What midfield

[sdb]

IF we're being really cut throat then we have to accept that King, James, Amartey and probably Mendy just aren't good enough. 

 

Id like to loan Amartey out so he gets half a season of regular football. Sell King, Musa and at least 2 other from our bloated squad and sign a top quality rb and cm. Have a great quality squad of 20 rather than 12-13 and another 10 expensive and mediocre benchwarmers. 

Edited 26 December 2017 by sdb

[urban.spaceman]

Apparently we're after some Portuguese fella in January. Don't know too much about him myself. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

14 minutes ago, sdb said:

Have a great quality squad of 20 rather than 12-13 and another 10 expensive and mediocre benchwarmers. 

What happens when your 9 'quality' squad members rock up at your door kicking off because they aren't playing enough? 

[Vestan Pance]

3 hours ago, chicagofox said:

Our most comfortable victory this season was actually when Andy King started and scored at Southampton.

We also won the occasional game with Junior Lewis in midfield.

[Gravy Fox]

It makes me sad to say this but King is definitely not good enough anymore. Hopefully Silva will provide a better passing game that Puel seems to be looking to implement 

[HankMarvin]

4 hours ago, Abrasive fox said:

Performances like today demonstrate how overrated Ndidi is, yes he's great at tackling but he treats the ball like a grenade.

His just turned 21, if he was the finished article he wouldn't be playing for Leicester would he

[sdb]

54 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

What happens when your 9 'quality' squad members rock up at your door kicking off because they aren't playing enough? 

 

Whatever Pep and Jurgen are doing. 

 

Or we could just stick with our current predicament and go out of cups too soon and lose games as soon as we're 2-3 players short. 

[weller54]

52 minutes ago, Gravy Fox said:

It makes me sad to say this but King is definitely not good enough anymore. Hopefully Silva will provide a better passing game that Puel seems to be looking to implement 

No Shit Sherlock!

[Sol thewall Bamba]

2 minutes ago, sdb said:

 

Whatever Pep and Jurgen are doing.

 

That easy is it.

[Stadt]

In more difficult games I’d have Iborra deep, Silva and N’Didi as 8s as they’re more mobile. Where we’ll have more of the ball Iborra and Silva as pivots would be stable enough as well adding more ability in possession.

[FLAN]

5 hours ago, Fox92 said:

King has scored 50+ goals for this club and is unable to pass forward, it's incredible to watch.

He also can’t shoot on target when under zero pressure so let’s put him and us out of our misery. I’m sure there is a non league team somewhere he could pin down a first team place in 

[sdb]

30 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

 

That easy is it.

 

Well im assuming good man management and squad rotation are the keys to this. So yes I'd hope ours can do that. 

[winteriscoming]

We simply don't have the quality options in midfield. The majority of Prem sides would make 1 change in midfield and do a decent job - king simply doesnt offer anything postitive especially away from home. Heard someone say the otherday that his goal against southampton was the first time he played it forward. 

[kingfox]

Some bashing Ndidi, some bashing James, some bashing King 

 

Wilf gets unwanted criticism, as I said earlier in the season when Iborra was injured, Ndidi was basically running the midfield on his own. Relying on a 20 year old to run your midfield is ludicrous, putting all that pressure on a lad that age was stupid, but of course we had limited options. You've seen him step up as soon as Iborra has come into the side, he doesn't have as much pressure and with that experience alongside him it's a partnership that works well. Like today though when he partners Andy King the understanding isn't there, King becomes invisible and Ndidi is left to do the majority of the work on his own. 

 

Matty James is good enough for this league, at the start of the season he put in some decent performances. We played some top teams but did they really carve through our midfield...no. Matty James has always been underrated, he has always proven he can do a job both defensively and when driving forward.

 

King though should've left a while back, he's only here because of loyalty. He has been a terrific servant but he isn't good enough for us anymore, get rid.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

15 minutes ago, sdb said:

 

Well im assuming good man management and squad rotation are the keys to this. So yes I'd hope ours can do that. 

Unfortunately we're not a club of a stature that can keep people happy by just being on the bench. We have never, and will never, have a squad of 20 first team quality players. 

[VLC86]

I remember going to Watford away a few years back under Sven with Bednar up front and King was captain. Thought to myself ‘He’s about done for us’ and here we are .

 

There is a time and a place for Kingy but it isn’t a 4 man midfield away from home in the premier league.

[funkyrobot]

6 hours ago, themightyfin said:

What happens If Silva is shit after all this wait?

He’s got a great right foot, can dribble with the ball, plays the ball forward and is a threat on goal. He’s the former captain of one Portugal’s best teams, he’s got 20 caps for his country. He will be an improvement to our midfield. I’d expect him to start most games but also be part of a rotation system involving Ndidi, Iborra and Hopefully James. I would expect King or at times one of the U23’s to be back up should one of these four get injured. 

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

10 hours ago, HankMarvin said:

His just turned 21, if he was the finished article he wouldn't be playing for Leicester would he

His age is up for debate. I reckon he's actually about 23, but there you go.

 

And yes if he was he wouldn't be playing for Leicester but some would have you believe on here he's Kante, Yaya Toure and Viera rolled into one.

[coolhandfox]

Doesn't matter how good your midfield is, if you can't defend corners and your keeper scores a O.G

[sdb]

9 hours ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Unfortunately we're not a club of a stature that can keep people happy by just being on the bench. We have never, and will never, have a squad of 20 first team quality players. 

 

So this conversation is redundant and we rely on Andy King, Ben Hamer, Ahmed Musa, Daniel Amartey and Benelouanne for the next 3-4 years? 

 

I think we we need to go for quality (within reason) over quantity. Our squad is bloated with overpaid and mediocre players and from what I can tell they're happy to stay here. Getting fewer but better players on the same wage structure but with more playing time has to be the aim for me. 

[MC Prussian]

King is a decent midfielder, but not starter material and definitely not the answer when you want control in the middle. He seemingly can't create chances, can't hold it together, rarely distributes the ball going forward (sideways and backwards, sideways and backwards, ...) and I've never really seen him help out in defense, either. He's an enigma on the pitch. Despite all my sympathies for him and his achievements with the club, it's time he started to improve one final time, accept the challenge and impose himself on the game more often. We need dominance on the pitch, not disappearances.

 

James may be the answer, but I'd like to see how he performs on a regular basis in the Premier League first. Can he fulfill his promise? Is his body able to withstand the pressure this time?

 

Ndidi is great in a more defensive aspect, a "Kanté light" if you will. But he also has a tendency of going lost too often, following in Andy King's footsteps, not able to control midfield and he loses the ball so often, giving it away too easily. He's also quite young and prone to the odd frustrating error here and there, so should improve with time.

 

I like Iborra, his height and excellent passing range make him a very good all-around midfielder. He may not be the fastest, but compensates with experience and positioning. Some of his long ground-level passes are fantastic to watch and he does add danger in the opposing penalty box during corner situations.

 

I just can't wait to see a two- or three-man midfield with Silva, Iborra and either James or Ndidi. King would be my regular choice for the bench. He can add more late into a game when we could use fresh legs and a bit of a threat going forward. We need more stability, experience and attacking flair in the middle so desperately, taking pressure off Mahrez, Albrighton and Gray. Having to play it through either the left or right flank, with no creativity or impetus coming from central midfield, has made our system so predictable lately.

[Bazly]

16 hours ago, StanSP said:

the disrespect in this statement should warrant a ban imo.

Bollocks, King is King - about as penetrative as a knife hitting a stone. The only time he manages a defence splitting pass is when he does a back pass to Schmeichel. He had tremendous pass stats yesterday, the best in the side because they were all back passes, even the side ways passes were backwards. He did manage one tackle but got walked around and past shortly after that in the first half and then became invisible after that, presumably hiding somewhere in Ndidi's shadow.

 

To suggest he could play a role in young player development is showing probably a bit too much respect as how many Kings could one team actually cope with.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

14 minutes ago, sdb said:

 

So this conversation is redundant and we rely on Andy King, Ben Hamer, Ahmed Musa, Daniel Amartey and Benelouanne for the next 3-4 years? 

 

I think we we need to go for quality (within reason) over quantity. Our squad is bloated with overpaid and mediocre players and from what I can tell they're happy to stay here. Getting fewer but better players on the same wage structure but with more playing time has to be the aim for me. 

Yep, we'll need to rely on squad players when our first teamers get injured/fatigued for the foreseeable future. Please show me a club of our nature that doesn't. 

[StanSP]

12 minutes ago, Bazly said:

Bollocks, King is King - about as penetrative as a knife hitting a stone. The only time he manages a defence splitting pass is when he does a back pass to Schmeichel. He had tremendous pass stats yesterday, the best in the side because they were all back passes, even the side ways passes were backwards. He did manage one tackle but got walked around and past shortly after that in the first half and then became invisible after that, presumably hiding somewhere in Ndidi's shadow.

 

To suggest he could play a role in young player development is showing probably a bit too much respect as how many Kings could one team actually cope with.

yeah, we should have hoofed the ball to Vardy who was on his own up top for the majority of the match against 2 tall central defenders. 

 

Let's give away possession instead of keeping it. That's the way to win!

[sylofox]

16 hours ago, AKCJ said:

Kasper

Simpson Morgan Maguire Fuchs

Ndidi Iborra

Silva

Mahrez --------- Gray

Vardy

You can forget Simpson for upto 3 months.