kingfox

Henni looking magnificent this evening 👀

You can’t knock the job that Le Bris has done though, getting them finishing in 4th place, did many expect them to be comfortably in the play-offs 🤔 In that type of profile of manager though, you’re seriously limiting yourself if you’re saying Leicester fans wouldn’t give a manager of that profile time. You can rule a bunch of Championship managers out of the equation, just because they haven’t tasted the heights of challenging for promotion. Of course there’s managers available who have the experience of tasting promotion, or just have more experience in general, and who you may expect to give us a more certain chance of challenging the automatic spots, but as we know, those names are a very unattractive list.

I’m talking solely from a youth development perspective mate, Sunderland have a model that heavily focuses on youth development, Le Bris worked in a similar mould at Lorient, even though it looked a surprising appointment, you can see they did their homework. I get the feeling that quite a few Leicester fans want someone of that profile, especially with a number of younger players coming through.

Thanks Palace for saving football today. Lovely scenes.

This is a good piece on him when he was at Reims https://theanalyst.com/2023/11/the-revolution-at-reims-under-will-still I do allude to Regis Le Bris quite a bit, he was relegated from Ligue 1 with Lorient last season, Sunderland were willing to take a chance on him. As I said on the previous page, Ligue 1 is a good league to look at for managers with history of developing youth 👍🏻

If you want a progressive style of football, aggressive pressing out of possession, and someone who has decent history of managing young players, then Will Still is a good candidate over some other names mentioned. When he took over at Reims they were in the relegation zone, with the worst league start they had in over 40 years. He went on a 19 game unbeaten streak, getting them into the top half. Even though they fell away in both campaigns he was there, he had Reims in the mix for European football in both the 22/23 and 23/24 season’s. His work at Reims was deemed good enough for him to get the Lens job, Lens finished 2nd only two season’s ago. Yes, on paper this season has looked average from him, but they are nowhere near the side they were two season’s ago. They’ve lost Khusanov and Danso this season. They’ve gone from having a prolific striker in Lois Openda, to having Elye Wahi who didn’t live up to expectations, now under Will Still this season, they have M’bala Nzola and Goduine Koyalipou, they are nowhere near the quality of what Lois Openda was, so it’s no surprise that Lens have been a bit dry in terms of goalscoring. Still has been managing in a top five league, did well in periods at Reims, and now managing Lens who were one of the better teams in Ligue 1 a few season’s ago, managing in the Championship would be an ideal next step for him. That’s old news mate 👍🏻

I guess you don’t rate Lobotka at Napoli then?

No worries mate, I understand your point 🙂 At the time we signed Winks, I think quite a few looked at the fee and thought it was a bit steep, numerous fans also looked at the transfer and in general thought he was a meh signing. As last season went on though, he was pivotal to a Maresca system and I think many fans forgot about the fee. I agree with the second paragraph though, value for money signings have been a big problem at Leicester City since things turned in Rodgers’ era. Who could have done Winks’s job in the Championship to a good standard and cost less money? Focusing on England, Ao Tanaka instantly springs to mind, Ric mentioned him numerous times, Leeds ended up picking him up for about £3 million, was arguably the best midfielder in the Championship this season, plus he has better defensive nous than Winks. Matt Grimes at Swansea has been a very solid Championship midfielder for a while now, a perfect player to have to control your midfield, Coventry picked him up in January for around £3.5 million. I just hope we’ve learnt our lesson moving forward when it comes to value for money, the Skipp transfer surely was the final straw. Will that come to fruition though with our board, sadly unlikely.

If RVN goes, then Winks would be the perfect option for some managers, not so for others. As depressing as it sounds, if it is Russell Martin who comes in, then you’d most definitely want Harry Winks sticking around, like under Enzo, he could be absolutely pivotal in a Martin type setup. If we get in a manager who sets up his midfield to be intense and press aggressively, then it would probably be best if Winks went to pastures new, he’s been one of the worst midfielders in the Premier League for defensive duels and possessions won.

At the time, I’d say he was actually the perfect signing from Maresca. Winks is a perfect player to have as the controller in midfield when dominating possession, which we of course did in the Championship. Signing a midfielder like Winks in a possession dominating Championship team made perfect sense. In the Premier League though, when you’re surrendering possession and having to defend more, that’s where Winks’ flaws come to fruition. He will get bypassed far too easily, because he hasn’t got the legs and the defensive nous. If he does stay, he’ll probably be alright in the Championship again, but if we go back up again, I’d be getting rid.

Not that I want it, but I’d be all over this if we go for a possession based style next season, he’d be perfect for Brussel ball for example. Suffered an injury at Hull this season, but had an excellent loan spell at Swansea, which ended in him winning their Player of the Season award.

Bit like Eric Roy at Brest, two older heads who’ve got their teams punching above their weight in Ligue 1. Pelissier seems like the type of guy you’d want though if you’re an underdog.

Bednarek supposedly has a £6 million release clause

Not to worry, our new manager Sean Dyche will replace him with Michael Keane on a free.

😁 Yep, he had Nalis while he was at Lens too. Absolutely loved watching Lens under Franck Haise, but formation wise I don’t think he’d suit us, plus as you’ve said, probably zero chance of getting him. Will Still or Carles Martinez are the two I’d be looking at, from a style of play and youth development perspective, they’d be right at the top of my wanted list with a few up-and-coming Championship managers.

Shame this article is behind a subscription https://totalfootballanalysis.com/head-coach-analysis/vasco-matos-santa-clara-202425-tactical-analysis-tactics I’ll try read it later 👍🏻 I’d get looking at managers in Ligue 1, Eredivisie and Jupiler Pro League too, as I’ve said a few times, those three leagues in particular heavily focus on young talent, nabbing a manager from one of those leagues would be my route to go down, exactly like Sunderland did picking up Le Bris from Lorient… Will Still in

Depends what style it is and more evidence seems to back that up. As I’ve mentioned on this forum before, the Premier League has shifted to a more fast & direct style, teams like Bournemouth, Forest, Brentford and Fulham in some way or other have got on trend with that. In Leicester’s case this season, a massive mistake we made this season imo is simply not getting on trend. When it comes to the nerdy stats like most counter attacks, direct speed of play, direct attacks, Leicester City rank as one of the worst in all three of those categories, Southampton are the same. If this is the direction the Premier League is going, then clubs like Leicester must change strategy. You either change strategy to get you out the Championship, rather than focus on heavy possession, or whoever the manager is must be someone who is willing to change style. In Sean Dyche’s case, is his style something you want to build with? On The Overlap, they actually said Sean Dyche is still the perfect fit for some clubs, but is that fit Leicester City, you can easily picture him at a club like Millwall, but Leicester City, if we want to get back to progressing, then as I’ve said, we need to get on trend. We need a manager who can play fast & direct, and utilise the pace we have in our team. Dyche is direct, but of course it’s an old school type of direct, do we really want to building with that type of style moving forwards 😕

Wouldn’t like to be on the touchline with Wellens and Jones going at it, you’ll get earache within 5 minutes.

Just watched the full interview from this, feel free to call me mad if you want They had a segment regarding football philosophies, he pretty much slagged off Russell Martin’s philosophy of building out from the back, said football fans are becoming bored with that style, fair point, but football fans are also bored of a Dyche style. He went on to actually talk about the three relegated clubs, their philosophies, and stated that those clubs surely must look at their situation and change something. He ain’t wrong when it comes to us, but I bloody hope if we do decide to change philosophy, it won’t be to Sean Dyche ball.

Even though I’ve defended him regarding his use of younger players, of course from a style of play perspective, if we had any sense we’d go absolutely nowhere near him. But the other scary alternative is Russell Martin, and it would be no surprise if we appointed one of them. It’s like choosing between Bonnie Blue and Lily Phillips, if you had any sense, you’d avoid both.

I think you can actually make a solid case for a number of managers in the bottom half of the Championship or top six in League 1. Even the one’s who’ve been sacked like Cleverley and Selles, I gave my points regarding Cleverley the other week. But would our board be brave enough to appoint someone like Wellens or a bottom half Championship manager. The only one you feel they’d actually consider is Danny Rohl because his stock is higher. I wouldn’t say our fans are obsessed with experience, but it’s very easy to focus on names like Martin, Dyche and a few others, because it wouldn’t be surprising if our board opted for one of them. The general feeling I get on the forum though, particularly in this thread, that quite a few would love to see a fresher up-and-coming name.

Wellens jumping into The Kop when he gets us promoted next season

Oh well, we’re going to appoint the English version.

Loves the long ball tactic to a target man though, along with numerous other Sean Dyche traits. Also like Dyche, he loves a bunch of experienced players too. He is basically the Swiss Sean Dyche.

I’m speaking from a pure age perspective mate. The fact is Dyche was happy to start them at 20, 21, 23 years of age, you can add Michael Keane to that list too. Where fans have been critical regarding Dyche’s willingness to use younger players, which I myself have been guilty of, that list shows that he does show willingness when younger talents are concerned. As for Monga and Evans, I’ll use Harrison Armstrong at Everton again as the perfect example. Dyche used him in the Everton first team this season at 17 years old. Who’s to say he wouldn’t view Monga and Evans in a similar manner. He might, he might not, we just don’t know, but to rule it out completely when Dyche has clearly shown willingness to use younger players in the past, I’ve come to realise that argument just doesn’t stack up, it’s just another misconception that we as fans tend to have regarding Dyche.