Gary Neville

[Raw Dykes]

4 minutes ago, bennytwohats said:

I agree with a lot of that and I want to see change as much as anyone. Just hope it takes some form other than sacking the manager.

 

I do find the situation more than a little confusing though. We've thought he lost the dressing room before and then we come out and batter City 4-1, or knock Everton out the cup. There is clearly something going on but I just wonder if it's a little bit simplistic to say he has lost the dressing room. But really what do we know? I've not seen any reliable information on the matter. The manager has come under fire on here for defending the players and being somewhat passive in the face of the media - but those interviews aren't for the fans, without knowing the details inside the dressing room it's hard to say if it's the right call or not.

 

I was dismayed at the lack of signings in January but by all accounts there was clearly the intention there to sign a centre back, it just didn't come off. Again it's hard to know who to blame for this.

 

It might turn out that this is all down to Ranieri and he is completely to blame. Based on what I've seen it takes a wilful jump in logic to point the finger entirely at him when I think the reality probably is an unprecedented situation with a multitude of factors in it and a number of people that should shoulder the blame, with Ranieri not entirely blameless. That being the case I'd feel uncomfortable making one man the scapegoat, and not entirely convinced that a new manager will sort out the rot in the dressing room.

 

my hope is that we will soon have everyone back from ACON, some cup games that will hopefully lift the mood. I also thing the reality of being right down at the bottom might just be what is needed to snap some people out of whatever has been going on.

 

Fingers crossed eh, life is certainly never boring as a Leicester fan.

I agree with most of this. I don't think any of us really know for sure exactly how much of what has gone wrong is Ranieri's fault.

 

I'm fairly sure that CR isn't to blame for the lack of signings in January. I'm sure he almost certainly would have liked more.

 

I don't think CR is entirely to blame for our current situation, but part of taking on the role of manager/head coach is accepting the lion's share of responsibility. As much as you get the glory in the good times, you have to take the blame when it goes sour.

 

I admire your optimism. What you said isn't wildly unrealistic. I suppose there is a chance that having Slimani and Amartey back could help us get a win from somewhere, and if that does happen soon, then perhaps it could give everyone a lift and begin everyone pulling together. As there's not much we can do as fans to change things, we perhaps should have hope that better times are around the corner.

 

Haha! That's a thought that keeps occurring to me - certainly is never boring!

[Ric Flair]

13 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

 

The problem is we have spent 80 million on players from second tier leagues, bring in 5-6 players. We should have spent it on 2-3 players with PL experience, Joe Allen, Troy Deeney, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Keane.

 

 

Amen brother.

 

The media are caught between what Ranieri achieved and then the brainless decisions he's made this season. I'm almost torn myself, but as this club means a lot to me and we can't afford to just lay down and die on our way back to the Championship I think he has to go. The signings are revolting, now when new players come in to a toxic environment it often doesn't matter who signs, the writings on the wall but the frustration with us is we had lined up players like Deeney, Keane and a few others and we ended up with Musa, Mendy and Hernandez. Ok you don't always get your targets but to get none of them and to arrogantly think experience at this level means nothing is costing us. Ranieri has to be held accountable for that, so does the other management. Then you look at how the players may have become disillusioned with Ranieri and the fitness levels look off, the tactics have gone from being stout 4-4-2 even away at Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and Anfield when we didn't have enough central midfielders to now just trying anything and everything. It's a man who's desperate, at the end of his tether. For that reason alone he needs to go. Forget the travesty, the travesty is how this has happened after what he achieved for us last season. He can have his statue in a few years and nobody will begrudge him anything, but they might if we go down playing like we are doing. You can never take that title away from us, but we aren't immune to how horrible this season is.

 

 

[blurryface]

We don't like reality in here do we?

 

Neville and Carragher spot on.

 

5 wins all season, no wins away. We deserve to be where we are with form like that, gold badges or not. Fact is, we're not that good. Makes last season even more remarkable but I worry I will never be able to fully appreciate last season knowing that Act 2 was so bad.

 

I genuinely though we gave ourselves the platform to never worry about relegation again, not title after title, but to become a Top 10 side year in year out. Such a wasted chance.

[Ric Flair]

4 minutes ago, blurryface said:

We don't like reality in here do we?

 

Neville and Carragher spot on.

 

5 wins all season, no wins away. We deserve to be where we are with form like that, gold badges or not. Fact is, we're not that good. Makes last season even more remarkable but I worry I will never be able to fully appreciate last season knowing that Act 2 was so bad.

 

I genuinely though we gave ourselves the platform to never worry about relegation again, not title after title, but to become a Top 10 side year in year out. Such a wasted chance.

Funnily I have only been able to appreciate last season since we've become horse muck the last few months, Prior to that I was still numb and it was annoying me that I wasn't cherishing it. Now I yearn for that and will forever be daydreaming about it. Yes, this season is taking massive chunks out of it but trust me the brain will supress this relegation.

[shen]

2 hours ago, bennytwohats said:

Try something, give Kasper the captaincy, drop Drinkwater, drop Morgan, Huth, start Slimani, give some youth a chance. Use derby as a platform to ring in some changes and try and kick on. That's a short and simple list - I don't know what has gone wrong behind the scenes, but clearly there is something. Problems come up in the work place and often get sorted without people being sacked, just get it the **** done.

So much chat that we are already down. We have 14 games to go, and are two points out of the drop zone. It's not a good situation but it's not unsalvageable.

 

To end the fairytale right now by sacking the manager is pretty unsavoury for me, and so yeah, I'd find it quite hard to muster enthusiasm after that, not just for Leicester, but for football as a sport.

Ranieri has rung the changes with player rotation and formation changes. No, he hasn't used all an sundry at the club, but apart from Benalouane and Kapustka, who hasn't really featured this season?

I doubt Kasper would accept the captaincy at this stage. He will be likely be contemplating his future come summer if things don't drastically improve. There's no way he's staying if he will go down so there's nothing for him to gain being given the captaincy. It's not like giving him the captaincy will change much if anything either. He's a leader in the changing room already without the legitimacy of the captain's role.

 

The alarm bells are ringing loudly, and that is what all the chat is about. It is exactly because we have 14 games to go that people are speculating on whether Ranieri should be sacked now, because it gives us a chance which decreases with every week.

 

The fairytale arguably started back in the Championship. It certainly started before Ranieri came, when Pearson was still here. A lot of unsavoury stuff happened before Ranieri's appointment, or did you already forget that part of the story? Did his sacking disenchant you as well or did the following season make up for all of that?

[Guest Bob Hazels shorts]

2 hours ago, bennytwohats said:

Yeah of course I would. But that wasn't the point I was making. The point I was making was about which steps we take to try and make that happen.

 

Most people want to jump straight to the last resort and sack the man who bought us the best times in this clubs memory. People will no doubt think that my view has far too much sentimentality. However I think football is a largely dislikeable sport, with fickle, ignorant, bigoted fans (not all, but as a collective it is much more overt than any other sport, or probably any sub section of society), a short termism approach, overpaid and entitled players. We were basically a middle finger to all of that last year, and I couldn't have been prouder. A bunch of misfits and rejects, no ego - all about the team. A bunch of fans whose expectations had been wildly exceeded and were proud of what we had done regardless of the final outcome. There were still elements to dislike (Vardy, Simpson), but on the whole it was golden. 

 

There are so many ugly things about the calls for Ranieri to be sacked, not least the sense of entitlement of our fans, wanting to throw the man under the bus and the speed and venom with which the tide of opinion shifted, the people trying to discredit him for anything to do with our success (it was all good old, English, Nigel Pearson - let's face it, a thug, who had us rooted bottom for almost an entire season). We will undermine all of the qualities that made us so likeable last year.

 

Im not saying Ranieri should be immune from criticism, I'm also not denying that there have been obvious failings in his part. But I do believe there are changes that can be made before resorting to sacking him - I don't think we have exhausted those options yet.

 

People refererence Chelseas decision to sack Mourinho as a precedent, yet they are an absolute joke of a club in the way they toss out successful managers and are rightly criticised by the majority of fans and pundits. I don't want to see us become just as bad as they are.

 

that doesn't mean I'm resigned to the idea of getting relegated. Try something, give Kasper the captaincy, drop Drinkwater, drop Morgan, Huth, start Slimani, give some youth a chance. Use derby as a platform to ring in some changes and try and kick on. That's a short and simple list - I don't know what has gone wrong behind the scenes, but clearly there is something. Problems come up in the work place and often get sorted without people being sacked, just get it the **** done.

 

So much chat that we are already down. We have 14 games to go, and are two points out of the drop zone. It's not a good situation but it's not unsalvageable.

 

To end the fairytale right now by sacking the manager is pretty unsavoury for me, and so yeah, I'd find it quite hard to muster enthusiasm after that, not just for Leicester, but for football as a sport.

Have you seen any youth or youths in particular that you feel should get a chance?