JJD_LCFC

Reports pretty much say we will get 9-10 million for Maresca and his technical staff. Personally I think it is good business. I think the way Enzo plays requires a high level of technical ability and tactical understanding from all players. We will not have that in the premier league. I thought we would be similar to Burnley and play possession football but ultimately get relegated. For now, we need a manager who can keep us in the premier league and set us up to do so. Does not have to be an exciting name but someone who will get the best out of the players that we have. We still have a reasonable squad who are more than capable of finishing outside of the relegation places. We saw the consequences of keeping Rodgers for so long when he clearly did not want to be here, Enzo seemed to feel different post January transfer window, and ultimately we will be in a better position because of this. Frustrating now, but in the long run arguably better off.

His composure in front of goal was excellent this season. But is he a 1 season wonder like a Michu (Swansea) or is he into his peak years as a player. Anything around 10 million I would be ok with as I think he has something our team need. If closer to 20 million I would hope we use our scouts to source alternative options.

Fatawu on a permeant contract. For 14.5million, personally I think that is a bargain. Priority we sign him. I would be working on this now. Gus Hamer from Sheffield United. One of the best midfielders whilst at Coventry and I think he will be ideal as a CM for us, in a team who have a bit more possession than Sheffield United Hackney at Middlesborough, I also think impressed and has potential to play DM + CM. I think we will need options in CM this season. Ronnie Edwards from Peterborough at CB. He may be playing in League one but has vast potential. Trust the scouting department to find a number 9 and a winger to provide rotation / competition for Mavididi and Fatawu. My only goess would be Smozdics at Blackburn, if he plays Striker he will be worth a look. Looks very composed in front of goal and I think he could be the finisher that we need. But I hope the scouts have far better knowledge than my own limited viewpoint. Retain Ndidi, Vardy and dare I say Vestegaard if wages can be agreeable. I think all will play a huge part next season. Vestegaard was a different player this season and I have to admit my mistake in writing him off so soon in the premier league.

Fully agreed and no surprise at all it is Hamza. Technically extremely limited. May be quick and likes to tackle but that is it. He has had more issues than positives in the club. - Caught at a party during Covid which cost us 4th in the league. Maddison, Perez and Hamza dropped from the West Ham away game. Lost the game and 4th place - As of February police quite rightly involved in a drink driving incident when he was caught driving on the wrong side of the road Continually sets a dreadful example and what does Enzo do to set a precedent of indiscipline is make him captain numerous times, and then the board offer him a new deal. Forgetting 18 months ago only Watford were interested to take him on loan at a loss on his wages.

Certainly agree the football has been good when all players are fit and what we get with Enzo is this, Enzoball. But this is my issue with the modern day coaches. Why do they persist to play a certain way even though they have not got the players? Surely the job of the coach is to get the best out of the players available. We were relegated as Rodgers refused to play any other style as his own philosophy is to play out. In theory sounds great but with Ward, Thomas, Amartey, Ndidi etc we were our own worst enemy. Look at Burnley, they have to play out but have not got the players to do so. Dyche gets a lot of criticism but he kept Burnley up for years spending less than Kompany did in one transfer window. It seems that modern day coaches can only coach 1 style of play. When Ricardo and Ndidi are injured, there has to be a better option than just replace with 2 other players and expect them to do the same job. I would expect a decent coach to be able to recognise this and put our strongest team out playing in a way that benefits and not hinders them. We have lost an 8-13 point lead in 1 month due to injuries and persisting with this style of play. Enzo mentioned he plays this style as it is supposed to tire the opposition, yet we are the ones who look shattered after 75 minutes and is why we concede so many late goals. But nothing changes. We have dropped 13 points in the last 15 minutes and there has not been any indication to address this. It was the same with Rodgers defending corners. It got so bad that as fans we would cheer when we did not concede a goal from a corner.

That is correct and I certainly agree with you that fans have been misled. The premier league have attempted to maintain the monopoly of the top 6. Ever since the proposed Super League every decision has been to benefit those, If we look at the following rule changes I fail to see where any of them benefit clubs outside of the top 6: - - VAR - We were told only for clear and obvious error. Referees always favour the big sides but VAR proves this. Most incorrect decisions are always against the lesser reputable club in games. Wolves, Brighton, Nottingham Forest and ourselves last year all had numerous terrible calls against us. Pundits will say it evens itself out but it doesn't help the lower positioned teams. - 5 subs per game (Only helps the teams with the larger and more talented squads) - Additional stoppage time (Can be up to 10 minutes. more time for the sides to score) - No tackling / more red cards (I agree with player safety but stops the lesser positioned teams tackling / defending against the better players in fear of sent off) - FFP (Look at Newcastle, clubs can not even spend money to compete. Newcastle have 1 good year now need to sell prized assets to balance the books. They have no chance to overtake current top 4) - 5th place is going to be champions league shortly. Where will this stop. This will be up to 6 teams in the next decade as they bring in more money.

Yes, I have lived here for 3 and a half years now. This was our training session Friday morning. Coach for a team called Mount Pleasant Academy. Hope all is well,

Thank you for your comment and never an issue to disagree. That is why we are on a forum so we can discuss differing opinions. (I hope we see this more ) My personal opinion, due to FFP being introduced is that all clubs have to make sure they stay within the set parameters. If you spend above that then there should be a consequence. Otherwise bringing FFP is pointless. The 115 charges for Man City are not all related to losses, but Everton and Forest both were due to breaking the rules of FFP. According to reports, Forest would have stayed within the limits if they sold Brennan Johnson by the deadline. However they got 15 million more to sell on deadline day. It's not easy for the clubs as everyone would have taken the extra 15 million. But then they broke the rules and deadline set by FFP. We have apparently overspent and will be the next club to be charged. If we broke the rules we should get the same punishment. All I will say it that as FFP is brought in they need to set clear parameters and consequences. I certainly agree it is not easy. They need to be specific on the losses and have clarity - do they relate solely to on the field losses (ie new players, wages, staff etc) Or does the loss include the cost of a new stadium or training ground as well. Either way it is difficult.

Fully agreed. Points deduction should have been set at the start when FFP came in with clarity for all clubs. - If a team overspends by a certain amount then 3 points - If spends exceedingly over then 10 points (as examples) The point deductions are made up at a time to suit the offending clubs. Forest are 3 points clear so we make it that they are now only 1 point off relegation zone. Everton hit with 10 points when they were doing well. As soon as looked in danger we will drop this to 6 points on a technicality. Everton had any points deduction last year when they broke the rules, then we stay up and they go down. So they delayed deductions until a time when they were doing well. It looks like a punishment but it is not really.

I do not think your post deserves any stick. Fairly accurate reflection on the current state of our team. The only area I slightly disagree is where you mentioned Leeds and Ipswich play far better football than us. Maybe they are more entertaining, and definitely we can be rather boring. Personally, I think we were better than Leeds certainly in the away game for 75 minutes. And in both Ipswich games I thought we did well, again until the latter stages of the game. At the moment we do have the best goal difference in the league, which looks a lot closer than it did at the start of February. I think Enzo is a good coach, but not the same level as a manager during games. His subs are really poor and pretty much planned pre game, decisions are always like for like. We have lost so many points from winning positions. I was sure Enzo said he plays this style of football so the opposition tire at the end of the game and that is when we take advantage. The season started that way but we have got worse and actually we are the ones who are tired at the end of games. He is a modern coach who has a philosophy of how he wants to play and he will not change from that. I personally think philosophy is another way to describe failure but that is just my opinion. I really worry that in a majority of our games we concede clear chances, look jaded last 20 minutes and as you correctly mentioned his subs are very questionable. I do agree that this current set up would not survive in the premier league. There is never a plan B, or even know how of how to see games out. Once or twice I accept a late goal against, but this has happened so often that it implies nothing changes in game to improve our chances of getting a result.

Enzo has a modern mindset of coaching about him. I have to be mindful that the game has changed a lot over the last 35 years since I have been watching. But modern day coaches now seem to only have a plan A and stick to this. All is great when plan A works but when it is not successful there are clear areas for concern. The Subs - Why are the subs always like for like? Why do we always have to play out from the back to invite pressure when winning? This invites more pressure and we have conceded late goals in 7 matches this season. What has happened to playing with 2 strikers, or giving the opposition something to think about. Why can't we play a channel ball anymore and possibly win a throw in just to relieve pressure for a few moments. Defenders and even goal keepers are not primarily defenders or goal keepers any more. They are thought of as the first line of attack to build up the play. Which in theory is great but the ultimate role is to defend and keep a clean sheet. A good block, dominant defensive header, tackling, all seems to be secondary to the ability to passing the ball. We are still in a great position but Enzo has a lot to learn, Pep can get away with these things because every player is worth 50 million in his team, we will not have that luxury.

I do give Brendan a lot of credit for his first 18 months of performances. Some of the best football I have seen Leicester play. Admittedly I only started watching during the Brian Little era. But for me some of the best football I have seen us play. Brendan was a skilled coach / tactician as you said. Unfortunately something changed in his approach, same for Mourinho I think. Mourinho was apparently told by Sergio Ramos a few failings and he has never been the same manager since. I can not give Brendan the accolade of a skilled coach / tactician for his last 18 months here. We watched every game during the relegation season and surely we could see we do not have the players to play out from the back. Amartey, Ndidi, Thomas are not players to play this style. A skilled tactician should have seen this. Set plays, horrendous record. And then Danny Ward, for 25+ games he started him when everyone was saying he is not a number 1. Brendan constantly speaks on "character" yet when any player has any they are removed from the team. It is so hard finding the right people to be around you in life and in work. Nigel Pearson was never spoken about badly here, maybe Matt Mills and Jermaine Beckford but he was removing the wrong egos in the squad for the benefit of the team. But as a man and person he had complete control, surrounded himself with the right staff and everything worked. Nigel only goes down as a success with us, if we speak to Derby, Bristol City fans I do not think they will be as positive. Same manager, different circumstances and results changed massively. It is incredibly difficult to get everyone on the same page and feeling valued. Enzo does seem to be doing this and I really think Enzo has a very difficult job. He has to change the culture of the club, put his own style on the team, get the fans back on side and start to support the club from the malaise we have been in for so long. Remove players who do not fit his system, coach players who have been unmotivated, and bring in his own players, then create everyone into a team. All of this whilst being under immense pressure to have to win every week. We are top, 10+ points inside the promotion spaces and still some negativity.

There can possibly be similarities with Postecoglu at Spurs in this. Brendan came in from Puel who was playing a dull bland of football and never really had the fans on his side. Brendan came in, added a bit of attacking play, allowed more freedom to create and we looked a very good team. Then he wanted to change things too much and issues started. Falling out with key players Kasper + Soyuncu, for us, Dembele at Celtic, I think he benched Gerrard away at Madrid as well. I get there has to be an element of showing who the boss is, but there are superior ways of doing so. If anyone looks at Brendan's history of signing players it is alarming. At Liverpool he wasted so much money and only really signed Coutinho and Sturridge who did well. A host of flops, Celtic fans warned us the same, and his signings were largely poor here. Then the treatment of players he recruited. Personally Recruited Vestegaard and then removed him to train on his own. Now, exactly how much involvement Brendan had choosing and signing players can be questionable, but surely when his record in transfer market is poor at 3 previous clubs there must be something in it.

Our board really neglected (for the lack of a better term) the team last season. I will always give praise where it is due and Brendans first 18 months were excellent. And he deserves a lot of credit for that. Yet his last 18 months were dire. He is never accountable, ever! Blamed everyone else, fell out with a host of players, and the complete opposite for what a manager should be in terms of bringing a team together. Something changed in his approach to matches and he is not the same manager who first joined us. Gerrard and Rodgers were in charge at the same time, Villa removed Gerrard and employed Emery and we prolonged with Rodgers. I do fault our board with a lack of vision and understanding of the predicament we were in. At the time, we were possibly a more attractive proposition than Villa. And Emery possibly could have been a great appointment.

Whatever opinion that we have on `Vestegaard, as a team we have only conceded 14 goals in 21 games. Jannik has played every game and a huge part of our successful defence. Contrast to last season this is another huge turnaround that Maresca has provided for our team. Although, personally I am not Jannik's biggest fan, I would rather see Souttar in this position, just my opinion. I think we have more of an upside with Souttar playing, give him time to develop this season, threat in both penalty boxes, has a longer contract + resale value in the future, and I think he has done well when he plays for us. Jannik's passing is either great or poor. and I just think he is personally caught out too often. For example the Sheff Wed goal Jannik missed Hendrick's run across him, and any 1v1 situations he struggles with. Jannik was marginalised last year at the club, and deserves a lot of credit for turning his form around.