ts_1010

These are a good team. A point away at Fulham is just as good as a point at home against spurs. I don't think they will finish very far apart in the table. I'd like to see the aggressive pressing from the second half of the spurs game, and the direct vertical attacks. Like Cooper says, the out of possession game is key. Traore is a key player he can be dangerous, but he's also wasteful with possession. If we can win that battle, and out work their midfield we have a fair chance.

HMS Piss The League has arrived gracefully into port in the Premiership. All aboard Shithouse Coach Tours bound for: Lowblock, Park-the-Bus, Longball, Counter-attack. Last stop, Survival.

If soumare HAS to play, I'd much rather him up the top end of the pitch. The lad has no mind for defensive work.

If it was £10m now and £10m is we stay up, then he's only going to cost £10m. Which is nice. Can't believe we've just dropped £20m for an injury prone central midfielder when we have so many holes all over the pitch. It just shows that nobody wants to come here.

Well I'm certainly no expert. But if we are looking at an obligation to buy, surely we need to agree on what he's paid next year and for what is probably a 5 year contract.

Very true, but would be quite happy for us to throw in a goal bonus of some sort.

Yeah but, as I say they think (and I'm not saying they know everything) that he has a high potential score. 85. Which would make him better than most PL strikers. Toney is only an 80 on those scores btw. They get that sort of notion from talking to scouts and youth team managers across Europe. What I was getting at, is that he has been widely regarded as a hot prospect for years.

I know it means nothing, but the scouts they use for the FIFA games have had him as a future star for about 3 years. (Not saying that he's going to rip the league apart, but he's the potential to be a long term solution to our forward problems). Big, strong, fast, very highly thought of.

I wasn't particularly saying how dangerous he is overall. I was just saying he's quick, and he is. I think our current forwards are more dangerous in a counter attack than in a pass heavy build up. Pace is a key factor in making counters more effective and helpful is one of the fastest guys we have.

Mavididi isn't fast? I think me and you remember things very differently both about him and our old tactics. I still think we lack the quality to play Enzo ball. We would need a better midfield than we had in last year, not a worse one like we have now. We would also need upgrades in defence to guard against a much better high press from the attacks in the Prem. We were vulnerable at the back against wasteful championship attacks when we were countered. I worry that it would/will be much worse in the prem.

Please don't do this to me. Being at full mast with a broken heart is not how I want to start the week.

I don't want to see a low block particularly. But with the squad we have, I could see it working better than the Enzo style slow build up. As much as I want to see good football. We need to stay up, whatever the cost. We had a great escape with the low block, and we won a title doing just that most of the time. It up to cooper at the end of the day. He's got to find a way with the whatever squad he ends up with. With Vardy Daka Fatawu Mavididi and even BDR, we probably have one of the fastest attacks in the league. A good number 10 or maybe a deep lying playmaker could make great use of those runners.

I feel as though we lack the quality to play through teams, and we don't have a clear, set organised plan to sit deep and counter or to high press. We might, might, stand a chance with a deep block and some rapid counters. If you look at our front players now, there's some serious pace available. We would need to grind out some results, but shithousery is still in our DNA. I get the feeling that cooper has been trying to operate to the plan of playing possession ball, which the owners want, but he lacks the players in midfield to do that. Enzo did it without a 10, and cooper wants to try it with a 10, but doesn't have one in the squad. It's all a bit muddled. I can see us going a few games into the season trying to play Enzo ball without enough quality to break teams down. Then changing to a deep block fast counter style when it fails.

Even if we had to offer Liverpool 1st dibs on him in the future (like the Philogene deal) I'd still take this. He's not the finished article but he has what it takes to become a great player. Yes please.

I had no idea about that. That's awesome!

When he started with us we were playing against Yeovil and Hereford. By the time he left, we had seen Sevilla and Atletico at the King Power. Massively popular with all the players and staff at our club and others. He was kind, straight forward, honest and passionate for the game. I never got to the Sevilla game, but I did get to the Atletico one. I know we lost, but that game will stay with me forever. In the second half we were relentless. We attacked with such fearlessness from all angles, I was amazed that we had the balls against one of Europe's very best teams. Atletico Madrid went to Champs League Semi-finals and Finals every year at that time. But they were hanging on by the end. We went out of Champions League that day. We may never get back into that competition, but my god we went down swinging! Diego Simone: I have to say what a great performance from Leicester, it was almost a pleasure to compete against then. We were living in fear all night of what they might achieve. They pushed us all the way. Thanks Shakey.

I agree with this to be fair. Who wants to sign on a long term contract for a team that might be about to be relegated before the season starts? (And possibly be punished again in the Championship.) Due to PSR, long contracts are almost mandatory. That means picking a well run cohesive club is important. Any player with potential won't want to be held back by the club screwing around. And we've been screwing around for years. I think we need to accept that, of the prem teams, we are the 20th most desirable. As much as it hurts to say.

Well we already have a park named after him and Ben, so it seems destined.

I'm convinced most of this "credited with an interest/rumoured to be interested/keeping an eye on" etc, is based on the journalist/twitter 14 year old just doing a Google search on the players name. Half of these players like Doak, Cantwell, Diarra are just guys we had an interest in a year or more ago.

The amount of right wingers we have seen linked is quite odd. I'm more than happy to have another winger at the club, but surely with Fatawu and Alves there we have cover? Does this mean one will be playing centrally in Cooper's eventual plan? Alves off out on loan? Surely McAteer is off out on loan/permanent?

That's hopefully so. We are reliant on those players coming in. I'd be happier if he was out on loan at a team that could challenge him to improve those problem areas in his game. Cooper's also renowned for getting the best out of young players. He may be thinking that the boy needs games. Hopefully, if he gets out on loan and bags a few he can be worth 3 X as much at the end of the season.

He's obviously a rough diamond. Even those who don't back him on here should be able to accept that he's not a finished product and needs time to work on his weaknesses. I think he unless cooper expects that he makes 30+ appearances this season we should be trying to get him on loan in the championship. Unfortunately we may not have the cover to allow him to go.

Got to remember that he was thrown in at the deep end due to an injury crisis when he was just not really ready. He came in had a few good performances and we decided to back him in the 1st team to replace chilwell. Before chilwells injury (real or not). Thomas hadn't played a senior game anywhere. He went from not ready for substitute appearances and not ready for a loan; to being the only fit Left Back in the team. If he had been out on loan in a low pressure environment he might have had a better chance to develop on the promise he showed. Not everyone can just drop into a team fighting for the Champions League places and just thrive. I feel like our policy of holding on to youth players without letting them gain experience and consistency in lower league football.

Don't want to make this a Maresca thread, but after watching Millwall and Plymouth give us a proper good shithousing last season. I can't help but feel that prem teams with superior defences and more ruthless attackers would rip us a new one on the weekly. I know that Enzo/Pep ball works well for Man City, but that caliber of player could make almost anything work. I think Enzo is going to concede a few more goals, and points this season, even with Chelsea. I am quite happy with a pragmatic approach as long as it does achieve results. We used to love being the team of shithousers. When did we get snobbish about it?