Rachid Ghezzal opens up on transfer, first half of season and road to improvement

[Stadt]

1 hour ago, nettle said:

Probably a league 1 club or worse??

Grow up  

[rachhere]

4 hours ago, wokinghamfox said:

Not hungry enough in my eyes and lacks confidence. If thats not the reason for his poor performances then quite frankly he's just garrbage. 

Watch him off the ball - he's always moving and looking for the next pass. There's quite a lot of players in our starting XI who could learn from him to be honest.

[whoareyaaa]

1 hour ago, Bob Hazels shorts said:

Having signed him on a free, Monaco probably couldn’t believe their luck when Claude Puel came knocking for the forward, who had only started seven games in the league that season (26 appearances in total), scored two goals and picked up four assists.

 

The Premier League is different from Ligue 1. 

 

 

Whilst I believe the guy is trying his best, who in their infinite wisdom would sign a player nearly 27 who as only ever been released from contracts or they've been allowed to expire for £12.6M

 

We are reasonably well equipped with wingers but obviously crying out for a striker and creative midfielder.

 

Players are selected by the recruitment team nowadays, this signing however was obviously instigated by Puel.

 

There is obviously a difference between the leagues. If you've spent virtually all of your career be it a player or player then manager there's a risk you'll struggle 

 

 

US!! we done it twice as well, 12m clappers on Ward Bob.

 

Whats worse we threw 25m away on a piece of salami, and another 25m on player that dont even make the bench.

 

We do love to throw away money

[wokinghamfox]

31 minutes ago, rachhere said:

Watch him off the ball - he's always moving and looking for the next pass. There's quite a lot of players in our starting XI who could learn from him to be honest.

Its funny what different people see in a player. I see totally the opposite in the respect that he is a bit shy of the ball, does things very simply,  never takes a gamble and is afraid to take players on.

[rachhere]

2 minutes ago, wokinghamfox said:

Its funny what different people see in a player. I see totally the opposite in the respect that he is a bit shy of the ball, does things very simply,  never takes a gamble and is afraid to take players on.

He can look a bit lost on the wing - he definitely should be playing more centrally. I don't think it's his style though to run with the ball - he likes to receive the ball, make a quick pass, then move into a position to receive the ball again. The problem there is that our players aren't getting themselves into positions to support him or finding him after he's made his runs, so he just looks like a spare part. It could be interesting seeing him with Harvey as I think they are more on the same wavelength in that respect. 

[Blue Collar]

It's unbelievable how different he is to his outgoing elder brother ...first row, 2nd form left, in the lineup for the italian version of "I'm a Celebrity"

 

 

 

[Guest Col city fan]

Another very pleasant and positive thread.

Hmmm...

In my opinion, Monaco must have seen Claude coming. If Ghezzal doesn’t develop into a MUCH better player than the one we see currently, it’ll be another over-priced transfer amidst some real stinkers by the club.

What on earth have we been doing with our transfer kitty over recent times?!

Iborra, Silva, Slimani, Nacho, Diabate, Ghezzal

An incredible amount of money on so many players no better than what we had and in some cases, worse.

[nettle]

2 hours ago, wokinghamfox said:

Its funny what different people see in a player. I see totally the opposite in the respect that he is a bit shy of the ball, does things very simply,  never takes a gamble and is afraid to take players on.

The reason he doesn't hang on to the ball is because when faced up to a defender he hasn't got the skill or pace to take them on unfortunately. 

[Xen]

1 hour ago, Col city fan said:

Another very pleasant and positive thread.

Hmmm...

In my opinion, Monaco must have seen Claude coming. If Ghezzal doesn’t develop into a MUCH better player than the one we see currently, it’ll be another over-priced transfer amidst some real stinkers by the club.

What on earth have we been doing with our transfer kitty over recent times?!

Iborra, Silva, Slimani, Nacho, Diabate, Ghezzal

An incredible amount of money on so many players no better than what we had and in some cases, worse.

Ricardo. Maddison. Maguire. Ndidi. Mendy. Evans. Benkovic/Soyuncu as well.

 

As for the negatives:

• Iborra didn't settle, but we got a decent fee for him leaving. If he'd settled properly this could have been brilliant for us.
• Silva was a shambles of a transfer, admittedly, and seems to have had a notable impact on the player.
• Slimani had great stats and we could have got him much cheaper. We dropped the ball on this one, although it might have worked out if his attitude was better.
• Iheanacho, stats-wise, was one of the best young strikers in Europe. His work ethic since coming here has left much to be desired though and yes, this one didn't work out.
• Diabaté is young, cheap, and bought for the future, so I'm not sure he fits on your list.
• Ghezzal has been ok. We overpaid a bit for an average player who has been inconsistent to date, but that's about it.

 

Not amazing business, admittedly, but on the whole its not bad at all. Particularly when you compare it to other mid-table PL sides.

 

[KrefelderFox666]

7 hours ago, Xen said:

Ricardo. Maddison. Maguire. Ndidi. Mendy. Evans. Benkovic/Soyuncu as well.

 

As for the negatives:

• Iborra didn't settle, but we got a decent fee for him leaving. If he'd settled properly this could have been brilliant for us.
• Silva was a shambles of a transfer, admittedly, and seems to have had a notable impact on the player.
• Slimani had great stats and we could have got him much cheaper. We dropped the ball on this one, although it might have worked out if his attitude was better.
• Iheanacho, stats-wise, was one of the best young strikers in Europe. His work ethic since coming here has left much to be desired though and yes, this one didn't work out.
• Diabaté is young, cheap, and bought for the future, so I'm not sure he fits on your list.
• Ghezzal has been ok. We overpaid a bit for an average player who has been inconsistent to date, but that's about it.

 

Not amazing business, admittedly, but on the whole its not bad at all. Particularly when you compare it to other mid-table PL sides.

 

Good post, agree with that. People are overreacting a bit. We haven't done that bad business. When you're a PL club, players cost a lot more these days.

[jim5000]

16 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I don't agree with this at all. I don't know a single person that thought we'd replace Mahrez with someone even vaguely as good. Everyone knew there'd be a downgrade. 

 

The disappointment is that he's the only replacement for Mahrez and he's clearly not good enough for this level. 

 

Maddison is really the replacement for Mahrez. Ghezzal is one for next season and beyond, he just needs to toughen up a bit and get up to speed.

 

Agree with the poster above that Puel chops and changes his team too much, I think there was a table a couple of weeks ago and we were second behind (Mourinho's) Utd for most changes to a starting line up this season.

[murphy]

6 minutes ago, jim5000 said:

 

Maddison is really the replacement for Mahrez. Ghezzal is one for next season and beyond, he just needs to toughen up a bit and get up to speed.

 

Agree with the poster above that Puel chops and changes his team too much, I think there was a table a couple of weeks ago and we were second behind (Mourinho's) Utd for most changes to a starting line up this season.

I can't agree with this.  We had been looking for a number 10 for some time, regardless of the Mahrez situation.

 

We still haven't replaced Mahrez, perhaps there was no one out there but we didn't even try.

[murphy]

9 hours ago, Xen said:

Ricardo. Maddison. Maguire. Ndidi. Mendy. Evans. Benkovic/Soyuncu as well.

 

As for the negatives:

• Iborra didn't settle, but we got a decent fee for him leaving. If he'd settled properly this could have been brilliant for us.
• Silva was a shambles of a transfer, admittedly, and seems to have had a notable impact on the player.
• Slimani had great stats and we could have got him much cheaper. We dropped the ball on this one, although it might have worked out if his attitude was better.
• Iheanacho, stats-wise, was one of the best young strikers in Europe. His work ethic since coming here has left much to be desired though and yes, this one didn't work out.
• Diabaté is young, cheap, and bought for the future, so I'm not sure he fits on your list.
• Ghezzal has been ok. We overpaid a bit for an average player who has been inconsistent to date, but that's about it.

 

Not amazing business, admittedly, but on the whole its not bad at all. Particularly when you compare it to other mid-table PL sides.

 

I don't think that you can lump Benko and Soyuncu in the positives list just yet.  Both untested in the PL.  They may become great players and great value, but they might not.  Time will tell.  Depends how far we are going back but Kante is conspicuous by his absence.   Ward needs to be added to the 'paid well over the odds' list.

 

As for the negatives, there is Musa, Inler and Hernandez to add to that list, although we recouped most of the money we paid out,  they were still bought in to do a job and left us short. 

 

It is not just a case of numbers and I can't think that a success rate of less then one in two can be called 'not bad business', but it seems that the failures were also the most costly signings. 

 

I think the really big positives are Chillwell, Barnes and Choudury coming through the academy.   The club often baffles me with recruitment but that trio is something to be proud of.

[Foxalot]

There is potential in Rachid but he needs to brave up and take more responsibity.

Mahrez wasn’t great when he arrived at Leicester, he kept showing us flashes of brilliance but was very inconsistent. Ghezzal needs time to figure out the Premier League but he also needs to improve his performances, and his passing. 

[Benguin]

Any player who knows they need to improve and works hard, deserves credit. Haven’t rated him so far but I am happy to hear he is working in it. Wish him luck and hope he comes good.

[Hanan96]

On 25/01/2019 at 18:11, whoareyaaa said:

US!! we done it twice as well, 12m clappers on Ward Bob.

 

Whats worse we threw 25m away on a piece of salami, and another 25m on player that dont even make the bench.

 

We do love to throw away money

Even in the cup bench 

[420Hashish]

https://readleicester.com/2019/01/30/puel-tips-ghezzal-to-fulfil-his-potential-at-leicester/?poll-results=1

[volpeazzurro]

On 25/01/2019 at 11:34, wokinghamfox said:

Its funny what different people see in a player. I see totally the opposite in the respect that he is a bit shy of the ball, does things very simply,  never takes a gamble and is afraid to take players on.

I think when he's been played in the number 10 role he's looked more decisive and rarely makes a poor pass plus isn't afraid of shooting. In fact he's been a bit more impactive than Maddison for me in that position and more direct. He does however look less influential out on the wing.. I still believe there's definitely something there with him yet. We need a squad in any case.