Andy King - 10 consecutive seasons

[GeorgeTheFox]

The problem was the two together. King is a fine player, not spectacular, but does a job. Just not when paired with Drinky... for whatever reason that pairing has always looked garbage. Think he would do fine next to Ndidi

[Bossman Blessed It]

He has and still does a fair bit of dirty work and has been nothing but a first class ambassador for the club, in times where others simply couldn't. Never showed an ounce of doubt in any of the managers that have been and gone and joins a select group of players who can say that they are truly Leicester through and through. What probably annoys me the most about him isn't that he might not appear to get involved too much, but it's the fact that he used to be such an adventurous midfielder that got forward, wasn't afraid to take a shot from 25 yards and burst into the box, risking it if the opposition got the ball. He's loyal and has been a great servant, but he might well be the most vanilla footballer we've ever had at Leicester. 

[inckley fox]

I must admit, I thought King was an obvious weakness in our side whenever he featured ahead of James in the Championship. When he's afforded space in the centre of midfield, and when there's little pressure for us to pressure the opposition, he looks tidy enough. But most of the time he doesn't cover anything like the ground which a player of his limited capabilities needs to cover at this level. Nor did he, for a lot of the time, at a lower level.

 

I've been unimpressed by Drinkwater pretty much all season, but I felt King left a lot of work for him today. I don't know whether the stats support that observation; but 'distance run' can, of course, be misleading anyway (12km at a low speed vs. 11km at high speed etc.). His lack of application surprised me, actually, because you'd guess that whoever it is that's plotting our future squad development wouldn't have had Andy King at the fore of their plans, and this might be one of his last opportunities to change that.

 

All told, I thought that he - like Chilwell, Benalouane, Amartey, Gray - was a case of a fringe player failing to take his chance today. But I felt that his failure, there at the heart of a midfield two which needs to press, track and intercept constantly, was more costly than many of the others. I know the CM queue isn't a long one, but I think he should be moved to the back of it.

[Ted Maul]

Wasn't great yesterday, but marginally better than Drinkwater. As has been said, probably not good enough to play in a midfield 2 in this division, particularly against stronger sides.

 

Interestingly, Lampard was on Goals On Sunday yesterday talking about his role; he said that it was always imperative that he got into the box and scored goals for the role he played, which was always more difficult when he played in a 2 with someone who wasn't an out and out holding midfielder. That's definitely the strongest part of Kingy's game as well, and he rarely gets in the box these days.

 

Regardless, he's a club legend and I hope he spends his whole career here, as long as he's happy to be a backup player.

[CosbehFox]

Always feel it's harsh to criticise a player who hasn't played in a month to suddenly come into a team as there's a lack of match sharpness. I thought he was poor yesterday alongside Drinkwater whose been poor for a spell now again (I don't think the international break helped him either). On the whole though the midfield were outnumbered throughout the game.

[HighPeakFox]

10 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Always feel it's harsh to criticise a player who hasn't played in a month to suddenly come into a team as there's a lack of match sharpness. I thought he was poor yesterday alongside Drinkwater whose been poor for a spell now again (I don't think the international break helped him either). On the whole though the midfield were outnumbered throughout the game.

This is a really fair point, it applies to Amartey too. Quite why people get so worked up when, in essence, there was no right answer yesterday, is beyond me. Imagine we'd gone balls out for the win, or indeed played a total 2nd XI - there would have been plenty to find fault with in either situation. People will be people, and certain people just have to find something wrong, whatever the weather. I'd imagine those people are pretty difficult to live with for long.

[Koke]

This may sound harsh but I sometimes question King's personal ambitions.  He's 28 years old, at the peak of his career, does he just want to spend the rest of his career being 4th or 5th choice at Leicester City? Surely he wants to play football. He's been low down the pecking order for at least 3 years now. James, Drinkwater, Cambiasso, Kante and now Ndidi have all been signed and jumped straight ahead of King. 

 

If I were him, at this stage of his career, I'd want to move on. He's not a young plsyer. He's 28.

[CosbehFox]

36 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

This is a really fair point, it applies to Amartey too. Quite why people get so worked up when, in essence, there was no right answer yesterday, is beyond me. Imagine we'd gone balls out for the win, or indeed played a total 2nd XI - there would have been plenty to find fault with in either situation. People will be people, and certain people just have to find something wrong, whatever the weather. I'd imagine those people are pretty difficult to live with for long.

Exactly - Amartey is a wider point, he's a player whose learning his game and I don't think his versatile helps him. When he was deputising in the winter months, I genuinely thought he was getting better and this led to his performances against Man City/Stoke where he made huge contributions on the game. 

[Innovindil]

53 minutes ago, Koke said:

This may sound harsh but I sometimes question King's personal ambitions.  He's 28 years old, at the peak of his career, does he just want to spend the rest of his career being 4th or 5th choice at Leicester City? Surely he wants to play football. He's been low down the pecking order for at least 3 years now. James, Drinkwater, Cambiasso, Kante and now Ndidi have all been signed and jumped straight ahead of King. 

 

If I were him, at this stage of his career, I'd want to move on. He's not a young plsyer. He's 28.

Move on to where? He doesn't get in any other prem 11, why leave the club you love, the club you're settled at, to go play in the championship? 

 

Better to support us from the sidelines with a half decent pay. 

[Clever Fox]

58 minutes ago, Koke said:

This may sound harsh but I sometimes question King's personal ambitions.  He's 28 years old, at the peak of his career, does he just want to spend the rest of his career being 4th or 5th choice at Leicester City? Surely he wants to play football. He's been low down the pecking order for at least 3 years now. James, Drinkwater, Cambiasso, Kante and now Ndidi have all been signed and jumped straight ahead of King. 

 

If I were him, at this stage of his career, I'd want to move on. He's not a young plsyer. He's 28.

It's the same attitude that typifies his approach to Football. Laid back and Languid never getting that rush of adrenaline most players experience when taking the Pitch. The annoying thing with him is he has the talent he just lacks the endeavour.

But i guess at 28 he's not going to change and so his career will fizzle out with us and he'll probably end up an ambassador for the Club.

[Nick]

I wouldn't imagine he'll be going anywhere anytime soon - haven't the numbers for home grown players increased again recently by another '1'?

 

How many do we have and whats the qualifying criteria?

[RonnieTodger]

It would depend on his personal ambition. I'm all for having him as a squad player, but he'll never be a regular here as long as we're in this league. 

[FLAN]

1 hour ago, Koke said:

This may sound harsh but I sometimes question King's personal ambitions.  He's 28 years old, at the peak of his career, does he just want to spend the rest of his career being 4th or 5th choice at Leicester City? Surely he wants to play football. He's been low down the pecking order for at least 3 years now. James, Drinkwater, Cambiasso, Kante and now Ndidi have all been signed and jumped straight ahead of King. 

 

If I were him, at this stage of his career, I'd want to move on. He's not a young plsyer. He's 28.

I find it amazing all this club legend, never complains stuff that goes around him. In reality this is the truth he has little personal ambition (shown in his performances often) and has been lucky enough to garner a reputation as a solid pro here and gets paid ridiculously well I imagine. Run of the mill attitude and player 

[TheUltimateWinner]

Not played to his strengths for a couple of years now.

 

Always looks good when he's in an attacking midfield role, but clearly struggles when he's asked to sit back and break up the oppositions attacks. He'd do better if he was paired with Ndidi, Kante, James etc.

 

[ealingfox]

Was complete muck yesterday.

[Voll Blau]

3 hours ago, Koke said:

This may sound harsh but I sometimes question King's personal ambitions.  He's 28 years old, at the peak of his career, does he just want to spend the rest of his career being 4th or 5th choice at Leicester City? Surely he wants to play football. He's been low down the pecking order for at least 3 years now. James, Drinkwater, Cambiasso, Kante and now Ndidi have all been signed and jumped straight ahead of King. 

 

If I were him, at this stage of his career, I'd want to move on. He's not a young plsyer. He's 28.

Move on to where though? There is literally nowhere else in the world where he'd achieve what he's achieved with us over the course of his career? Plus, he's played in the semi-final of a European Championship for Wales in the past 12 months. All that beats playing regular football for the likes of Stoke or Sunderland for me.

 

We should be grateful that we have players like him who are happy to do their part, by and large without the praise afforded to our regular starters, when required. Plus, what's to say he doesn't have any effect off the pitch - no youngster could ask for a better and more professional role model than him to look up to at Belvoir Drive. True clubmen are a rare thing these days, and I'm proud we have at least one in our squad.

[Kendal Fox]

Cult player that he is, the issue I have with King is that he is always out of his depth when starting against the tougher, bigger clubs, particularly a rejuvenated team like Everton. Increasingly it seems, he is best when we are playing in a non-pressure situation or against the weaker sides but need a goal from elsewhere to help break them down.

But to start with him against a decent side in a match when we still need something is insane. Even when playing regularly, he is a gamble, but the fact he had'nt played in several weeks was crazy.

Edited 10 April 2017 by Kendal Fox

[The whole world smiles]

some people on this forum have memories that are too short and levels of patience that are too low.

[TJB-fox]

Miles better than Drinky yesterday but ultimately the game was lost in central midfield. Barkley Gueye and Davies had complete dominance in there and it reflected in the scoreline

[Sharpe's Fox]

Man City's midfield was dominated by Everton's this season. It would always be difficult for Kingy in there, especially with Drinky having a big, big off day. It seems King is always jumped on if we lose when he comes in then will have a performance and be in peoples good graces again. Maybe you lot need to stop jumping down his throat when we lose a relatively tight away game against a good opponent. 

[Ricey]

King has a lot to offer, but a pairing of him and DD in a midfield two is a disaster and has been all season. They are simply both too slow to play together.

 

Yesterday wasn't helped by both of their inabilities to find another man in white.

[GeorgeTheFox]

Clearly an important figure in the dressing room as well. people are so fickle

[Thracian]

King's just a whipping boy for some on here. Even if he played brilliantly there would be a kind of grudging acceptance - and delight a week later if the sceptics had chance to hammer him some more.

 

It's always been the case for some even despite the part he's played in so much of our success.

 

There were plenty worse than King yesterday but as I said at the time. we were never 100% up for the game and he wouldn't have been playing if we had been.

 

But the proof of my words - and the level of bias on here - is the fact that King's hardly played in weeks and any other player (especially the serially disappointing Drinkwater of late)  would be given some slack over that. But not King. Some fans' agendas are more important than that.

 

Having said all that it's time he moved. I've said it before but can only see a bit part future for him here as a player now. Some fans just see what they want and I don't think many saw five tackles, four interceptions and an 80 per cent pass completion rate as the second part of a midfield pair up against a midfield three.

 

Even the picture of Jagielka's goal tells a story with Kingy tight on his man and ready to match any leap while Benny - tight as well - never gets off the ground, and does no more than try to hold the scorer's arm as he leaps way above him.   

 

Whatever the verdict of yesterday's inquest, King has and still wears our shirt with distinction and has been part of the best chapter and team in our history over the last decade.     

 

And that without the real support and encouragement so many have always given to Drinkwater who, apart from his combativeness, is neither the greatst creator nor the greatest threat. Yet King is effectively muscled out of that role - and by a bloke who's form and whose percentage of good games has dipped noticeably this season.

 

Again, what yesterday most showed apart from our defensive failings, was how badly Shinji's absence means for us in central midfield. Two against three in that area doesn't work for us especially when the three have such outstanding creative support from Barkley and Lukako.              

Edited 10 April 2017 by Thracian

[Sol thewall Bamba]

I don't understand why people have it in for the guy. No he's not as good as DD or Ndidi. But he's happy to play a support role, who else could we bring in that would be a notable upgrade (bearing in mind the impact he has in the dressing room which is very well documented), who would be happy to sit on the bench most weeks? The answer is most likely nobody. If we didn't have him yesterday, we'd have had to play an unfit Ndidi, Amartey and play a kid at right back, or play someone from the U23s.

[Koke]

22 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

I don't understand why people have it in for the guy. No he's not as good as DD or Ndidi. But he's happy to play a support role, who else could we bring in that would be a notable upgrade (bearing in mind the impact he has in the dressing room which is very well documented), who would be happy to sit on the bench most weeks? The answer is most likely nobody. If we didn't have him yesterday, we'd have had to play an unfit Ndidi, Amartey and play a kid at right back, or play someone from the U23s.

 

I'm happy to have him here but I question his personal ambitions. He's had 8 starts this season. 9 starts last season. 14 starts in 14/15. Thats 31 starts in 114 PL games in 3 seasons. He's 28 and at his peak of his career.  Does he really wanna spend his peak being 4th/5th choice at LCFC? If I were him I'd look for a move so I can get regular playing time, not have my career fizzle out. He's won the PL and played in CL and nobody can ever take that away from him. 

 

To reiterate, I'm happy to have him here but from his perspective, I'd want to play football, not see yet another CM come in next season and be picked ahead of me again.