volpeazzurro

Exactly.

When being practical it's nothing to do with self respect though is it? It's about family and money first, always. He's hardly sacrificing his career anyway, he's had a great one. His other 'options' clearly weren't that good or he'd have gone! Also, even if he knew he wasn't wanted, essentially it was merely by one man and it didn't really take a brain of Britain to work out he wouldn't be there much longer. He probably even likes the club, the facilities and his playing colleagues too? Why rush and make a bad decision just because a clearly incompetent manager doesn't like you and has his own agenda. Turns out he made the right decision for him didn't he! He's done well and I'm sure he couldn't couldn't give a monkey's toss if some supporter thinks he's parasitic because he's done well out of making the right decision. It's just a job, he's not a supporter.

But why would you? Just to play a bit of football? Captain of Munchengladbach, Southampton and his country, he's achieved all he necessarily needs to at his age, why even commute to London with all that hassle for potentially less money. What's the carrot there at Fulham? Or, stay at home with your young family, go to training, get a good wage and have a life, particularly if you feel miffed in the way you've been treated in the first place by an incompetent manager who'd pursued you in the first place! It really is just a job and a contract is a two way street lest we forget. Unless another deal was highly attractive financially and let's face it, Fulham, Berlin or Anderlecht are hardly big time either when it comes to football expectations, he's done exactly what was best for him and his family, why wouldn't he? He's played a blinder. His renaissance under Maresca has been good. He's earned very good wages and his performances have put him in the shop window for when his contract expires whereupon he can leave on a free and perhaps get a signing on fee. He didn't steal a wage at all. Leicester City gave him a contract and certain expectations which, through Rodgers initially, subsequently put him in a particular position where he had to make some choices. He merely chose what was best for him and his family. I'd have done exactly the same. I certainly wouldn't go and kick a football somewhere else potentially for less money or move my young family 'yet again' just to appease a badly run club (at the time) or a few poxy supporters to whom I have no affinity to. Good luck to the guy who as it turns out, is probably one of our current players of the season who, if we get promoted, will have earned his wages and been largely responsible for a big part of the success. I can happily settle for that.

Quite right he chose to stay, depending on the deals, so would I too! Ask yourself a personal question. You're offered a deal with good wages and, having had conversations with your proposed new manager, you uproot your family and move to Leicester having accepted the deal which is lucrative. Your new manager turns out to be a complete incompetent and despite you having had a very transparent history regarding your particular skillsets, he gives you a brief opportunity in another position/type of job you're not really suited to. In fact only a complete dullard would have made you try to do it. You're subsequently sidelined after a very short space of time. Eventually, despite having been employed on a good financial deal, your employers (and in this case some supporters), think you should try to seek opportunities to work elsewhere. Even if the money is pretty similar, it isn't necessarily based somewhere that you want to live and in the case of London, considerably more expensive to live there! Whether in London or as rumoured, a position abroad, you've already uprooted your wife and young child once and are now awaiting the birth of a second child. Are you really going to uproot everyone again to move to a strange city, potentially for less money, just so you can 'play football'? Think about it 🤔, it's merely a job. Would you do it merely to appease others or look after yourself and your family. To me the answer is obvious.

I've applied for Head of Fanny Engagement but had to declare that I have no formal qualifications and my previous experience was many years ago now. However I'm willing to complete any further on the job training.

FFP probably saved us long term in that we were unable to give Rodgers and Congerton any more money to burn on donkeys.

No improvement to come there then. That boy must really be able to talk a good story, probably even better than Rodgers!

He probably didn't want to give it a go at a club where he was so unhappy, felt was in disarray and where he felt he just didn't fit in as a young man away from home. I appreciate that Maresca had arrived but, to add learning a new position just to play second fiddle to another player there, when you're already unhappy is hardly a great option. At his age you'd want regular games and to get on in your career. Personally I wish him well and think with the right club he'll have a good career.

Absolutely, they'd be mugs not to wait until the end of the season to see where both Leicester City are division wise and what alternatives are on the table.

They're not creating 'enough trouble' in the final third because quite a bit of the time they're not even in it! Under orders, I feel sure, they've been dropping very deep and certainly far more so and for longer than at any other period of their careers with us. This isn't coincidence.

Understandably a lot of wants but just I don't see a budget for them. We'll have to sell before we buy and don't see much revenue incoming for an injured Praet, a Daka that's lost value for not being played and Souttar similar. Don't see us letting Iheanacho go as bar an untested Canon we've only got an aged Vardy. No point in signing another mediocre striker that would be surplus to requirements in the Premiership should we get there as Vardy will need replacing also. January a not so great expensive market too. Don't see much happening really.

I absolutely agree. Manchester City, despite all the investment were no overnight success. Pep and Klopp, even with investment have taken time to get where they are. In comparison, Maresca is trying to do it on universal credit 🤣. You can't play champagne and oyster football with beer and chips players but what you can do is develop recruitment wise like we used to and get the best out of what you've got, sometimes accepting that for certain games, you have to slightly alter your approach due to the superiority of opposition players. Maresca too is also learning.

I don't accept that an ageing Jamie Vardy or Iheanacho have become poor strikers overnight, particularly in the Championship! I really believe that it's merely thus far the tactics being used that don't play out to their strengths. We know what Vardy's game was when he was scoring for fun and it wasn't similar to his last match at Leeds where he was playing so deep I even saw him in the right back position on two occasions! He's commendably, rightly, like Iheanacho, following orders. Orders that have led us to the top of the table despite two losses. Usually, you're strikers are the main source of goals because in the past they've usually been the focal point and usually the best at shooting and taking their chances by definition. The way Man City have played in the past however is such that their goals come from midfield almost as much as any striker at times, in fact they've played with no strikers at all sometimes or false number 9s! Even Vardy and Iheanacho have to try and learn and adapt. The difference is, Manchester City have had world class midfielders and we haven't. They were also well drilled over a long period of time, ours have been together five minutes. It's also at times reminded me of watching Arsenal in the past to some extent ie they weren't just happy to score, they wanted it to be a pretty goal and almost walk it into the net. They're learning and adapting. We do at times need to stop the excessive mincing around passing in the final third and sometimes just get it into the box and have a crack I think but, on occasions, there just hasn't been anyone there, particularly Vardy or Iheanacho as they've been employed on other duties they're getting used to. Perhaps they will adapt? Perhaps they just aren't suited to this system of play? Perhaps Canon will be? Time will tell and Maresca, who I'm still overall very very happy with, will perhaps tweak things. It's still very early days into the reign of a new manager who inherited a depressed relegated side, with a good proportion of his squad having disappeared and the remainder arguably in disarray and some gagging to get away. New young incoming players needing to find their feet and also learn new methods of play. None of this is achievable overnight. Our initial Phoenix from the Ashes has to some extent obscured the reality of the situation somewhat. At the start of the season if we'd have been sitting in the top 6 at Christmas I personally, with all the upheaval, would have said that Maresca was doing a great job and would be optimistic for a strong second half to the season and possibly a play off place. We really were that bad lest we forget. A lot of the dross and problems like Rodgers and Tielemans etc have gone. The depression cloud has been lifted and we seemingly have a bunch of players that are singing from the same song book who appear happy, optimistic and willing to fight. We've lost two games against two decent teams, it was always going to happen, even to the best teams. A long way but an adventure ahead after two year of dire play, division and depression. Don't let's get ahead of ourselves. There's currently a lot to be happy about. 😊

Not out of the Brendan Rodgers book thankfully ie down to my good management if we win, down to the players, owners, weather or supporters if we lose. 🤣

Keep goal line technology but other than that, ditch it. Before VAR, supporters and pundits alike would paw over retrospective footage of a decision and argue different points of view. Sometimes the officials got it glaringly wrong but, I never usually considered such as anything more than an honest mistake or something difficult to see from certain angles at speed. Now, even with all the technology, we're doing exactly the same thing and even slowing real time games down and losing the spontaneity and excitement of the game in the process. Officials haven't improved any, in fact possibly the opposite as they start to rely on VAR to make certain decisions for them. The truth is however that it is here to stay for a number of reasons. I don't see anyone soon backtracking for fear of losing face. It may help if they employed dedicated and regular trained staff and not mixing and matching referees. Specialist staff for a specialist job with clear guidelines.

Good for Enzo, he's been a breath of fresh air in a very stale and depressing camp.

He's been injured as well I think.

I tried (or attempted to) access the audio version a few weeks ago. Despite paying and setting up up an ongoing monthly payment I was unable to access the game for the entire match. I therefore cancelled my ongoing payments and requested a refund. Never got any reply. I have now got my second email stating that Foxhub cannot, surprise surprise, receive any more payments but if I wanted to cancel I can do so via a link. The link takes you to the lcfc site but continues to send you on a round robin back to the email, as does independently logging into the site. They still fail to answer emails. Is it me or is it just all a bit of a shambles?

I hardly think Smith was the barometer of wise decisions and team selections. He kept picking Tielemans to our detriment for a start off.

Looking at it from the players point of view he's doing exactly the right thing surely. Wait to see where Leicester City are at the end of the season. If promoted, see what the plans would be for him as a player and what wages on a new contract would look like. Compare that to the status he'd be offered at another club, their standing and prospects in whatever league or even country they're in and the financial package offered there. At the end of the day it's his job, he's not a supporter, I'd do exactly the same. It's not as if he owes the club anything having worked under Rodgers and his mysterious ways.

No, Yunus is not Turkish for Dennis.

For the under 8s?

Be fair, it's a long way up for him!

I daren't 😁

So if he's only just arrived at Villarreal, why the sudden rush to get rid? 🤔