that then no one will notice his other 2 misplaced passes.

“The PA news agency understands the EFL has concerns over a proposal to allow clubs relegated from the Premier League – who are also set to continue to benefit from parachute payments in some form – to spend 85 per cent of their revenue on squad costs. The EFL is understood to favour a much lower figure for its clubs in order to promote sustainability and help them prepare for the introduction of the independent regulator – closer to the 70 per cent ratio coming in at UEFA level.” Actually, further to my post above, does anyone know what the current ratio is? Is it 85% which I assumed in my post or is it even higher?

“Premier League clubs outside of the traditional ‘big six’ see the higher-ratio percentage as essential to helping them compete with those in regular receipt of Champions League cash while within the top flight, and to ensure the the league stays competitive and therefore attractive to broadcasters.“ Ironically, this is true. This is the equaliser in the Premier League for the 14 clubs so that they can spend the money knowing that if they still get relegated they will not go to bankruptcy immediately. This is what we benefited from and why the Premier League is so fun to watch and so competitive because even Chelsea can be down there in the bottom half of the table at the moment. This can never happen in the German or the Spanish leagues for example where all teams below the top 3 are just too much of a pushover. The 85% rule, which we currently benefit from, therefore ironically makes the whole Premier League more competitive. The much bigger problems are: - How do we control spending by the top top clubs because it is this that has led to the crazy spending and the ever increasing gap. In America, there would have been some spending cap. - For the Championship, how do we ensure there is more money available to the clubs outside of the relegated clubs from the Premier League. Now I am obviously biased, I can see why they want to target the spending by the relegated clubs in order to make the rest more competitive. There is also an element of truth to that as well. But I am happy that we got to keep at least half the squad we kept. We did sell Maddison and Barnes for a lot of money (though we did pretty poorly in my view given today’s prices). If we were forced to sell more because of the rule change, who knows, maybe we would have gotten even less for our players as other clubs would know we need to firesale. Also, we could be stuck here for a long time - an even bigger consequence than it already is. So I think this is a difficult one and we should for the time being resolve the first two bigger problems I highlighted above first.

I just read this after my post above. I fully agree with this except for letting the captains initiate reviews. Not a bad idea but this is just difficult to implement. We don’t want players to stop play and then run to the ref for a review. We need players to continue playing and focus on that while VAR in the background checks for that. But if we can just leave the VAR to check for howlers then this should sort itself out. As you say, ironically the more the VAR is obsessed with accuracy the more inaccurate it will become as it throws away common sense and the spirit of the game out the window.

VAR could have been a good thing but the way it is currently being used and the rules that go with it is just killing the game. The Refs become obsessed with accuracy which ironically is making their decisions illogical and non-sensical. If the on field Ref is good and is paying attention, I would say 98% of the times their decisions are the same or better than if decisions are made by the VAR. This is especially the case when it comes to penalties, handballs, tackles and for me offsides, when watching things real time is often the best. The way they are doing the replays for the on field Ref especially is just wrong. Like the first red Liverpool got against Spurs, that if you watch it from all angles and in real time it should just be a yellow, but the VAR has already decided that it is a red when it chose to show the Ref the worst angle in slow motion repeatedly without the other angles in real time. It was planting the seed for a red in a very biased manner. With offsides, what happened to giving the benefit of doubt to the attackers? If you need to draw a line on the TV screen to decide that someone is offside by a hairline, is it more accurate than the on field decision? Doesn’t it all depend on the angle, how your draw the line, when to freeze the moment etc? I would say the assistant ref may actually have a better feeling of this in real time on the pitch as he gets to watch all the actions (similar to how players would see it) and with the sound of the kick as well. VAR was meant to make decisions more accurate by throwing out clear and obvious errors. But in the UK, unlike other countries, VARs are trying too hard to make it absolutely accurate and this throwing common sense and the spirit of the game out the window. In other words, striving too much for accuracy is ironically the downfall of VAR.

https://foxesofleicester.com/2023/09/07/leicester-city-negotiate-deal-asap/ We have been very poor at this in the last few seasons. As we tried to build a team for long term success, we spent too much money on players the manager (Rodgers) didn’t fancy; we signed crucial players on too short term of a deal (eg. I never get why you sign a player on big money but only give them 4 year contract which has proven to be a money waster); we let too many valuable players go on a free; we let big wage earners sit on the bench; we let players who declared they won’t be here be leaders (eg. Tielemans). This legacy of a problem is still with us as we have again Nacho, Ndidi, Praet, Vesty, Vardy, Albrighton being allowed to leave on a free next summer as things stand today (while they can also sign pre-deals to leave in January which will become a major distraction as heads are turned). I hope Enzo and the Club have a plan to mitigate this.

https://foxesofleicester.com/2023/09/07/leicester-city-negotiate-deal-asap/

Ironically, Daka has a longer contract with us while Nacho, Vardy, Ndidi, Praet, Vesty, Albrighton, can all leave on a free in the summer and can sign a pre agreement with another club come January which will be a major distraction. I think the Club needs to have a smart way of sorting this out before it all becomes a big mess like last year.

Still not convinced but admittedly I am glad he is making himself useful. Did you see that attempted crossover Ndidi tried to make? He fooled himself more than the defender. But that pass was a blinder. He had the right idea and this time it came off.

Maybe that is Winks, who is at the engine of the way we play, or even Vesty who has done an even more remarkable turnaround!

Absolutely. We are miles better than this league, even after losing Maddison (who is absolutely killing it with Tottenham at the moment and he is going to become even better - a steal by the way for only £40m considering all the duds others have paid more for), Barnes (who had a great start at Newcastle before his injury), Castagne (in Serie A), Soyuncu (top class and an absolute travesty he was out of the team last year under Rodgers; one I think Enzo would particularly like given his ball control), Tielemans (but yes he had a horrible season last year and should have been moved on last summer), Thomas (back in Premier League), Perez (in La liga), Evans (back in Man U side which does to show he is still very well regarded), etc. Even Maddison alone - any team with him should not have been relegated. While relegation strangely may be giving us the kick we need to refresh, the biggest regret for me is losing Maddison. Even when we go back up next season, we will find it hard to find someone like him. Winks is a different player but Maddison is really another level. Barnes is also coming good too under Howe. Imagine what Enzo can do with him.

Different topic, but why does Enzo choose Hamza instead of KDH as captain? He emphasised Hamza coming from the academy but so is KDH?

Throughout the whole season we keep saying “not the best performance”. Maybe this is our level at this time? Too good for the Championship but we are not exactly going to walk over the Premier League next season, if we get promoted. By the way, I don’t like seeing how other clubs fans complain about our finances. Look at Leeds and Southampton.

He can be a Ndidi except Enzo may be able to coach positive passing into him. I was quite disillusioned with him in the past, to be honest. Under Rodgers, he played the Ndidi role, and he was always so negative. He would mostly pass backwards, sideways at best, and often it appears he did not even want the ball. I thought he can never be a proper footballer. He does have better ball control compared to Ndidi, so who knows, maybe Enzo can coach him into a better more positive player.

All I say is this. Some of the players our fans have written off as not good enough etc, even for us in the Championship, like Mendy, Perez, Soumare, are playing top tier football (even the Champions League). The damage Rodgers had done is significant. Enzo has seen something in Hamza. Let’s see. At least it is another who won’t leave on a free next summer.

So the question is how do we adjust the system so we don’t need to rely on one player. This is what differentiate a good coach from a great coach. Early days but it would be interesting to see how Enzo develops this in due course.

We have a lot that can leave on a free next summer and as you say this coming window will be a massive distraction. Legacy from our poor management of our contracting situations, obviously complicated by our relegation. Nacho, Ndidi, Praet, Vardy, Albrighton amongst those who will be out of contract. The Tielemans situation is a lesson learnt (but remember we also got zero for the likes of Perez, Soyuncu and Mendy who are all decent players). With us being in the Championship, it would be hard for us to keep their heads in the right place in January, unless they are absolutely committed and we are flying high still in the Championship with guaranteed bonus if we get promoted.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/liverpool-leicester-city-carabao-cup-31046995?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

Ipswich beat Wolves.

Same as keeping our core players and the need slowly transition to those who can carry the club’s legendary culture shaped by Pearson. We still have Vardy and Albrighton, but they will soon be gone so we need to groom a new generation of die hard Leicester players that can carry the baton. This is not easy, so the longer Vardy and Albrighton can stay to ensure the transition is done well the better. Remember that not every club had the 5000-1 premier league win we had and that belief is very very hard to pass down. In this regard just remember loan players come and go.

I want to agree with this but not fully. I don’t agree Tielemans is lazy per se, but he just switches off too often. He needed to have been dropped just like Maddison was some years back. The whole set up was just wrong. Rodgers relied on individual brilliance to get us out of the trouble that he created through his set up of the team. As we had an excellent squad, that bought him time. But over time, other teams figured us out and it was too easy to play us as we were too one dimensional. We only had two outlets to progress up the pitch: Maddison and Barnes. We had no one on the right (not his fault but he could have changed tactics to adjust). Shutting us out was easy: high press and don’t let the ball get to Maddison or Barnes; even if it does, they often had little outlet but as they are brilliant players some times they do some brilliant things and we score. (By contrast, Enzo and Ange the Tottenham coach use the system to progress up the pitch). One of the biggest problems to me was therefore Rodgers’ set up. Another is his negative mindset - instead of focus on attack, his focus was on not taking risk which damaged our players so so much despite what he said about wanting to improve players. So many regressed in his rein. Some other specific problems I mentioned here previously included: starting Ndidi as the pivot in front of the back four (that was an absolute disaster). Imagine playing Ndidi instead of Winks in the current set up by Enzo and have a think how effective that would be. We see Ndidi has good instincts as a footballer, but his ball control is (let’s face it) League One standard. We cannot afford a player like that playing the Winks role. Then there was also Ward (as you said). Injuries: it really seems like it was not a coincidence we had so many injuries. Not sure if it is the way Rodgers trained the team or the training pitches or what. Self preservation: Rodgers was so interested in himself that he didn’t care about the club really. On this, I also agree with you that making Tielemans a captain is atrociously bad. He clearly had no desire to be here running down his contract like that (only to go to Villa!!!), yet he not only played week in week out with little output and so many mistakes, he was a leader?