Ben Chilwell's Message for Leicester Fans

[fuchsntf]

14 hours ago, turtmcfly said:

When we wrote essays at school we were always told to give clear and relevant examples to back up our points.

 

Unless that's changed you're going to be getting a C- for this in the morning

It's a football forum!!!

[MPH]

46 minutes ago, filbertway said:

I think that's a problem with fans in general. Unrealistic expectations.

 

We've bought in a replacement for Silva for the rest of the season. You won't see many quality players leaving their clubs mid way through the season, unless it's for obscene money.

we had a pre-season too...

[Babylon]

2 minutes ago, MPH said:

we had a pre-season too...

We had a ludicrous number of CM's on the books, he's clearly having to move people on to get people in. It's no shock that the second he's managed to shift three off the books we've added someone to the team. Whilst clearly in an ideal world we and the manager would have liked to sign a top class CM to help solve the issue, we're having to work in an un-ideal world.

[Babylon]

1 hour ago, MPH said:

‘lack of spark’ is putting it mildly... we are isolating the best striker we have had since Lineker...

 

dominating possession means nothing - i thought our prem winning season would have taught us that.

 

 

you say it’s to do with personnel and not management... who is the one responsible for changing the personnel? we just had a transfer window and the only player we got was a loan signing of a CM. we have just had the opportunity to fix the ‘lack of spark’ and we didn’t.

Or the people not giving him any money to spend and leaving it down to him to have to shift other peoples bad signings to try and make room and money.

 

Vardy is 12th in shots on target and 3rd in BIG chances missed, that's right up there with the worst in the league, with only two total shots less than Wilson. He's clearly still involved, certainly in front of goal he's as involved as many others. It doesn't play to his natural game, but neither does how teams set up against us now. They know what a danger he is and they sit deep to combat him and our countering.

[filbertway]

28 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Unrealistic expectations, I'm sorry but if we should accept winning less than a quarter of our home games then we ought to pack it in.

Short term I'm more than happy to accept inconsistency with such a young team. I'd expect better results next season as the lads get to know each others games and become a bit more savvy. Also we should have better options from the bench that can actually help improve the team as it tires.

 

I think you're well within your rights to expect or want the team to be winning it's easier home games and be picking up maybe 35-40 points at home each season. At the same time, I think it's worth taking a step back and asking what the factors are that are causing the poorer results. 

 

Next season I expect us to pick up more points, unless we have some mad injury crisis or something. I think it's fair to expect an improvement as long as the squad isn't weakened and he's backed in the transfer market. This season, I appreciate we're at the start of a revolution of new, young players and that is probably a contributing factor to the inconsistency.

 

I agree with Babs that Puel at times appears to make some odd/frustrating in-game decisions. That is true of any manager that's not winning every week though. Sometimes it's a mistake on their part, other times it's down to factors that we wouldn't know about as outsiders. He makes plenty of good in-game tweaks as well though.

[ThaiFox]

8 hours ago, Swan Lesta said:

He did okay but seriously? ? 

Yes, I thought Ghezzal was excellent. Great application, attitude and commitment. Stunning free kick, some great chasing back, some decent skill too. All this after being booed onto the field. 

 

On this forum he's been written off far too fast. Against Newport, if our senior players had played with the same attitude we'd have won easily.  

 

It looks like he really cares and is determined to succeed....in spite of him already being dissed on here as rubbish.

 

Just wish Nacho would show the same attitude. 

 

 

[ThaiFox]

7 hours ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

Basically our fans have become self entitled knobs. There's probably about 10,000 in the stadium who don't support Leicester as their first team who started attending after the great escape season because it became 'entertainment'

Agreed. 

 

If these so called fans studied a few videos of our past under Pleat, Megson, Taylor etc, they might start appreciating what we have now. These are great times to be a LCFC fan. 

 

 

[Foxaholic ME]

2 minutes ago, ThaiFox said:

Agreed. 

 

If these so called fans studied a few videos of our past under Pleat, Megson, Taylor etc, they might start appreciating what we have now. These are great times to be a LCFC fan. 

 

 

Agreed

[ThaiFox]

8 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

I didnt hear too many of them moaning about the atmosphere when we beat Man City. They no doubt all posted on social media " superb result, merry Christmas everyone. Fans were class as always "

 

These players have now been part of a growing issue for over a year and the atmosphere turns in matches due to the repeated mistakes. When he says they are learning and improving, is a complete contradiction. In what way? We are still conceding the first goal and then being unable to break down teams that sit back. Theres scant evidence of any improvement. The last time we beat a team that sat back was Huddersfield in September and prior to that was Huddersfield and Watford the season before. Its horrific when you analyse what is happened to our home form under Puel.

 

The young players though arent the victims of the dismay from the fans, sadly they are caught in the cross fire as our fans are showing their dissatisfaction with a manager who makes it very difficult to like. I wish we could all remain supportive and positive when watching countless misplaced passes, aimless high crosses in to a hapless Vardy, conceding an early goal an being part of the Midlands version of Groundhog Day for what feels like an eternity. Fans are emotional and at times irrational, I really dont see anything that is happening right now that doesnt happen elsewhere or has happened in the past. 

 

It can and will change quickly though if the manager and players can evoke something to stop this disconnect and downward spiral. But theres a sense of inevitability that Puel is going in the near future and that it's going to get worse before it gets better.

I do agree with you, although I still think we should be far more patent at the moment. These are young players, and they are caught in the crossfire, whilst finding their feet in front of often moaning, growling, booing, fans. It takes time for them to develop.

 

It's just margins. The terrible Maddison penalty v Cardiff, the countless chances v Southampton, 17 against Man Ure, the silly antics of our senior players (Morgan getting sent off twice, Albrighton's brainfart handball v Newport as examples). We seem out of luck.

 

As for the Man City match, from what I could hear the crowd only got behind the team in the last 20 minutes. If they did that every match, all match, maybe the players would respond accordingly?

 

 

 

 

 

I 

 

 

[Long Eaton Fox]

Don't know what people want from Puel.

 

Addressed the fullback and centre back problems. We now have the 5th best defense. (with 2 young centre backs to come in)

 

Addressed the creativity problem with Tielemans(time will tell)

 

Addressed the forward issues with Barnes and Madison.

 

Released the baggage with more to go in the summer.

 

We now have the youngest team in the prem.

 

We should now be able to play with different styles depending on home or away or the quality of the opposition.

 

As stated earlier 3 mistakes have cost us. Madison pen, Albrighton pen, and Ricardo poor pass.

 

Puel has made errors but he HAS to be given the appropriate time to finish his plans.

[rachhere]

7 minutes ago, Long Eaton Fox said:

Don't know what people want from Puel.

 

Addressed the fullback and centre back problems. We now have the 5th best defense. (with 2 young centre backs to come in)

 

Addressed the creativity problem with Tielemans(time will tell)

 

Addressed the forward issues with Barnes and Madison.

 

Released the baggage with more to go in the summer.

  

We now have the youngest team in the prem.

  

We should now be able to play with different styles depending on home or away or the quality of the opposition.

  

As stated earlier 3 mistakes have cost us. Madison pen, Albrighton pen, and Ricardo poor pass.

  

Puel has made errors but he HAS to be given the appropriate time to finish his plans.

There are definitely plus points, along with the fact that it appears that down to him we have managed to bring in players like Ricardo.

 

The main thing for me is that we have had the same problem continuously of not being able to break down defenses, and he just has not made progress on that at all. Yes we have missed some chances, but you only need to watch Match of the Day and compare us to other mid table sides and the way they build attacks to see that we are lacking. Other issues I am concerned about are that despite Ben Chilwell progressing well, players like Ndidi and Nacho appear to have regressed, and also Maddison seems to be suffering a bit lately - Nacho in particular is just a shadow of himself (and no, he wasn't always this bad and I do believe there's something in there still). 

 

Just don't know what to make of him really. 

 

[Long Eaton Fox]

10 minutes ago, rachhere said:

There are definitely plus points, along with the fact that it appears that down to him we have managed to bring in players like Ricardo.

 

The main thing for me is that we have had the same problem continuously of not being able to break down defenses, and he just has not made progress on that at all. Yes we have missed some chances, but you only need to watch Match of the Day and compare us to other mid table sides and the way they build attacks to see that we are lacking. Other issues I am concerned about are that despite Ben Chilwell progressing well, players like Ndidi and Nacho appear to have regressed, and also Maddison seems to be suffering a bit lately - Nacho in particular is just a shadow of himself (and no, he wasn't always this bad and I do believe there's something in there still). 

 

Just don't know what to make of him really. 

 

Breaking down defenses is where Tielemans comes in I hope.

[splinterdream]

Hi Ben, we promise to stay patient as long as you promise not to sign for anyone else and see out your contract till 2022.

 

 

[rachhere]

3 minutes ago, Long Eaton Fox said:

Breaking down defenses is where Tielemans comes in I hope.

I hope so too, hopefully Barnes will make a difference in this respect too. But equally it can't just be down to one player and the issues is surely is largely down to the tactics used. It's not like we don't have decent attacking players in the team already, and we were still struggling in that regard when Mahrez was with us. But it still comes down to the fact that in all this time he's not made any progress in this area. 

 

The guy is a living pros and cons list, and you could send yourself mad by overanalysing it all. But simple fact is the fans don't like him, the players reportedly don't get on with him, and in some of the key metrics we just haven't progressed. I thank him for trying, but... 

[Long Eaton Fox]

3 minutes ago, rachhere said:

I hope so too, hopefully Barnes will make a difference in this respect too. But equally it can't just be down to one player and the issues is surely is largely down to the tactics used. It's not like we don't have decent attacking players in the team already, and we were still struggling in that regard when Mahrez was with us. But it still comes down to the fact that in all this time he's not made any progress in this area. 

 

The guy is a living pros and cons list, and you could send yourself mad by overanalysing it all. But simple fact is the fans don't like him, the players reportedly don't get on with him, and in some of the key metrics we just haven't progressed. I thank him for trying, but... 

Before he could address the midfield issues he had to get rid of Silva, Iborra and King. Tielemans gives the team balance. Putting a lot on his shoulders but he is, on paper, a good fit.

[Ric Flair]

12 minutes ago, Long Eaton Fox said:

Breaking down defenses is where Tielemans comes in I hope.

If we do this then there will be very little complaints from me. Come the summer, the priority will need to be sorting out attack and if Tielemans doesnt join permanently then we must be proactive of a similar type of player. Aaron Mooy wouldn't be the worst option and we mustn't forget Puel's history with Seri who is going to be available when Fulham get relegated. Both are box to box midfielders that wouldn't cost the earth. 

 

The other area is right wing, we might need one more in who is an upgrade on Ghezzal, Gray and Albrighton. 

[MPH]

3 hours ago, Babylon said:

Or the people not giving him any money to spend and leaving it down to him to have to shift other peoples bad signings to try and make room and money.

 

Vardy is 12th in shots on target and 3rd in BIG chances missed, that's right up there with the worst in the league, with only two total shots less than Wilson. He's clearly still involved, certainly in front of goal he's as involved as many others. It doesn't play to his natural game, but neither does how teams set up against us now. They know what a danger he is and they sit deep to combat him and our countering.

he came out in support of iheanacho. that says it all.

[Long Eaton Fox]

Who will Chilwells back-up be when Fuchs leaves?

[TheSomersetFox]

10 minutes ago, Long Eaton Fox said:

Who will Chilwells back-up be when Fuchs leaves?

Callum Elder if he’s still on our books? Though I imagine he’d be desperate to finally play for someone permanently 

[reynard]

7 minutes ago, Goober said:

Callum Elder if he’s still on our books? Though I imagine he’d be desperate to finally play for someone permanently 

He's currently on loan at Ipswich and struggling to get in their team even though they are rock bottom. So I wouldn't hold out too much hope there.

 

[That_Dude]

On 04/02/2019 at 17:15, Ric Flair said:

I honestly don't know, but it's really a tough sell to fans to just blindly go along with it. There's also a massive chance that whilst in pursuit of this, the more advanced ones will be poached by the elite clubs. I still think it's the right way to go, maybe there needs to be a balance between young players and experience it certainly seems we are going from one extreme to another and we need a blend. The goal as a club is to build a team that progresses, you don't always have to do this with all young players, sometimes players with a point to prove can come in and improve as well, this is down to the managers artistry in getting the best out of players. There seems to be an acceptance that Puel comes in to his own when he builds a team of kids and they go on to do the business, I hope that's the case but is there any evidence to this? I can accept being a work in progress as long as there's an identity and I struggle to get that from Puel, his stubbornness and persistence with a midfield that cannot play possession football undoes a lot of his good work. It's become painfully obvious since January last year that we were struggling to unlock deep defences but we failed to bring in a single central midfielder with the skill set to try and do that. The only two midfielders comfortable in possession were both Iborra and Silva and neither prospered nor were afforded the same chances that two liabilities on the ball in Mendy and Ndidi have been afforded. Then we move on to the attack, yet again not a single forward has been recruited under Puel and we currently have 2 strikers with 1 league goal between them all season and they are fast setting new records. Puel moved on all other fringe strikers and rightly or wrongly, it's hard to ignore this.

 

I hope Tielemans can ease the home form, his skill set is exactly what we've been crying out for. I really hope it works out for Puel and the players but the players and the media can moan all they want about the unrest amongst the fans but there's clearly issues between Puel and the same players themselves and Puel will be gone in the summer if they don't pick up results. It kind of makes all things irrelevant.

I agree with you and there's always a risk, but the grass isn't always greener. What we offer is well worth of staying in terms of game time and recognition. Mahrez, who was a star here, is noe struggling to get game time now (he's still adapting and will come eventually good there, imo). Of course if the ambition is to stay in mid-table mediocrity, there's no doubt they'll go at some point but I don't think it's the case at all. It will certainly take time and more than one season though.

 

The evidences are vertical slices and the whole is a work in progress. We see progress from young players like Choudhury, Barnes, Chilwell, a better defense, more variety in the play (possession no matter how effective it is, counter-attack). But the team as a whole, as a unit, doesn't work properly yet. Let's not talk about Iborra or Silva. Their case is closed. Iborra started brightly and faded away, I don't know what happened with Silva. The latter didn't get as much game time but the few I saw from him never really convinced me. Both were in their thirties anyway and maybe they didn't belong to the long-term plans. The signing of Tielemans should shut the critics about him not liking creative CMs which is one of the biggest fallacies I've ever read about him.

 

The results follow accordingly. We're able of getting a point at Anfield, yet still lose at home against Cardiff. Yeah, it sucks big time, especially when you go all the way to the KP. I understand the frustration, I really get it, it's hard enough on stream TV and I feel for those who go watch the game live. But it's all about mindset. Either you keep in mind that it's going to be a while before the results start to show (under Puel or not) or you'll go to every game expecting fireworks (exaggerating a bit) and you'll be mostly disappointed.

 

That I hope too. I personally think it was our biggest problem. More than not having a striker or a winger. A midfield three of Tielemans and Hamza with Ndidi shielding the back four and the front three Barnes-Vardy-Gray is my actual wet dream. On the other hand, this kind of atmosphere around the club and the constant boos will certainly not encourage him to stay here. Even more so, if he sees that Puel is already a goner.

[Ric Flair]

16 minutes ago, That_Dude said:

I agree with you and there's always a risk, but the grass isn't always greener. What we offer isn't well worth staying in terms of game time and recognition. Mahrez who was here a star is struggling to get game time now (he's still adapting and will come eventually good there, imo). Of course if the ambition is to stay in mid.table mediocrity there's no doubt they'll go at some point but I don't think it's the case at all. It will certainly take time and more than one season though.

 

The evidences are vertical slices and the whole is a work in progress. We see progress from young players like Choudhury, Barnes, Chilwell, a better defense, more variety in the play (possession no matter how effective it is, counter-attack). But the team as a whole, as a unit, doesn't work properly yet. Let's not talk about Iborra or Silva. Their case is closed. Iborra started brightly and faded away, I don't know what happened with Silva. The latter didn't get as much game time but the few I saw from him never really convinced me. Both were in their thirties anyway and maybe they didn't belong to the long-term plans. The signing of Tielemans should shut the critics about him not liking creative CM which is one of the biggest fallacies I've ever read about him.

 

The results follow accordingly. We're able of getting a point at Anfield, yet still lose at home against Cardiff. Yeah it sucks big time, especially when you go all the way to the KP. I understand the frustration, I really get it, it's hard enough on stream TV and I feel for those who go watch the game live. But it's all about mindset. Either you keep in mind that it's going to be a while before the results will start to show (under Puel or not) or you'll go to every game expecting fireworks (exaggerating a bit) and you'll be mostly disappointed.

 

That I hope too. I personally think it was our biggest problem. More than not having a striker or a winger. A midfield three of Tielemans and Hamza with Ndidi shielding the back four and the front three Barnes-Vardy-Gray is my actual wet dream. On the other hand this kind of atmosphere around the club and the constant boos will certainly not encourage him to stay here. Even more so, if he sees that Puel is already a goner.

Agree with all this!!! 

[chapero82]

The fans were right to be annoyed, may not have been right to boo but a right to be annoyed!

 

 

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

12 minutes ago, chapero82 said:

The fans were right to be annoyed, may not have been right to boo but a right to be annoyed!

 

 

Meh

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Just what does heckling and booing positively achieve? Perhaps someone could enlighten me.