smudgerfox

The semantics are not about his stats but what kind of midfielder he is. The idea that he was played in the wrong position really is a delusion. He was nothing like strong enough as a defender to be a 6 and nothing like creative, quick or fit enough to be an 8. My point about his signing being unforgivable is that I really do fail to see how a competent scouting and recruitment team would not see his shortcomings and steer clear. We’ve had Inler, Iborra, Ghezzal - all of whom needed too much time on the ball to be viable in the Premier League. And it is the job of the recruitment team to see through the hype, to study the stats (which even in France were not that impressive) and to make allowances for his playing in a much weaker, slower league. Of course we all hoped we’d found a diamond but we can’t possibly know. But highly paid professionals at LCFC should know and in this case ought to have known.

Semantics really. It doesn’t matter what kind of midfielder you are, whether youve settled or not, if you see an opposition midfielder run past you, you track back and try and stop them scoring, creating a goal. If you see an opponent unmarked, you mark them. On a regular, week by week basis, Soumare failed to do even basic stuff. He was played as a six because he didn’t have the pace and fitness to be an 8. He didn’t score, he didn’t assist, he didn’t break up opposition attacks, or make crucial last ditch tackles. He wasn’t good in the air, he had no shot,. He was no use at set pieces. Even worse, he seemed to care little how little he was contributing to the team. His signing is as close to unforgivable as you can be…

So good he registered not a single goal or assist in 59 appearances!! I am sorry he has never been a “key” player. He should have been, given his fee and experience, but he simply has never looked up to the required standard. I agree he wasn’t a major factor in our relegation - but when Tielemans, on his own admission, was underperforming- a player able and willing to seize the opportunity was just what we needed. Soumare was bought to be just that player and he wasn’t anywhere near good enough .. He’s the one aspect of the poorly performing squad that we can’t pin on Rodgers. By all accounts Brendan wasnt keen, he correctly identified weaknesses once Soumare had been given an early chance. They were fairly simple - tracking back, awareness, energy and quick thinking - aptitudes which BS was never able to improve upon. Sooner he’s gone the better

For all the moaning about negativity in the fanbase I have to say we have some fans with an extraordinary capacity for forgiveness. People saying Soumare played well under Smith - what so he affected games did he? Assists, goals, goal-saving tackles? I’m sorry but to my eyes he managed to lower expectations so far, we were tempted to go to the standing ovation if he so much as received a pass, controlled it, and managed to pass it on in some vaguely progressive way. I cant recall a single game in which he has been a force for the whole 90 minutes and I cant remember a single game in which he has had any bearing on the result. For a central midfielder that is wholly unacceptable. 59 appearances , no goals, no assists. Please someone, take him off our hands…

I think after what we’ve been through overreaction is understandable. I agree we do need to try and curb it but Christ it is difficult. The manager post match was straight out of the Brendan play book - yes we lost 4-0 but for 20 minutes we were good!! We’ve heard that somewhere before Enzo and believe me there are no positives to losing 4-0. Yes the opposition is top drawer, true we’re playing a new system - but it’s pre-season for them too and they’re a week less advanced in preparation (at least they should be). Once the first goes in - another two follow in quick succession and the game is to all intents and purposes, over. There’s a goal from a set piece. And our key defender is injured. Players who have no future at the club are inexplicably eating up game time of those who do. There’s a lack of urgency, energy and purpose at the top of the club. It’s all got a very familiar ring to it…. but, despite all of that, this is a new era and we must give it time.

I hate to be so negative but I have to agree with the bulk of this. The biggest positive seems to be that the players have understood the Enzo way and are enjoying taking it on board and implementing. But will they be implementing said methods come September? Or will Ricardo, Kelechi, Daka, Praet, Castagne, Faes all disappear in a last minute Fofana-style rush for the door? In which case their induction will have been for nothing. And there’ll be a new group to induct. Which will take time. Which we don’t have. And as an aside, when will this Derby born winger be announced? He’s been reported as close to signing for well over a fortnight. The sleepwalk continues……

Yes I do realise that - see above.

I am aware of that. Of course. My point is that if your sole job is to train and improve the goalkeeping talent at the club then you should be aware of the skills and limitations of what after all is only about five or six players at any one time. Your job is literally to ensure not just that the number one is as good as he can be but that the number two is the right player and ready to takeover should injury/sudden transfer/illness strike. If the manager is set on a replacement you don’t think is good enough you should be shouting that from the rooftops and doing all you can to change his mind. If you’re doing that and the manager is taking no notice then your value to the club has to be called into question. Let’s face it being goalkeeping coach at LCFC during the Kasper era has been one of the easiest jobs in world football. The guy is hardly ever injured and a brilliant shot stopper which is something which simply cannot be coached. Kaspers weaknesses - crosses and distribution- improved little during his time here. So my conclusion is that Stowell may well be a lovely man, a cheerful face around Seagrave - but is that really enough when we just got relegated - at least in part - due to the lack of a Premier League standard keeper?

Because if you’ve been goalkeeper coach since 2005, had the same first team keeper for how many years? . Yet when that keeper is suddenly no longer available and despite having a fleet of keepers contracted to the club, you end up picking the wrong one to replace the departing veteran - you’ve either demonstrated having no judgement or one that is too little respected. For years you’ve had to do very little to earn your money and then when your expertise is most needed it’s found wanting. Let’s stop tolerating “good chap” mediocrities..

Post of the week - spot on!! No one has a bad word to say about Coady - in terms of leadership he’s a massive upgrade on Evans Winks needs to restart his career and will want to prove himself again - he got close to the England squad quite early on. He’s no Maddison but hes a quarter the price and he’ll provide a damn sight more energy than Youri and Wilf could summon last season ..

Please Sperz let him take all your corners ..he’s a dead ball genius - honest!!

I suppose being a leader last season was difficult. Being captain would mean going into the dressing room and saying things like “the manager is right..” , “ we need to do our best for Brendan”, “it’ll all come good in the end.” With a squad rapidly losing faith in Brendan, and some even in open conflict with him, you probably wouldn’t get that much of a hearing, no matter how much your professionalism was respected. On the other hand our downfall last season was our hopeless defending. And if we had a leader in the dressing room helping the team improve that, a highly experienced and widely respected defender, a captain and a leader, nudging things, helping players adapt and play as a unit, helping them avoid mistakes, there wasn’t much evidence of its impact on the field.

But David how do you honestly know what kind of presence he has around the dressing room and training ground? Yes he may be one of those characters whose every word and action is an example to younger players to strive to improve and succeed. But equally he may be one of those cynical seen-it-all-before pros who likes nothing better than stirring it for the manager while expressing a world-weary cynicism about life at LCFC. We just don’t know and we can only judge on his rare on field performances which point to the former, and his public statements which have tended to the latter. Im taking the view that if Maresca wants him then fine, but I am deeply suspicious that the club is showing a typical generosity to a player who doesn’t necessarily deserve it.

I agree. If he’d shown leadership last season we wouldn’t be in this mess. Need a complete clear out of the old guard and a fresh start . If we need experience the likes of Cairney would be a better bet. Talk of a new contract makes me think we’re still taking generous emotional decisions rather than ruthless hard headed ones..

I don’t know how many people watched the Conference semi away leg on TV but you may remember a little pre match film BT did about the closeness and (ahem) mutual admiration of Mourinho and Brendan (from Chelsea days apparently) . TBH just watching Brendan suck up to that dickhead was bad enough but Ive thought about it a lot since as BR’s behaviour has been classic Jose. Set fire to the house, tell everyone it’s not your fault while standing with a can of paraffin in hand, and being paid handsomely to leave the scene of your own crime…

Relegation has been a racing certainty - in the absence of urgent action - since the Forest cup match. Many of us were warning about the capacity of the team to fold, to get outplayed and outrun, and the feeble defending at set pieces and on the counter. We were saying prior to Forest that something needed to be done. Forest made the case indisputable. A Premier League team defending the FA Cup, playing Championship local rivals for the first time in eons and we are utterly destroyed. Plus Brendan saying that half the squad weren’t up to it - despite having no guarantee they could be got rid of. I’ve actually written a piece for The Fosse Way about the lesser known warning signs that were ignored,, https://www.thefosseway.net/viewpoint/leicester-city-2023-viewpoint-8-errors-that-led-to-relegation

Get rid - stole a taxi while on tour with a WBA that got relegated - no leader and a massive injury/illness risk - I agree with others in here who say we’re not hard headed enough - too sentimental - if we’re making a clean start let’s make a clean start …

Good luck finding a Championship striker with half his impact…Vardy misses chances and miscontrols the ball too - but we don’t all throw up our hands and say he’s an inconsistent finisher with a poor touch…Kels was sublime v West Ham at times - playing subtle link up passes Vardy could only dream of playing - he’s been chronically underrated here and next season he’ll either score 25+ goals for us or 20ish in the Prem for a manager and a fanbase which appreciate his talents

Souttar for me - a real battler who will be a mainstay in Championship … Too early for KDH though he has the qualities Evans and Ricardo too injury prone - I’d release Evans, his time has gone and both are associated if not the worst culprits of the previous regime … we need a fresh start - I’d release Albrighton too - he’s done nothing for the Baggies - keep Vardy, if he’ll stay on much reduced wages as an old head and an impact sub … The player I’d really fight to keep is Kelechi - some of his play yesterday was sublime - he’d get 25 goals in the Championship and probably lead us up - and give us someone to build our attack around ..

People forget one of the earliest signs of squad complacency when we got knocked out of Europa and Brendan said he’d literally never heard of the Conference and that he’d have to go and look it up. Clearly he just took group qualification in Europa completely for granted and as usual (under him) we bottled it in the final game. He then had the nerve to throw it back at us, saying we had no right to criticise him after his “overachievements” including a European SF…

I think you’re right. There’s a huge amount to do and not a lot of time to do it. And while we might be in a hurry to get things sorted , potential sales and signings (including new manager) might prefer to wait in case better options arise. We ve struggled to get deals over the line in good time in the past and we’re not in a strong bargaining position now. Ideally you’d want a manager installed immediately the season outcome is determined and a couple of early “statement” signings to say we mean business next season which will persuade others to join. But can we do that if players are not sold first? Clubs chasing Maddison don’t need to hurry - they know we’re selling him and they know we need the money. The more urgent our preparations for next season become, the more we’ll have to accept low offers for players to get them out and replacements in.

Yes - possibly for the first time this season - the players successfully executed a game plan. But they deserve criticism, they deserve scathing criticism, for a season filled with woeful, inadequate performances both individually and collectively and for failing to realise the precarity of our situation until it was far too late. It’s the players who’ve given the ball away, a matter of a few yards from their own goal, gifting the opposition goals,. It’s the players who fail to stop crosses coming into the box by failing to close down wide players, the players who regularly concede in the last ten minutes through lack of collective game management and individual fitness. The players miss penalties - many of them crucial, sitters (ditto) and argue with journalists who merely point out their inadequacies. if you call it toxic , I call it the inevitable consequence of their collective complacency and carelessness and the club’s inexplicable tolerance of it. I am 63 and have been supporting since I was 5 and I have never sung “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” at any Leicester team until Fulham away a mere two weeks ago, when sadly I concluded it was true. So yes, we now know what needs to be done on Sunday and let’s remain positive and get behind the team and pray to God they can achieve it. I will be there shouting and singing with the best of them. But none of us, nor no-one at the club, player, manager, owner, board member, should EVER forget, or be allowed to forget, the Everest of incompetence that has led us to this desperate moment in the first place.

Not much - repost it - let’s have a gander

Time to dig out your prediction table of a few weeks ago Stan..how’s that looking now?

Omg where to start.