ts_1010

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?

I don't mind the way we are shaping up too much. You can see that there's a load of pace in our front 4, pretty much whoever gets chosen. I think this will be necessary. We have to carry a threat on the counter, we will be under pressure more often than not. A pace counter including any of BDR/Mavididi/Fatawu/McAteer/Vardy/Daka/ Cannon or even Nelson could do some damage against teams that will dominate possession.

Normally we only lock a thread once the player has confirmed for another club. But I'd like to lock this one now, and ask all of Foxestalk to help me manifest him going to some other set of spanners.

This is exactly who and where we are now as a club. I don't like it, but it's the truth. To be honest that's where we've always been. We stopped selling to try and compete with the big boys and we got found out. Thanks to PSR, all clubs need to sell players for a profit to be able to compete, unless you have the worldwide fan base and revenue of the super league teams.

Those of you who are saying we don't need him because we have Soumare, shouldn't be pressing that submit button. It's a yes from me.

Not a bad shout at all. We have nothing like him in our squad. I can see us going for a physically dominant forward, to help us get up the pitch or cause some chaos later on. If it's not him I can see us finding another guy like him.

So this is quite similar to what Southgate has been trying to achieve with England. Only he used 2 players in Tripper and Foden who both wanted to be inside. I could only see Kristiansen doing that on our left and I'm not sure that Mav is the guy to come inside and create. I think he is happier with his heels on the paint. We could swap sides with that though. I could see Fatawu causing all sorts of problems on the corner of the penalty area if Ric or JJ are bombing around the outside. To be honest, with Cooper's flexibility, we could run a sweepstake on the formation we end up using.

I'd rather go for a younger attacking midfielder. Or one that has a bit of prem experience. This guy feels like an he's going to be half way down the list of options. He could be a very expensive backup. I'd rather let Alves and now Golding get the minutes.

I have to wonder whether they are hyping this move to build the feeling that we are busy and ambitious in the transfer market. If we are able to give of the impression we are going all out to stay up, it might just convince one or two other players to come to us over other clubs. Nobody wants to sign for a club that is less likely to stay up. A club constantly in the news for signing new players looks more attractive than one that can't/wont sign anybody. Got to remember, the players and their advisors don't know any better than we do which club is the best bet this year. Hopefully though, he shows some real talent. I'd like to see this guy coming off the bench alongside Alves this season.

My only complaint is that I'd rather us sign Greaves from Hull. He would probably be £5m more, but he's a tall ball playing left footed cb. And he's English so after a year in the prem his value will double if we need to sell.

I agree that there are higher priority positions to fill. But just because we signed this guy first doesn't mean we think he was the top priority to sign. Free agents are a relatively simple deal to do. And he was in demand from other clubs. We could be in talks with other targets such as cm and a striker. But they will take longer and have more parties involved.

No reason to sell him, unless he really wants to go. I think cooper needs to sit him down and tell him where and how he's going to play. Almost resell the club to him. He was signed to be an attacking left back and get down to the opposite touch line. Had an inconsistent start to life in the pl. Then Maresca told him he was going to play center back. As long as Cooper wants fullbacks who can attack, then he has a role here.

He's free. He adds experience. And has played at a higher level than any of our current wingers (barring the odd game here and there). As long as we have a proper relegation clause, I'm fine with this. Those talking about players with higher ceilings need to remember that we already have. Mcateer and Alves behind Fatawu. You cannot fill the whole squad with youth prospects, and definitely not on our budget.

Keeps us fans from finding out that we had players stolen from us too.

I know we have been slightly shafted on the fee here. But we can spend all of that £30m next week on players to fill the void. Those rumours about midfielders for 5-10m in the transfer forum are where we will be looking, but at least this way we should only get the 1 points deduction. It's time for Glover to make cement his reputation as one of the best. I wish KDH all the best and I hope he does well there.

There's two ways that plays out for me. 1. We hope, pray and instruct our solicitors to argue, that the penalty for the Championship season can and should be deferred. This could be suspended until we get relegated, or for a number of years to be added to any further offence. 2. We get a second penalty, but it is reduced to a smaller deduction than it would be as a stand alone punishment. The reason that the punishment might not be too bad is that the PL will be reluctant to ruin the league before it even starts. Imagine if a promoted side had 2 x 8 points deductions and were trying to stay up. That would be all but impossible. Basically becomes a 19 team premier league with a guest team that are not really part of it. The prem is a business, they won't want to ruin the spectacle. Especially due to what we did in the championship. So if we end up with a second deduction it could end up only being 1-4 points which might still give us a chance of surviving. Complete guess work obviously, but it could well be worth keeping KDH if it only amounts to a 2 point additional deduction.