smudgerfox

The fans have sadly made no difference at all. Many of us have been drawing attention to the disastrously poor decision making for well over 18 months. Throughout that period the singing and support has continued. Against Everton (h) against Fulham (a) the support was fantastic initially - but you reach a point where there is no belief in this team whatsoever. The on field game management would shame a Sunday league team and given how much they’re paid - you can’t help but feel they are completely taking the p**s out of us. So much so that the only thing left to do is return the favour…it grieves me to say it but that is all they deserve - they actually are unfit to wear the shirt…

Soyuncu is best protest vote surely

No one is saying Maddison hasn’t contributed over the season! That his stats are bad! Literally no one is saying that. What some of us ARE saying is that to get out of a relegation dogfight you need your best players affecting games, particularly those high pressure games where lesser players are understandably racked by nerves. Maddison hasn’t done that. Your point about all games being equal is crazy. Of course allleagues games are three points, just as you don’t win a cup competition if you lose in the first round. It’s no different to losing a semi final. But the pressure on those games is very different - loose on the first day of the season and there’s plenty of time to turn it round. Draw with Everton when you could/should have won if you’d converted a penalty, and you’ve dropped two points and gifted a rival one point. In those moments any team needs their best players to demonstrate their superiority.

I have never said that Maddison is solely to blame. Of course other players are to blame. I don’t think that’s a matter of dispute. but in these sort of situations you look to your very best players to play a crucial part in turning things around. Vardy in the Great Escape for instance. However good a player he is, and he is a very good player, Maddison has not taken a leadership role in getting us out of this mess. He has not impacted many games since the World Cup. That’s a fact. He’s taken umpteen set pieces which have amounted to the square root of f*** all and he’s missed an unambiguously crucial penalty. He’s dribbled round in circles before falling over lamely at frequent intervals and occasionally he’s played a beautiful pass. He’s a great player but since the World Cup, for Leicester, he hasn’t been.

And how many goals and assists in the “must win” , “winnable” post World Cup games? His ability is in no doubt. His ability to affect crucial games is….

The “narrative” at that time was that he’d been a bit of a cocky lad about town but he’d had kids , buckled down to improve his game and worked hard on affecting the outcome of games rather than being more of a decorative luxury who’d occasionally provide a breathtaking moment. He’s a great player and his interviews are refreshingly natural. But when this despicable team has needed his inspiration the most, he’s gone missing on the field and made il-judged comments off it. That says something about how good he is.

The way I would put it is this. Anyone can make a mistake - including James Maddison. But …that penalty had to go in. Any top class player knows that and they make sure it does go in. Southgate’s reservations about him are right there - he has the self belief to take a crucial penalty but not the accomplishment to make sure he scores. Of course we’ll never know what might have been different - but had we gone in 3-1 up we have a better chance of three points whilst denying Everton any. If we get that then the Fulham game is easier to handle. It is at these moments you need your best players to step up and deliver - not fall back to the mediocrity of their teammates. I’d say exactly the same about Vardy s pen v Fulham though the outcome of the match was less likely to revolve around it than Everton.

I just want to clarify about the away support yesterday because I see it’s becoming an accepted fact that a huge band of happy clappers applauded the team off after a dismal 5-3 thrashing. First of all as the game unfolded the singing barely stopped. The noise was always loud , certainly from the midst of it. It was almost impossible to hear any Fulham singing though I see one paper this morning reports a chant aimed at John Terry. The mood was positive at the start and I don’t think anyone could complain about the level of support offered to the team. By half time we’d watched Fulham carve us open time and time again. They were attacking our end so we had a box seat to witness our defensive chaos. At half time there were loud and widespread singing of “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” as the players trooped past us to the tunnel. No one in the ground could have been unaware of our contempt for the display. There WAS loud applause for Micky Adams who nearly delayed kick off in a message of solidarity to us fans. As the carnage continued and we went 4 down “you’re not fit” was reprised, there was a bit of a disagreement near me about positivity/negativity. What followed was more singing - gallows humour about playing in the Championship, about having the ball, not having the ball, there were nostalgic renditions of the Ulloa song, in recognition that this is the end of an era. Again the singing was widespread and loud and focussed on love of club and city, not, pointedly, on love of individual players. When there was a glimpse of an impossible comeback, there was even louder support - “ we’re gonna win 5-4 “ etc. What happened at the end was complex partly because the squad as a whole didn’t come over to the away end - preferring to spend their time exchanging pleasantries with their conquerors. Soyuncu was quickly over and was applauded - for thanking us at all and for doing so so promptly and frankly for again playing well and with fight and determination. Tielemans sort of slinked off alone offering a hint of a clap to the away support and was loudly and immediately and deservedly booed. The rest of the team sort of departed en masse. Smith obviously applauded the away fans and we applauded him back - again for noticing us and like Soyuncu because so little of this mess can be pinned on him. Any other player who started towards the crowd was booed - their thanks were not welcome. Typically, Maddison couldn’t resist an Instagram moment and did come to the crowd and gave someone his shirt. Personally I’d have thrown it back. He was loudly booed. He then departed to give his car crash interview to the BBC. I left proud of my fellow fans, of my city and in complete contempt for the players who currently represent my club. I was not alone.

Show up, stay and en masse turn our backs to the pitch.Poznan without the jumping…100 minutes - match and lap of “appreciation” - they need to know just how extraordinarily unacceptable this season has been

The away end was magnificent today. When you consider the level of performance served up and the importance of the game , no-one could have complained if we’d all gone home at half time. (A few did). But the noise continued - not all of it complimentary towards the team - but mostly gallows humour about playing in the Championship…but we sung and we sung and we sung …and when anything at all promising happened we clapped…

Really? What are you basing that on? Haven’t both teams been relegated?

Could you advise on how you make a player sign a contract extension or move to another club they don’t fancy? It’s impossible- you can’t really blame the club for it. You’ll see more of it - players and their agents can get more money for themselves by leaving on a free after running down their contracts. It’shappenning right across Europe and the clubs who suffer are those like ourselves who rely on buying cheap and selling dear to survive.

Just got back - Soyuncu who was the only player initially to come to the fans - he was clapped, which I think was merited - this shitshow has nothing to do with him. Dean Smith and his management team were clapped. As if to say we don’t blame you. Everyone else was booed - including and especially Maddison who was still in the frame of mind to give his shirt away to a fan - as if to say my greatness is above all this.

I remember Brendan telling RL his teams finish the season stronger than they start. That is palpably untrue. It is a simple fact that the points per game ratio dips alarmingly once the rot sets in. Just maintaining the league average would have been enough for CL qualification two seasons on the trot.

Play him through the middle when Vardy is spent …he’d terrify tired centre backs - how many of our goals come from crosses ? Not too many …

The trouble is these matches now aren’t determined on who is the best side with the best players anyway. Arguing about that is neither here nor there. They’ll be a test of collective nerve, resilience, and ruthlessness. I’d respectfully suggest we score very low on all those counts …

There is no logical reason to suppose this team can do what is required …as last night proved. you can essentially gift them the chance to take 3 points and they’re far from guaranteed to take it. If Vardy scores the one on one and Maddison scores the penalty - irrespective of all our shortcomings- it’s pretty much game over. But we miss these open goals and it takes a world class goalkeeping performance to retain one point, never mind 3. I’m not saying we can’t stay up but our best chance by far was to rack up some points in this “winnable” run of games to avoid being exposed to high wire pressure in the final stretch. Now the team must show a discipline, a work rate, a fitness level and a team spirit and resilience they haven’t shown in 2 years

Your criticism of Chilwell was probably justified. And I agree fans do sometimes become over abusive and blame players unnecessarily. Virtually every player who has worn the Leicester shirt has been branded as useless at some point. Vardy, Mahrez, Schmeichel, Morgan - could all point to forums in which the writers would have willingly driven them to some footballing outpost, never to return. But this now is different. We are facing the reckoning of a catastrophic two years which should never have been allowed to happen. We are seeing players, not just making individual errors under severe pressure, but failing to do basics, failing to step up, failing to realise the urgency of our current situation. Barnes “one of our own” and his half hearted tackle last night. Maddison missing an indescribably crucial penalty. Vardy screwing a one on one. A left back not up to the standard, An unfit midfield. Humiliation only averted by a world class goalkeeping display. You can’t ignore what you see, because what you see is so utterly bewildering.

On the contrary…no one wants the club to be in this position. No one wants to be criticising star players or players who’ve been at the club since they were young boys. No one I know enjoys it or looks forward to another week of ranting and raving about another 90+ minutes of organisational carnage. It actually makes day to day life more difficult and less enjoyable. The negativity comes from the sheer frustration of seeing our club establish itself in its strongest position in English football in its entire history, and then to throw away that advantage - built over a decade of steady progress and development - in the space of just two disastrous seasons. The scale of the mismanagement is without precedent. The failure of the board, the manager, the players, to realise where we were heading is quite unforgivable.

Two new problems spotted last night 1 working the ball to the edge of their six yard box not taking a shot , working it back out again to 18 yard box , getting dispossessed and setting up their counter - awful awful decision making 2 passing quite unnecessarily to a teammate who is clearly offside when in space yourself

Possibly the most fatuous question on here ever. We are long past the point of cooly assessing performance in a grown up, fully contextualised way. The only thing that counts is results and points and if mistakes cost us results and points then that’s the only thing worth focussing on. The missed penalty is just the latest in an avalanche of error this season…just the latest new way of throwing away points which retrospectively reveal the weakness of our decision making and complacent lack of preparation. The very opposite of Pickford and his water bottle.

Pelegrín’s in charge his replacement by Pep was announced in february

As ever , we need to score first. A Dyche team will defend a lead all day long ..

Yes you could be right - he does always put a shift in, he’s a defensive force for and I suspect quite a good influence behind the scenes ..I just hope we can find a way to get Tete playing to his potential…

Albrighton is underwhelming West Brom. If he can’t stand out in Championship I’m not sure he’ll do much for us. I love the guy and was expecting him to be a big deal for the Baggies. He hasn’t been.