Watford 1-2 Post Match Thread

[sly1]

40 points quick

[Leicesterpool]

Is it possible to say maybe Claudio was a little unambitious in the summer, yeah £30million on Slimani but when it came to press conferences and talking about the plan for next season Claudio as usual remained quiet quiet on that. Okay it was always going to be impossible to reach the highs of last season but is it possible for the players to feel confused and bored. Like the players must be thinking "Yeah we've won the title aren't we going to attempt to retain it, but the gaffer is just talking about a mid table finish! what's that's all about!?" Also allowing one of your top players go so easy and making comments like "if they want to go they can go?". Don't like criticising Claudio but sometimes makes you think.   

[MPH]

Wonder how patient the owners will be with that kind of performance.....

[Kasey Keller]

We still haven't won a game that Zieler has started..........................

[NewEnglandFox]

2 minutes ago, Kasey Keller said:

We still haven't won a game that Zieler has started..........................

Except for the one we won.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

[harpendenfox]

3 minutes ago, Kasey Keller said:

We still haven't won a game that Zieler has started..........................

 Burnley. Don't make us even more miserable than we need to be

[AKCJ]

1 hour ago, Brooksy said:

The most gutting thing is last summer will probably be the only chance we'll get to bring in some world class players to try and push on but we threw 100k pw contracts at average players and bought some utter dross. So disappointing. 

OH FOR **** SAKE.

 

THESE 'AVERAGE' PLAYERS WON US THE LEAGUE.

 

Get a ****ing grip. If you can't take the rough with the smooth then you don't know what it's like to be a Leicester fan. Go and support Man United..

[Kasey Keller]

I stand corrected.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

6 minutes ago, Kasey Keller said:

We still haven't won a game that Zieler has started..........................

Whoops.

[VLC86]

On a lighter note,  did anyone get any food or drink in the ground today? I asked for a pint of cider to be told they didn't serve any so I then asked for a Somersby and was served a full pint of froth

 

The guy genuinely handed it to me before I asked to re pour it 4 times, a security guard had to show him how it was done.

 

Saw about 10 people throw their food in the bin as well.

[weller54]

20 minutes ago, sly1 said:

40 points quick

Won't get there! 

34 is my bet! 

[Donut]

32 minutes ago, inckley fox said:

'Pearson who took us from the third tier to staying up in the top flight and within a year of winning the title' Pearson? 'Pearson who bought nine of the eleven regular starters (for a third of the cost of Ranieri's signings) in our title-winning line-up and began the search for Kante' Pearson? 'Pearson who installed the scouting network and backroom staff which led us to the title' Pearson? 'Pearson who began the run of good form which led to us winning the title' Pearson? No, he didn't have anything to do with us winning the title, clearly.

 

The title was Ranieri's. The set up was clearly one that he inherited. I don't think people should be calling for Ranieri's head and I have no idea whether Pearson would be doing better than Ranieri now, but that comment is pure insanity. I can't believe any semi-serious Leicester fan could hold such an opinion. Obviously people are likely to bang on about how good Pearson was, because he was. And they're even more likely to bang on about it when people say things like that, which is a bit like saying any other club legend - Gillies, O'Neill, or even Lineker, Izzet, Cross, Banks - wasn't up to much. People will naturally point out how wrong you are.

 

Why not consider whether what you're saying has any grounding in reality before you actually say it?

From the outset, you are right to say no one should be calling for Ranieri's head.

 

But the part ive highlighted, Its not insanity.

 

Whos crediting Brendan Rogers for signing Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, Milner etc? No one. The credit is all Klopps. Ferguson left David Moyes a team that won the league by 11 points. Its the manager thats in charge that gets more or less out of them, and Ranieri last season got way more out of the players than Pearson. Obviously a years experience would have helped that, but saying things like Pearson bought the players for a fraction of the cost of the Ranieri players doesnt tell the full story.

 

When Mahrez was bought in, he was a £400,000 player, not a ballon d'or nominee that we somehow plucked for £400,000. He has been improved and finished by Ranieri. Vardy was an impotent striker than several thought might be best served leaving for West Brom. He was not a 20+ goal a season ballon d'or nominee either. Drinkwater hardly played. So you cant say that Ranieri was lucky to inherit players that were either not good enough in their output, or deemed not good enough to regularly,

 

Ranieri's signings have cost more because they already come with good pedigree. I totally agree that we look disjointed at the moment and things havent clicked, but thats why the spending is higher.

 

The point about bringing us up through league one and the championship has no real relevance. Its a great achievement in isolation and put Leicester back to their rightful place, but in no way does that set a team up for a title bid.

 

Its like saying if Bournemouth won the league, one of the most significant factors behind it would have been Eddie Howe, rather than the guy who took Eddie Howe's average players and made them perform 1000% better than they have any right to do.

 

Obviously he would have got them up to the Premier League, like how Pearson did but the mere fact that he left some players and staff for the incoming manager would be a very small factor in them winning the league.

 

This whole debate started because people are still digging up Pearson, a manager who left under a cloud coming up to a season and a half ago, and in that time we have won the Premier League and gone unbeaten in the champions league and several people (not you because you rightly said Ranieri should not be under pressure yet) are still suggesting the grass was greener when Pearson was in charge.

[lovelcfc]

Point regarding today 

 

how stupid is some of our play? Surely I can't be the only one that recognises that half the stuff we do isn't going to work yet we continually do it. Albrighton and Vardy chip the ball into the six yard box? They must know it isn't going to work and the Keeper is going to collect it? Yet continually do it? 

 

Going long to Vardy against 6ft plus defenders? Wake up! It's obviously not going to work, he's not a target man! I watch some of our play in disbelief at some of the lack of ideas and pure hit and hope we seem to have become. We need more creative intelligent footballers but at the moment we are so boring and predictable. 

 

Amartey was chasing shadows today, yet King would still get more stick. Simpson and Fuchs both poor, zeiler although not at fault for the goals clearly doesn't command his box and we miss kasper massively. Vardy is starved of service and Mahrez was the only one trying to make something happen, although he just tries to take on the team sometimes which is frustrating. Drinky is having a drop in form which is really worrying. 

 

Are we we in a relegation battle? Yes. Can't play that bad more than twice and say we are not. We look really poor at the back and look like we're gonna concede everytime a team comes at us. 

 

But it we've got spirit so we'll be OK ...

[Blackpool Fox 69]

1 minute ago, Donut said:

From the outset, you are right to say no one should be calling for Ranieri's head.

 

But the part ive highlighted, Its not insanity.

 

Whos crediting Brendan Rogers for signing Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, Milner etc? No one. The credit is all Klopps. Ferguson left David Moyes a team that won the league by 11 points. Its the manager thats in charge that gets more or less out of them, and Ranieri last season got way more out of the players than Pearson. Obviously a years experience would have helped that, but saying things like Pearson bought the players for a fraction of the cost of the Ranieri players doesnt tell the full story.

 

When Mahrez was bought in, he was a £400,000 player, not a ballon d'or nominee that we somehow plucked for £400,000. He has been improved and finished by Ranieri. Vardy was an impotent striker than several thought might be best served leaving for West Brom. He was not a 20+ goal a season ballon d'or nominee either. Drinkwater hardly played. So you cant say that Ranieri was lucky to inherit players that were either not good enough in their output, or deemed not good enough to regularly,

 

Ranieri's signings have cost more because they already come with good pedigree. I totally agree that we look disjointed at the moment and things havent clicked, but thats why the spending is higher.

 

The point about bringing us up through league one and the championship has no real relevance. Its a great achievement in isolation and put Leicester back to their rightful place, but in no way does that set a team up for a title bid.

 

Its like saying if Bournemouth won the league, one of the most significant factors behind it would have been Eddie Howe, rather than the guy who took Eddie Howe's average players and made them perform 1000% better than they have any right to do.

 

Obviously he would have got them up to the Premier League, like how Pearson did but the mere fact that he left some players and staff for the incoming manager would be a very small factor in them winning the league.

 

This whole debate started because people are still digging up Pearson, a manager who left under a cloud coming up to a season and a half ago, and in that time we have won the Premier League and gone unbeaten in the champions league and several people (not you because you rightly said Ranieri should not be under pressure yet) are still suggesting the grass was greener when Pearson was in charge.

Too bloody right, well said Sir!

[inckley fox]

14 minutes ago, Leicesterpool said:

Is it possible to say maybe Claudio was a little unambitious in the summer, yeah £30million on Slimani but when it came to press conferences and talking about the plan for next season Claudio as usual remained quiet quiet on that. Okay it was always going to be impossible to reach the highs of last season but is it possible for the players to feel confused and bored. Like the players must be thinking "Yeah we've won the title aren't we going to attempt to retain it, but the gaffer is just talking about a mid table finish! what's that's all about!?" Also allowing one of your top players go so easy and making comments like "if they want to go they can go?". Don't like criticising Claudio but sometimes makes you think.   

 

You can criticise Ranieri without saying that he's rubbish and needs to be fired. He's made some quite obvious and avoidable errors, in my opinion. Perhaps others were to blame for some of them, who knows. But there's a lot. The pre-season programme, losing Walsh, not replacing Walsh, not sorting out new contracts early in the summer, not replacing Kante, following his own transfer targets, talking up the need for a Plan B without ever employing one, spending £70m odd without adding a great deal to the starting eleven, saying things don't work (e.g. Okazaki after international duty) and then doing them anyway, following up the title by talking about 40 points then - when you seem to be within sight of the drop zone - saying that you're not worried about relegation, publicly prioritising Champions League, talking about tiredness but still playing Drinkwater and Vardy in the League Cup. These are starting to look like instances of grave misjudgement.

 

But you can take action without sacking the manager. Look at us bringing in, or even getting rid of Terry Robinson. Or obliging Claudio to work with Shakespeare and Walsh in the first place. The board have a very good record of imposing decisions on regimes. Perhaps that's where we're at now.

[ARM1968]

Just as I said. More of this to come I'm afraid. 

[Dan]

There is absolutely no doubt in my eyes we're in a relegation battle.

[Donut]

1 minute ago, Dan LCFC said:

There is absolutely no doubt in my eyes we're in a relegation battle.

Sadly, we are right now.

 

However, im absolutely sure we have the quality to be ok. I am sure we will turn the corner, whether that be with January spending, the return of Mendy, players returning to better form.

 

No denying though right now, we are in trouble

[MC Prussian]

For once, I'm glad I missed a game.

Will have to watch a replay later on to make my mind up, all I got was the text messages with the goals scored today.

Conceding one within the first minute is unforgivable, that much I can say.

 

Also interesting to see some of the posters in this thread only making an appearance when we're playing badly or when we are on a losing streak. Coincidence?

[elvisfmcfly]

27 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

OH FOR **** SAKE.

 

THESE 'AVERAGE' PLAYERS WON US THE LEAGUE.

 

Get a ****ing grip. If you can't take the rough with the smooth then you don't know what it's like to be a Leicester fan. Go and support Man United..

No way they've been shit since Fergie left.

[inckley fox]

5 minutes ago, Donut said:

From the outset, you are right to say no one should be calling for Ranieri's head.

 

But the part ive highlighted, Its not insanity.

 

Whos crediting Brendan Rogers for signing Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, Milner etc? No one. The credit is all Klopps. Ferguson left David Moyes a team that won the league by 11 points. Its the manager thats in charge that gets more or less out of them, and Ranieri last season got way more out of the players than Pearson. Obviously a years experience would have helped that, but saying things like Pearson bought the players for a fraction of the cost of the Ranieri players doesnt tell the full story.

 

When Mahrez was bought in, he was a £400,000 player, not a ballon d'or nominee that we somehow plucked for £400,000. He has been improved and finished by Ranieri. Vardy was an impotent striker than several thought might be best served leaving for West Brom. He was not a 20+ goal a season ballon d'or nominee either. Drinkwater hardly played. So you cant say that Ranieri was lucky to inherit players that were either not good enough in their output, or deemed not good enough to regularly,

 

Ranieri's signings have cost more because they already come with good pedigree. I totally agree that we look disjointed at the moment and things havent clicked, but thats why the spending is higher.

 

The point about bringing us up through league one and the championship has no real relevance. Its a great achievement in isolation and put Leicester back to their rightful place, but in no way does that set a team up for a title bid.

 

Its like saying if Bournemouth won the league, one of the most significant factors behind it would have been Eddie Howe, rather than the guy who took Eddie Howe's average players and made them perform 1000% better than they have any right to do.

 

Obviously he would have got them up to the Premier League, like how Pearson did but the mere fact that he left some players and staff for the incoming manager would be a very small factor in them winning the league.

 

This whole debate started because people are still digging up Pearson, a manager who left under a cloud coming up to a season and a half ago, and in that time we have won the Premier League and gone unbeaten in the champions league and several people (not you because you rightly said Ranieri should not be under pressure yet) are still suggesting the grass was greener when Pearson was in charge.

I'm not sure. If Bournemouth sacked Howe after a 14th place finish, then won the title with all but one of his players in situ (who was one of Howe's transfer targets in the first place) then I'd imagine people may well give him even more credit than Pearson has received at Leicester. If they collapsed a season later, after huge changes are made by his successor, then even more so.

 

Pearson did install a lot of things necessary to win the title. But if we're saying that those nine players from our regular eleven that he bought weren't Pearson success stories because Ranieri was behind all their great form, then how does that explain the 7 out of 10 games that we won at the end of the previous season?

 

But I'm with you 100% on your main point. Ranieri should be criticised and questioned because he's clearly got some big decisions wrong, but I'd be disgusted if we disposed of him now, or even if we went through another month or two of his haphazard, ill-thought-through decisions. He deserves every chance in the world to get this right and, even if he doesn't, the man will remain a legend. And, of course, more of a legend than Pearson pr anyone else can ever be.

 

That doesn't mean, however, that Pearson wasn't vital to what happened. He gets more credit than Rodgers at Liverpool because of those two promotions, that surge in form before his exit, and the price tag for which he managed to secure an ultimately league-winning side. Would he have the answers now? I don't know. I still believe Ranieri will, though.

[jayfox26]

Our form is very worrying. You can kind of accept losing if we give our all and play really well and are just unlucky but that's not the case, we look so poor at the moment. WBA and Watford and bang average teams that we should beat at home and at least draw away with but for whatever reason we don't even look like competing with the average teams. We can't use our champions league results as a cover up as yes it's great that we've done so well results wise but performance wise we've not been great and have been lucky that we've played 3 pretty average/poor teams. We created little against Copenhagen over both games and little against WBA and today against Watford. Clearly the tactics aren't working and we need a plan b. The long ball to vardy hasn't worked all season and won't work for the rest of the season. Too early to say but we definitely can't hide away from the fact we could get relegated. Are there currently 3 worse teams than us on current form? I'm not sure. What is definite is we need 3 or 4 top signings in Jan. The summer transfer activity was pretty underwhelming considering we had just won the league so let's hope we can bring in some decent players in Jan. At least 2 new centre mids needed as an absolute priority 

[TJB-fox]

Musa and Schlupp need to just use raw physicality and not use their brain at all I think. Today Schlupp just knocked the ball past the fullback down the line and sprinted past him, whereas Musa kept cutting in on his right foot into 2/3 players and got tackled. If musa just went round the outside and used his pace Everytime he'd get in behind far more often

[Guest Mickyblueeyes]

Poor performance with no real direction. We look clueless. Amartey does not have the footballing brain to play defensive mid and Claudio is to be criticised for the poor start (alongside the recruitment team, coaching staff and players) just how he was applauded for the outstanding season last year.

 

that doesn't mean he should be sacked but there is nothing wrong with questioning the manager when things are going catastrophically wrong. I cannot believe that a centre back and defensive midfielder was not seen as a priority last summer.

[Barky]

Maybe we should blame Pearson for today given all but one of the starting outfield players were signed while he was in charge. Sort it out nige for gods sake.