How did we do?

[Wymsey]

4 minutes ago, Fox 4 Life said:

All things considered a very good window. Vardy signing a new deal is the icing on the cake. I feel Ghezzal might be a big surprise, was very good at Lyon and didn't quite do it for Monaco but fresh start and under Puel he could be a gem. Maddison looks the best singing for me though, oozes class.

This.

 

But can't help to think some on here are forgetting that Gray is still here.

Reckon he'll do very well next season imo.

[Robin JD Popley]

I don't have the official stats to hand, either, but I bet the average age of our first team must be around 23-24. What a promising sign.

Edited 9 August 2018 by Robin JD Popley

[Ecdysiast]

Best anyone could hope for.  Well done LCFC

[HKFox]

1 hour ago, Foxy_Bear said:

The way I'm looking at this window....

 

Gk. We've improved the squad by adding a better 2nd choice than what we had. 

 

RB. We've improved the first team by adding a far superior RB than what we had. 

 

CB. We've VASTLY improved  both the squad AND the first team by adding 3 quality players to the position. 

 

No.10. We have improved the first team with Maddison being an improvement on what we had. 

 

Strikers. We are the same as we were last year, no better,no worse. 

 

LB. We are the same as we were last year,no better,no worse. 

 

CM. You could MAYBE argue that we are ever so slightly stronger than last year as a squad because we have King and Mendy back but we've certainly not added more quality to the starting CM's. 

 

Wingers. No denying that we are weaker as a squad and starting 11 on the wing. Lost Mahrez and replaced him with a pound shop Mahrez. 

 

On a whole I think we done OK. We DEFINATELY added quality but not in all the positions we needed it. One more winger away from a great transfer window. 

 

We will be harder to beat than we were last year but I don't see us scoring or creating as much either. UNLESS we utilize what we have to the maximum and play 3 at the back with WB's and Maddison behind nacho and vardy but I just don't see Puel doing that to be honest. 

 

7/10 I'd rate this window. 

 

I would agree with most of what you have wrote. I would say that although we have not signed a new striker, Kelechi upfront has had a whole season with us now and looks like a new signing from his form in pre season. Add the new contract to Vards we look strong up front too. Slimani and Ulloa to go, saves wage bill and offloads 2 players who would not get a game. 

 

I do agree on pound shop mahrez. 

 

352 formation would be great too, but Puel seems to like Diabate which would lead to playing wingers in a 4411. 

 

 

[Shane]

If we do line up 3-4-1-2, what about Vardy and Maddison as the front two?

 

Schmeichel

Maguire, Benkovic, Soyuncu

Pereira, Silva, Ndidi, Chilwell

Ghezzal

Vardy, Maddison

 

If we play both Vardy and Iheanacho we’ll be pretty light on back up strikers. Obviously Maddison wouldn’t play like your usual number 9, but I reckon he’d thrive as part of the front two.

Edited 9 August 2018 by Shane

[ARM1968]

22 minutes ago, Ecdysiast said:

We’re going to get crucified?

[MagicMahrez]

if I had to rate our window..... 8.5/10 we filled spaces that needed filling.... ??? 

 

and the main man singing a new four year deal ??

[fazzyfox]

A lot has happened and not all is like for like so even when the dust settles it will take a while to become clear how good the work has been.

 

It will be interesting to see if Maddison is set to play behind one striker (Vardy) in a 4-4-1-1 as surely as an AM in a 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2 with 2 wingers there would be too little defensive support for Ndidi. I wonder whether Puel will work on an alternative formation with three CB's which would seem to suit Pereira and Chilwell then say Ndidi, Silva and Maddison in Midfield behind Vardy and Nacho (but no Ghezal, Gray or Albrighton as wingers at least).

 

What I am saying is, until we know the kind of formation(s) and exactly what kind of players the new guys are we won't know if we're short anywhere.

 

We may never know whether we tried for others, had we done what I wanted and offered 80-85% of the Mahrez money for Zaha then we might not have been able to invest so broadly on Maddison and young defenders. If Pereira joins in in the final third and can cross a ball and if the young CB's are decent then along with Maddisons goalscoring threat and creativity we've addressed some long term problems. 

 

 

 

[Legend_in_blue]

This is the best window we've had since returning to the Premier League.

 

How anyone can judge it to not be a success is beyond me.

 

[Scotch]

34 minutes ago, HKFox said:

I would agree with most of what you have wrote. I would say that although we have not signed a new striker, Kelechi upfront has had a whole season with us now and looks like a new signing from his form in pre season. Add the new contract to Vards we look strong up front too. Slimani and Ulloa to go, saves wage bill and offloads 2 players who would not get a game. 

 

I do agree on pound shop mahrez. 

 

352 formation would be great too, but Puel seems to like Diabate which would lead to playing wingers in a 4411. 

 

 

If we did go 352 I imagine Diabate would be used as a striker when he came on. 

[mozartfox]

For someone (me) who has had it in for the Recruitment team over recent times,  I sincerely congratulate them on their efforts this window.  In particular, they have sorted out our tragic defensive problems and we now have pace and mobility, plus height in the CB positions.    The Owners have, as always, acted in the best interests of LCFC and kept Harry for us.   To Rudders -Sir,  you have also done an excellent job in this window (never thought I would ever see myself type these words).

 

I have never jumped on the Puel 'out' wagon, as I always felt in inherited a mess.   He now has the players to play his style of football and I am hopeful we will have a good season.  Just do not spoil all this good work by selecting Wes and Benny tomorrow night .

 

COYB

[jock2612]

I really pleased with the activity. I intend to give ALL of the new lads the benefit of the doubt. I really hope Ghezzal proves all those who have written him off before he kicks a ball, wrong. To be hyper-critical if Leo and Slim leave and Gordon left we are very very thin in attack. One injury to Vardy and we will be deep trouble. Fingers crossed. I think as Vardy get older his 110% style of football will result in more frequent lay offs . There will be intense pressure on JM to replace the assists of RM and it will be the make or break season for Gray. Good luck to everyone and I hope CP proves me wrong and takes us to the next level.

[Merchant_Banker]

When working out how well we have done in the window I think you need to consider signings in both directions. If you give a maximum of 5 points each for transfers in and out then I would give 4 for transfers in and 2 for transfers out, so, 6/10. I think we can still loan players out to the lower leagues and sell to foreign leagues, so we might get up to a 7 or 8 by the end of August.

[davelcfc100]

50 minutes ago, Legend_in_blue said:

This is the best window we've had since returning to the Premier League.

 

How anyone can judge it to not be a success is beyond me.

 

This.

 

A better Mahrez replacement and it would of been a 10/10. That said, as we all know replacing Mahrez was near on impossible so I think we have done as well as we could. Very very pleased with our activity.

[LinekersApples]

9/10

 

Brought in players to improve starting 11 and squad.

 

Moved the right players out with a few more to follow.

 

Maintained the services of HM despite pressure from Man U and some quite staggering offers to ignore. 

 

Tied JV down to a longer contract.

 

Really excellent work.

[FoxonMaui]

A fantastic window in my opinion. We kept the spine of our team in place. Kasper , Harry, Wilf and Vards. Inheacho looks like the signing we hoped for a year ago. Maddison if he stays fit will be playing for England before the winter is out and we have two really talented young CB’s. Add in the early good signs and  potential of Pereira and we have done amazingly well with a minimal net spend. We just need Silva, Gray and Chilwell to step up and we have a very good side. Puel has HIS team now, and our fantastic owners appear to have learnt lessons on how to spend their money wisely. 

[Vardinio'sCat]

 

I think Gray has been played up front early in pre-season, which gives us more cover where we look a bit thin.

 

Also, perhaps the reason we seem to be a bit short of outright wingers is a result of the formation Claude wants to use.

[1972 Fox]

Is Rudders now a genius rather than a hate figure?

[mozartfox]

4 minutes ago, Blue Fox 72 said:

Is Rudders now a genius rather than a hate figure?

Steady.....

[Gav_LCFC14]

2 hours ago, HighPeakFox said:

Perhaps our attack will work better now we have such excellence at the back...

This is an excellent point which I don't think too many people are considering, a strong backline now means our midfielders can push up and help out the attack.  

[HighPeakFox]

2 minutes ago, Gav_LCFC14 said:

This is an excellent point which I don't think too many people are considering, a strong backline now means our midfielders can push up and help out the attack.  

You're a gent

[Legend_in_blue]

32 minutes ago, davelcfc100 said:

This.

 

A better Mahrez replacement and it would of been a 10/10. That said, as we all know replacing Mahrez was near on impossible so I think we have done as well as we could. Very very pleased with our activity.

I would agree.

 

However, in hindsight we may look at this in 6 months time and discover that having a greater variety of attacking threats going forwards is better than relying on a hit and miss Mahrez who became predictable and easier to mark out of games.

[Guest ttfn]

In isolation we’ve had a great window. We lost our best player but we’ve upgraded our 2 weakest positions significantly.

 

What worries me slightly is the business other clubs have done. Fulham and Wolves in particular have pulled off some great coups, Palace picked up Meyer who would probably be a top 6 player if he wasn’t so greedy, Everton and West Ham have signed a lot of (too many?) very talented players as well.

 

I can see the league separating yet further this year - top 6, mid-table 6, relegation strugglers, with a good 10 points between those brackets at the end.

 

Suspect it will be us, Wolves, Fulham, Palace, Everton and West Ham in the mid-table six and the rest will struggle badly to reach 40 points.

[cropstonfox]

7/10 window. Needed a leftback as chillwell  not ready and fuche legs have gone.Also maybe a bit of concern where will the goals come from?

[Webbo]

I should think they'll be a closed doors friendly next week to give the our 3 latest signings and possibly Vardy and Maguire a bit of game time before the Wolves game.