leicesterseddon

Four defenders, four central midfielders, a left winger and a striker

To strike a discordant note - I think this is terrible business from the club and sets an appalling precedent.

Dreading this. Seriously think we’re going to get absolutely battered

I see your point. My main opposition to selling now is that there isn’t enough time left to suitably replace him. If Chelsea really wanted him, they’d have been bidding £70m+ early in the window and started a realistic conversation at that point. Had that happened I think we would have come to an agreement around £80m and both sides would have moved on. As it’s happened though, they are trying to lowball us and going about it in a terrible fashion.

It definitely has. This is why the transfer window should shut before the season starts, it’s such a circus.

Hard to blame the club here IMO He signed a 5-year deal only recently and we’re entitled to get fair value for him (which based on his age and position is more than Chelsea are offering)

Did he really say it would be hard for us to beat a Sunday League team if they defended deep? I mean, got to admire him for his honesty I suppose

I think mid-September is also too early Sacking a manager only a few games into a season isn’t a good look I reckon if we’re anywhere below 14th or so by November they pull the trigger during the World Cup

I think there’s an argument that Tielemans has been played too deep - although he’s also to blame as well for his poor form Ndidi is a bit of a mystery. He has been poor for a while, even before his injury. As you say it’s not his fault, but I’ve always thought the midfield has been unbalanced with KDH in it. Just feels like we are forever crowbarring people into positions to get them in the team

I’ve been Rodgers in because 1) I thought he’d earned the time to put things right and 2) a lack of viable alternatives Point 2) still makes me nervous about about sacking him, but point 1) is over now as far as I’m concerned His time is up now. We’re going backwards and he’s getting his excuses in early, the writing is on the wall Rodgers has had a good run. But his time is up. When a new manager becomes available (more than 3 games into the season), it’s time to go

70% possession, 0 shots on target. We all know what happens next

You’re right. There is always a risk his value could diminish this season. Personally though, I think that risk is low. Based on his age and where he plays, there’s more chance it goes up.

Doesn’t change the fundamentals for me. Strop or not, Fofana is our most valuable asset and we should sell him on our own terms. Ideally this would have been early in the transfer window. Only for a monstrous fee should we be selling him now. He can ask not to play. But he can’t ask not to play for five years without ruining his career. I still think we’re in a strong position here. I’ll be very disappointed if we sell him for £80m personally.

So according to Brodgers, the club led him to believe he’d be able to sign players this summer, before then telling him when pre-season training began that he wouldn’t. Does this sound likely? I’ve no idea. I would have hoped our transfer planning would be more organised than that. Certainly I can’t think of anything that happened around mid-to-late June that would have affected the financial outlook for the club. The whole thing sounds bizarre.

The Mercury says he’s made a “transfer request” in their headline - but when you read the story it’s just ripping off a Guardian story that says he’s told the club he wants to leave (not the same thing). I doubt he has submitted a formal transfer request. It’s just the usual positioning to put pressure on the club. Personally don’t think we should be selling unless we get over £100m. He’s not worth that much, but we should be making Chelsea pay a premium to buy him at this stage of the window.

Think its been reported that when he signed his 5-year deal last season, there was an informal agreement with the club he wouldn’t leave this summer We are obviously going to lose him at some point, but personally I don’t see why we should sell now at this stage in the window If he’s worth £80m+ now, he’ll still be worth the same next year (maybe more, and unlikely to be much less given his age and position) Replacing him now would be a nightmare

Drop Amartey, play four at the back, start Iheanacho, drop Tielemans

He was at fault for the third. Maybe the fourth a bit too. But thought he had a pretty good first half.

I’ve stuck with Rodgers through the bad patches last season. I’m not (yet) wanting him to go, but he’s hanging by a thread. Some things aren’t his fault. But I think he can carry the can for: - sticking with a back three/five, despite the wealth of evidence it doesn’t suit us - calling for a refresh halfway through last season, thereby alienating our squad players - poor recruitment last summer (he might share the blame with Rudkin, who knows who is really calling the shots) - the mystifying failure to play Iheanacho and decision to keep playing Tielemans Most worry of all - I went to the game today and…we have given up trying to play out from the back? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a massive fan of playing out from the back…but if that’s what he was asking the team to do all last year, why abandon it now? Lack of faith in the players?

Four at the back please

Can’t help but shudder when you hear Rodgers say there’s no “specific” timeframe for Barnes’s return…

This is what we have to hope. To be fair, it’s unusual to kick off a new season with basically a month of the transfer window still left to run. If other clubs start to panic and take a punt on our deadwood late in the game, then I expect we will see players coming in too. I’m supportive of the strategy in general. My worry is though - if we are doing business very late, which of our targets will be left and available?

Realistically Watford will only match his wages, enabling a permanent move, if they go up this season. If not he’ll be out on loan again next year with us picking up a share of the bill. Personally I wish the guy all the best. But his case does nicely illustrate why we are having problems moving players on.

We’ve been pushing the limits on wages for years. It was always going to be tough to maintain outside Europe. You could argue that fixing things now rather than plunging headlong towards a Leeds-style crisis is actually a sign of being well run. One thing that can’t be denied is that the recruitment last summer was abysmal.

Call me a revolutionary but “listening” to fans surely means before you introduce something, not afterwards?