Football365: Leicester are one fine summer from a Champions League squad

[Claridge]

I love the optimism about our top 6 squad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vardy injured first game and we are relegation fodder .?

[knitro]

Curious if anyone's moved camps on this question following our transfers. 

[Corky]

No, still think it's going to take a lot to reach the top four. I do have concerns that the hype is going to stifle us, we need time to breathe and get settled. 

[adam95581]

On 22/05/2019 at 22:00, ealingfox said:

Absolutely no chance of us getting top 6, let alone 4th. Don't do this to yourselves.

Thoughts now?

[TheSomersetFox]

Get a proper winger in and I think top 6 is doable. That is if Arsenal and United go on and have shite windows though. Really not a fan of all the hype that’s surrounding us at the minute , building up to a blatant defeat against Wolves

[Fox1970]

First priority is to ensure that we're in no danger of relegation this season.

[The Year Of The Fox]

The last time I started believing press hype and taking notice of what other clubs fans thought of us in a pre season was 2011. Look how well that season went ?

[CosbehFox]

11 hours ago, knitro said:

Curious if anyone's moved camps on this question following our transfers. 

No, we are still short of depth. 

To have a good season we need a winger to chip in with 10 plus goals and avoid injuries to our first choice eleven 

[Mythyaar]

United are in a mess. Arsenal's away form is relegation material and the loss of Ramsay has weakened them, can't see even the potential addition of Zaha strengthening them too much. Chelsea: new inexperienced manager and transfer embargo, certainly look vulnerable. And even Spurs are not nailed on for top 4 or even 6. Last season's trials and tribulations will have taken their toll. Kane could easily get injured long term again.

 

It's not beyond the realms of possibility that we get 6th. I've put my money where my mouth is and backed them at 5s and 6s to make the top 6 as that represents fair value to me. And a small interest at 20s that we get 4th (for a giggle).

 

Everton and Wolves will also be fancying their chances. I'd say one of Wolves, Leicester and Everton will break into the top 6 this season.

[ealingfox]

14 hours ago, adam95581 said:

Thoughts now?

 

Unchanged.

[Guest Col city fan]

On 09/07/2019 at 21:20, Corky said:

No, still think it's going to take a lot to reach the top four. I do have concerns that the hype is going to stifle us, we need time to breathe and get settled. 

Spot on

[filbertway]

So far we've not improved our first 11 from the end of last season. We've not really improved our squad a great deal. Perez is basically an Okazaki replacement, whether he's any more use remains to be seen. At least he looks like he can put away a chance. Justin looks promising and hopefully proves to be good cover for Chilly and Ricardo this season.

 

If we have top 6 aspirations though we really need to add more to the squad as we're very weak beneath the starting 11. Or we manage to avoid any lengthy injuries like the 15/16 season. 

 

Would love to see us bring in McGregor from Celtic and a top class attacking player. Keeper and Defence I think we have top 6 depth, midfield and attack we certainly don't have that.

[FireFox]

Are people confident in any one of ManU, Chelsea, or Arsenal to finish in the top 4? I do think one of them will take it, but I have no idea which and see weaknesses in all of them. 

  

So far, we have had a "fine summer", but unless we have an injury free season and Barnes (or Gray) can deliver as a top attacking player, then I'm not confident in us either to take top 4.

[ScouseFox]

i keep assuming the “hype” is as much, if not more, to do with how fu cking awful united, chelsea and arsenal have the potential to be, rather than how amazing we are going to be? 

 

tbf weren’t we like top 4 form since rogers came in, and that was with a tough run in. 

 

i’ll be disappointed if we don’t finish 7th this season tbh, but wouldn’t exactly say i was massively hopeful or expectant of top 6. no matter how bad the “big 6” are, enough teams go to OT or the emirates and just plan to lose that they can scrape enough points to still put distance between them and the rest. 

[yorkie1999]

11 hours ago, filbertway said:

So far we've not improved our first 11 from the end of last season. We've not really improved our squad a great deal. Perez is basically an Okazaki replacement, whether he's any more use remains to be seen. At least he looks like he can put away a chance. Justin looks promising and hopefully proves to be good cover for Chilly and Ricardo this season.

 

If we have top 6 aspirations though we really need to add more to the squad as we're very weak beneath the starting 11. Or we manage to avoid any lengthy injuries like the 15/16 season. 

 

Would love to see us bring in McGregor from Celtic and a top class attacking player. Keeper and Defence I think we have top 6 depth, midfield and attack we certainly don't have that.

The key to doing well is not losing, we saw that in 15/16 where we lost 3 games all season

[Bluetintedspecs]

21 hours ago, filbertway said:

So far we've not improved our first 11 from the end of last season. We've not really improved our squad a great deal. Perez is basically an Okazaki replacement, whether he's any more use remains to be seen. At least he looks like he can put away a chance. Justin looks promising and hopefully proves to be good cover for Chilly and Ricardo this season.

 

If we have top 6 aspirations though we really need to add more to the squad as we're very weak beneath the starting 11. Or we manage to avoid any lengthy injuries like the 15/16 season. 

 

Would love to see us bring in McGregor from Celtic and a top class attacking player. Keeper and Defence I think we have top 6 depth, midfield and attack we certainly don't have that.

Like you say time will tell, I do think Perez will turn out to be a significant improvement on Shinji/Gray though, he scores goals for starters. Also a full season of Youri with Rodgers, training methods, style and man management will equate to a significant improvement in points tally imo.

[Wolfox]

On 09/07/2019 at 22:39, Fox1970 said:

First priority is to ensure that we're in no danger of relegation this season.

Dare to dream 

[CosbehFox]

23 hours ago, filbertway said:

So far we've not improved our first 11 from the end of last season. We've not really improved our squad a great deal. Perez is basically an Okazaki replacement, whether he's any more use remains to be seen. At least he looks like he can put away a chance. Justin looks promising and hopefully proves to be good cover for Chilly and Ricardo this season.

 

If we have top 6 aspirations though we really need to add more to the squad as we're very weak beneath the starting 11. Or we manage to avoid any lengthy injuries like the 15/16 season. 

 

Would love to see us bring in McGregor from Celtic and a top class attacking player. Keeper and Defence I think we have top 6 depth, midfield and attack we certainly don't have that.

Very true but if we take Rodgers time as manager with this squad, we were 4th in the league and that includes fixtures against three of the big six. 

[bfox]

13 hours ago, yorkie1999 said:

The key to doing well is not losing, we saw that in 15/16 where we lost 3 games all season

38 draws could put us in a tricky situation indeed 

[les-tah]

As it stands the only players from last season that couldn’t get into a top 6 starting 11 is our wingers. I think Brendan will get this right and do big things this season. Fingers crossed.

 

Kasper -top 6

ricardo - top 6

evans - top 6

maguire - top 6

chilwell - top 6

ndidi - top 6

tielemens - top 6

maddison - top 6

barnes - doesn’t make top 6 side 11.

gray - doesn’t make top 6 11.

vardy - top 6

 

 

[Finnegan]

If we go all out and sign a goalscoring wide forward of Pepe caliber to finish our spending then I can definitely see us doing top six, even four. It's not being delusional about our quality, it's about how shit everyone else is. It's not being over stated how bad they are, they really are. 

 

Arsenal have a literal bottom half defence and their captain has downed tools, they have a mid-table midfield and their best CM just left on a free. Their most creative playmaker's career is so finished he's linked to an Istanbul club that average about 200 fans. Then the best part is, despite one of the wealthiest owners in sport, they refuse to spend more than 40m which means they're haggling with what they found between the sofa cushions for more mid table talent like Zaha. They will be no stronger by August. 

 

Chelsea are the opposite of Arsenal. While Arsenal's only quality is two good strikers, Chelsea have a tidy defence (incl. Ngolo) and a completely non existent attack. They don't have a single quality striker at the club and their creative options are literally less than Norwich and Villa. Ironically, there's more to spend but they aren't allowed and while Arsenal have a manager with stacks of experience, Chelsea... well, don't. 

 

Then there's United. 

 

I mean. What the ****. I like to read the SIGames forums sometimes and I'm always mystified by some kid asking for advice because he's playing as Manchester United on Football Manager and he's getting relegated. I always think, **** me, you can sign anyone you want, play however you want, the game is loaded in your favour and you're still ****ing it up? This game just isn't for you. 

 

Ed Woodward? I don't think this game is for you. 

 

They have about a billion pounds worth of the playing assets and a back four that probably wouldn't be the best in the Championship playing in front of the world's best keeper. Guys they got rid of years ago like Evans, Welbeck and Drinkwater would walk straight back in to the team but they somehow decided to keep Smalling, Pereira and Jones instead. 

 

And their reinforcements? Near seventy million has gone already, pinning their hopes on two twenty one year olds that have one breakthrough season each on their cards and they want to back that up with a £90m centre half despite no world class quality in either goal creation nor execution beyond a £100m dosser who'll score the odd screamer than sulk for six weeks and who publicly just asked to leave. 

 

Honestly, if you don't believe that one of Leicester, Wolves or Everton at very least have a "credible" chance of qualifying for the Champions League in 4th then you've lost your marbles.

 

And why not? It happens in other countries. Leipzig broke in to the top four in Germany by building very, very similarly to us while old giants like Schalke, Hamburg, Gladbach, Bremen have had their time and faded away. 

 

Villareal came from obscurity a decade ago to regularly compete for fourth while old European hopefuls like Zaragoza, Depor and Betis have declined. 

 

AC Milan are a mid table shambles that are only slowly recovering and Fiorentina faced relegation this year while scruffy little Atalanta have got their just reward for years of steady progress and sensible running.

 

Dynasties come and go in football all the time. Look at Leeds, most of our parents would never have believed growing up that Leeds would be an irrelevant lower league side in 2019 just as they'd never have believed Tottenham would be Champions League finalists. Things happen slowly so you come to not notice but even through most of my life Tottenham were irrelevant until Bale. 

 

The football landscape is changing. Institutions like Arsenal clearly aren't very well adapted to change with it, Leicester and Wolves are showing they are. I'm optimistic. 

[Lambert09]

3 hours ago, les-tah said:

As it stands the only players from last season that couldn’t get into a top 6 starting 11 is our wingers. I think Brendan will get this right and do big things this season. Fingers crossed.

 

Kasper -top 6

ricardo - top 6

evans - top 6

maguire - top 6

chilwell - top 6

ndidi - top 6

tielemens - top 6

maddison - top 6

barnes - doesn’t make top 6 side 11.

gray - doesn’t make top 6 11.

vardy - top 6

 

 

On paper this sounds great and you cant argue many of them.  However, the difference is probably that they would make the team, but might not be star players.  To break the top 6 we really need some players to consistently shine, we also cant be relying solely on Vardy. We have so much potential to do it, but it would take significant improvement from most of the squad. 

 

We have to consider that we arent the only team eyeing this prize, both Wolves and Everton will think they have a similar shot and I wouldnt argue that

[les-tah]

57 minutes ago, Lambert09 said:

On paper this sounds great and you cant argue many of them.  However, the difference is probably that they would make the team, but might not be star players.  To break the top 6 we really need some players to consistently shine, we also cant be relying solely on Vardy. We have so much potential to do it, but it would take significant improvement from most of the squad. 

 

We have to consider that we arent the only team eyeing this prize, both Wolves and Everton will think they have a similar shot and I wouldnt argue that

Yeah 100% agree we still the superstar like Mahrez was but hoping the likes of Maddison push on and star this year like you say!! 

[knitro]

5 hours ago, Finnegan said:

If we go all out and sign a goalscoring wide forward of Pepe caliber to finish our spending then I can definitely see us doing top six, even four. It's not being delusional about our quality, it's about how shit everyone else is. It's not being over stated how bad they are, they really are. 

 

Arsenal have a literal bottom half defence and their captain has downed tools, they have a mid-table midfield and their best CM just left on a free. Their most creative playmaker's career is so finished he's linked to an Istanbul club that average about 200 fans. Then the best part is, despite one of the wealthiest owners in sport, they refuse to spend more than 40m which means they're haggling with what they found between the sofa cushions for more mid table talent like Zaha. They will be no stronger by August. 

 

Chelsea are the opposite of Arsenal. While Arsenal's only quality is two good strikers, Chelsea have a tidy defence (incl. Ngolo) and a completely non existent attack. They don't have a single quality striker at the club and their creative options are literally less than Norwich and Villa. Ironically, there's more to spend but they aren't allowed and while Arsenal have a manager with stacks of experience, Chelsea... well, don't. 

 

Then there's United. 

 

I mean. What the ****. I like to read the SIGames forums sometimes and I'm always mystified by some kid asking for advice because he's playing as Manchester United on Football Manager and he's getting relegated. I always think, **** me, you can sign anyone you want, play however you want, the game is loaded in your favour and you're still ****ing it up? This game just isn't for you. 

 

Ed Woodward? I don't think this game is for you. 

 

They have about a billion pounds worth of the playing assets and a back four that probably wouldn't be the best in the Championship playing in front of the world's best keeper. Guys they got rid of years ago like Evans, Welbeck and Drinkwater would walk straight back in to the team but they somehow decided to keep Smalling, Pereira and Jones instead. 

 

And their reinforcements? Near seventy million has gone already, pinning their hopes on two twenty one year olds that have one breakthrough season each on their cards and they want to back that up with a £90m centre half despite no world class quality in either goal creation nor execution beyond a £100m dosser who'll score the odd screamer than sulk for six weeks and who publicly just asked to leave. 

 

Honestly, if you don't believe that one of Leicester, Wolves or Everton at very least have a "credible" chance of qualifying for the Champions League in 4th then you've lost your marbles.

 

And why not? It happens in other countries. Leipzig broke in to the top four in Germany by building very, very similarly to us while old giants like Schalke, Hamburg, Gladbach, Bremen have had their time and faded away. 

 

Villareal came from obscurity a decade ago to regularly compete for fourth while old European hopefuls like Zaragoza, Depor and Betis have declined. 

 

AC Milan are a mid table shambles that are only slowly recovering and Fiorentina faced relegation this year while scruffy little Atalanta have got their just reward for years of steady progress and sensible running.

 

Dynasties come and go in football all the time. Look at Leeds, most of our parents would never have believed growing up that Leeds would be an irrelevant lower league side in 2019 just as they'd never have believed Tottenham would be Champions League finalists. Things happen slowly so you come to not notice but even through most of my life Tottenham were irrelevant until Bale. 

 

The football landscape is changing. Institutions like Arsenal clearly aren't very well adapted to change with it, Leicester and Wolves are showing they are. I'm optimistic. 

This was a great post and really mirrors my thoughts as well - nothing's set in stone. Building proper foundation (which we are definitely doing) IS the path to greater success and it's hard to think we're putting many feet wrong in that effort, whereas the traditional top clubs are in all sorts of disarray and lack the quality to win despite all that other BS. 

[Lestoh]

On 09/07/2019 at 22:59, The Year Of The Fox said:

The last time I started believing press hype and taking notice of what other clubs fans thought of us in a pre season was 2011. Look how well that season went ?

Was that when Lloyd Dyer scored in our 2-1 loss to Real Madrid and we were convinced Sven was about to lead us to the Champions League?