Leicester without Mahrez

[Guest Markyblue]

He's history we have moved on.  At the time people said when he leaves he will be a man city regular and we are doomed.  Neither is the case lets look forward not back,  great player for us but don't need his attitude in a young team thats going places.

[pazzerfox]

4 hours ago, Koke said:

We have coped more than remarkable. Though it would have been amazing to see Mahrez in the same team as Maddison and Tielemans. Also, imagine if Mahrez had Ricardo behind him instead of Simpson. 

 

We'd concede a lot more goals down that side.  Simo is/was a very good defender.

[volpeazzurro]

1 hour ago, TheLittleBigMan said:

Although I miss his silky skills i'm glad he's gone. He was bringing the team down towards the end. Team unity is more important than the Marhez show. Onwards and upwards.

I agree,  it's about a team effort not the wishes and aspirations of an individual. Marhez has found his level  ... at a big club languishing on the subs bench.

[Stoopid]

For all Pep's supposed ability to improve players I see little sign of it in Riyad.

Often wonder if he regrets going. After being an integral part of the Leicester miracle to being a bit-part, largely overlooked so-so part of Man City's second team - must be a blow to his self regard.

Probably not. But his ego must be taking a battering - for that reason I don't think he'll hang around there for long.

[That_Dude]

1 hour ago, Royston. said:

Its sad to see mahrez not getting much game time at man city.

Wasted talent.

Why couldnt he be happy being the big star playing every game for us?

 

We have moved on. The burden of creativity is shared across several players now.

 

Mahrezs career seems to have stalled although could be revived with a loan back to the mighty leicester

Indeed,

 

We did more than well without him although, as many said, what a team we could've had if he still was here or we signed Tielemans last year. I'll always have a soft spot for him despite his tantrum in january 2018.

 

As for his current situation, I don't think everything's lost for him. Players take generally at least one season to adapt to Pep's system and way of play. For all his limited time, he's still on the double figures in terms of assists and goals. The next season will decide his future at Man City...

[Livid]

He was a fantastic player, we will be lucky to get someone with such incredible individual talent in the near future. He was an absolute joy to watch when he was on his game.

 

As a team I think we came a bit one dimensional at times when he was here. If the chips were down the only option we seemed to adopt was give it to Riyhad and let's see if he can bail us out.

 

He's gone to Man City, got his bumper payday, will pick up a few medals and he'll probably be happy with that. His best days will always be here though, he is a street player who was given a licence to roam here but is having the life squeezed out of his game at Man City

 

.

 

 

[UPinCarolina]

5 hours ago, TJB-fox said:

Imagine him in this team instead of Gray though. Jeez

Anyone fancy a Chilwell / Mahrez swap?

[Stoopid]

4 minutes ago, UPinCarolina said:

Anyone fancy a Chilwell / Mahrez swap?

Don't think I'd fancy Riyad at left-back to be honest.

[sm1]

12 minutes ago, Livid said:

He was a fantastic player, we will be lucky to get someone with such incredible individual talent in the near future. He was an absolute joy to watch when he was on his game.

 

As a team I think we came a bit one dimensional at times when he was here. If the chips were down the only option we seemed to adopt was give it to Riyhad and let's see if he can bail us out.

 

He's gone to Man City, got his bumper payday, will pick up a few medals and he'll probably be happy with that. His best days will always be here though, he is a street player who was given a licence to roam here but is having the life squeezed out of his game at Man City

 

.

 

 

Absolutely. Mahrez is completely unconventional and unpredictable, who had license here to do pretty much what he wanted and he delivered. When I've seen him at Man City he's always looking to pass and rarely looks to take players on. His confidence and ingenuity has gone.  I'd take him back in a heart beat. 

[Guest SO1]

4 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Had the right ideas on paper but was an absolute disgrace at times at his implemtation on the field. Tielemans has hit the nail on the head with the confusion and he'd only had to put up with it for 2 games and could at least speak French with him. Puel had the uncanny knack of his team only committing 1 or 2 players forward in to the box at any one time but then also being exposed and carved open at the back time after time. The whole middle of the park was made of wet bog roll.

 

I'll be thankful of his part he played in the vision of this club and he has helped us bring in some great young players which can't be dismissed. We are now witnessing a proper manager though who gets this division.

 

Prior to Rodgers arrival we were missing Mahrez's individual brilliance, which is what Puel's teams rely on. He had it with Ben Arfa at Nice and Maddison is now a completely different player now his confidence has returned due to the shackles being off. I dread to think how good we could be if Mahrez was here instead of Gray in this team, we wouldn't be far off the top 5 if we had our best XI out week in, week out.

 

It's a testament to this team though that they will likely kick on under Rodgers and we won't particularly miss Mahrez's goals and assists as they are being shared amongst the team which is something Puel urged us to do and his parting gift to us was Ricardo and Tielemans who make us such a ferocious beast at times. If and when Harvey Barnes adds goals and some more assists to his game at this level then we will be a team capable of scoring 60-70 goals a season once again.

Maybe I'm being a little bit optimistic but that 60/70 number seemed kind of of low so I put my mathematical genius(not) to work.

Last 5 matches = 12 goals

38 matches div. by 5 matches= 7.6

12 x 7.6 = 91.2 goals per season. Which made me feel much better. Because, as we know, that's what most important.

Remember Rodgers going on about the Premier league being about goals, goals, goals. 

[Countryfox]

50 minutes ago, Stoopid said:

  his ego must be taking a battering - for that reason I don't think he'll hang around there for long.

 

Not so sure about that ...

 

 

[Ric Flair]

28 minutes ago, SO1 said:

Maybe I'm being a little bit optimistic but that 60/70 number seemed kind of of low so I put my mathematical genius(not) to work.

Last 5 matches = 12 goals

38 matches div. by 5 matches= 7.6

12 x 7.6 = 91.2 goals per season. Which made me feel much better. Because, as we know, that's what most important.

Remember Rodgers going on about the Premier league being about goals, goals, goals. 

Hahahahaaaaaa I admire your optimism but when we won the league by 10 points we didn't get anywhere near those numbers. You have to be a truly exceptional unit to do that and I believe in Rodgers and this team but if we even got 60-70 goals we will be top 6 next season i'd have thought.

[Guest SO1]

7 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Hahahahaaaaaa I admire your optimism but when we won the league by 10 points we didn't get anywhere near those numbers. You have to be a truly exceptional unit to do that and I believe in Rodgers and this team but if we even got 60-70 goals we will be top 6 next season i'd have thought.

We'll See next year

[Stuntman_Mike]

6 hours ago, TJB-fox said:

Imagine him in this team instead of Gray though. Jeez

This gave me all kind of feels. 

[KingsX]

6 hours ago, Babylon said:

Bloody Fraud and his coherent plans. It's a shame he never got it to click properly on the pitch as I still think he goes about things the right way with his team building. 

 

I would make a distinction between "roster building" and "team building".  It's one thing to assemble the right mix of talent -- quite an achievement given what Puel took over and what he left us with -- but another to direct their efforts, get them to gel as a group, and keep them motivated.  You have to do both to get the desired results.

 

To overwork somebody else's metaphor, first the butcher, then the chef.  The butcher turned a mix of gristly cuts and veal calves into prime ingredients.  The new chef has already whipped up a few lovely appetizers while organizing his kitchen.  We will find out next season, if he's going to earn those Michelin stars we all expect.

 

 

[Foxin_Mad]

I think in some ways we have improved with more creativity from more areas, when Mahrez was off form we didn't create.

[Bossman Blessed It]

Mahrez is an outstanding footballer and his contribution to the club will never be forgotten. I can´t help but think back to the Stoke game when he did the elastico through one of their defender´s legs then set up Ulloa for a goal. His final season here was certainly tarnished by a media-fuelled transfer saga; given all that went on I´d say that his contributions were still decent. 

 

I do think that his departure was met with an overall general improvement in our squad, however. Ricardo is easily one of the best right-backs in the league. Barnes is incredibly threatening and direct. Maddison is superb at picking a pass and Chilwell has pushed on even further. Our dependency on one individual player has significantly decreased which makes us far more difficult to play with (as opposed to the 3 players that would surround Mahrez). 

 

The truth remains; a player of Mahrez´s quality would always be welcome within our team, but I think a gifted winger that we´re hopefully in the market for will take us to the next level. 

[Countryfox]

6 minutes ago, KingsX said:

 

 

 ...   first the butcher, then the chef.  The butcher turned a mix of gristly cuts and veal calves into prime ingredients.  The new chef has already whipped up a few lovely appetizers while organizing his kitchen.  We will find out next season, if he's going to earn those Michelin stars we all expect.

 

 

But ...    what if he burns the bernaise sauce ! ...   or his souffle ,,,  flops !!! ...   or !! ...   even worse !! ...   he chops a finger off whilst chopping the asparagus !!! ...    

 

Jeez ...  we'd be in the sh1t then !

 

 

[murphy]

1 hour ago, UPinCarolina said:

Anyone fancy a Chilwell / Mahrez swap?

Rather swap him by sending Nacho back with £35m.

 

 

[murphy]

3 hours ago, AKCJ said:

I absolutely miss him. 

That's fair enough, but we bought in Evans, Ricardo and Maddison for that money with change to spare.  I'd say that is good business.

[Babylon]

15 minutes ago, KingsX said:

 

I would make a distinction between "roster building" and "team building".  It's one thing to assemble the right mix of talent -- quite an achievement given what Puel took over and what he left us with -- but another to direct their efforts, get them to gel as a group, and keep them motivated.  You have to do both to get the desired results.

 

To overwork somebody else's metaphor, first the butcher, then the chef.  The butcher turned a mix of gristly cuts and veal calves into prime ingredients.  The new chef has already whipped up a few lovely appetizers while organizing his kitchen.  We will find out next season, if he's going to earn those Michelin stars we all expect.

 

 

I think me saying it never really clicked on the pitch made that distinction, but I agree. And despite it never doing so a top 10 finish and three quarter finals isn't exactly a terrible result, if the performances were pretty miserable at times. To see people say he's as bad as or worse than Taylor as I have on here and social media properly winds me up. Taylor systematically ripped the team and squad apart, culminating in relegation. For all his faults, I think we're in a better place to push on than we were before he arrived and that's why so many were prepared to give him time. 

[Nicolo Barella]

5 hours ago, murphy said:

Yes.  Why do you think I'm replying to you?  Seems that you haven't read though this thread yourself.  That was aimed at all the people saying bring him back.

 

 

 

Nevermindd, my bad

[Guest Cujek]

I blame Wellens for this.

[Dan LCFC]

Can't agree with those saying they wouldn't have him back. You throw him into this side and we're a seriously dangerous team.

[KingsX]

4 hours ago, Countryfox said:

But ...    what if he burns the bernaise sauce ! ...   or his souffle ,,,  flops !!! ...   or !! ...   even worse !! ...   he chops a finger off whilst chopping the asparagus !!! ...    

Jeez ...  we'd be in the sh1t then !

  Country, I'm shocked you are pining for Claude's haute cuisine.  I think this new chef is more comfortable with an Ulster Fry.  May have picked up recipes for Scouse and Haggis on recent travels.