Gené and Tonic Posted 25 October 2005 Share Posted 25 October 2005 So, 15 games in, and are Leicester the play-off hopefuls we hoped we would be? no. We won against Coventry, whoop de do, they are a poor team, with a poor manager. People forget we have lost to teams like Burnley and Cardiff, among others. These are teams we should be beating. And we shouldn't be classed in the same group as Brighton, Burnley, Derby, Crewe etc. We want to be a good, solid championship side, who can win convincingly against the average teams, and put up a good battle, and compete with the teams like Reading, Leeds, Sheff Utd and Wolves etc. Some of you may think I'm being harsh on Levein, and maybe I am, afterall, it is virtually a new squad, he has had to deal with the mess Adams left the club in, and he's had to half the wage bill as well. He's also worked wonders for the academy, bringing far more players through than many managers have done in the past, in that respect, it stands us in good stead for the future. The squad is going to take time to gel, Levein still needs to work out his best team, find out every players strengths and weaknesses, and learn how to get the best out of each player. The thing that impresses me most about Levein, is that he is willing to look at the way he conducts himself, and the way the team plays on the pitch, and he tries to improve it. This is shown by how much time and effort he put into watching all the city games over the international break, and looking at what needed improving. Unlike Adams, who has one way of working, and sticks with it, even if it is not going well. We beat Watford because of this, but we lost to Burnley. That isn't acceptable, but one of the reasons could be that he didn't have enough time after the Watford game to study Burnley and how they play, and how to break them down. Now that is a good reason for why we didn't beat Burnley, but maybe Levein should have prepared for the Burnley game as well when he was watching the videos, afterall, he knew we had two games in close succession. There is one thing that still gets to me about Leicester though. Cardiff and Watford have had virtually the same number of players in and out as us, yet they are doing much better than us, and both look like very formidable teams, whereas we don't. Dave Jones has done it with Cardiff who are a heap of debt, and Boothroyd has done it on a tight budget as well. Why hasn't this happened with Leicester? Is Levein not as good as these two? He's had more time than both of them that's for sure. In my opinion, no, Levein isn't as good as those two managers. And I would much rather have had them incharge after Adams. But we have Levein, who is willing to improve as a manager, and that can only be good. I have faith that soon, he will maybe begin to turn the team around, we will look very competent, and begin a push for the promotion places. One thing is for sure though, if we don't start moving up the table, and hover in the lower half all season, without a glimmer of consistency and don't start to look like a very competent Championship side, I won't be best pleased. At the moment I do see improvement, but it has to continue, losses to both Cardiff and Preston will put us right back to square one again, and that won't do. Stick by Levein for the moment, he hopefully will improve, and so will the team. But if we finish around where we did last year, it won't make us look as if we are ready to make a serious bid for promotion next season. The most important thing is to keep the nucleus of the squad together for a number of years, and hopefully that includes Levein as well, that's what Sheff Utd have done, the fans were begining to doubt Warnock, but it has all come together now. The squad knows each other, and we've just got to pray that that wll happen to us. The main thing is though, Sheff Utd were still a competent team in those "transition" years, and we are not at the moment, but once again, that is down to how Levein improves himself and the team, and what tactics he decides to use. The fans must get behind the team, and support Levein, give them and him confidence, and they will repay us. Up the Foxes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Posted 25 October 2005 Share Posted 25 October 2005 So, 15 games in, and are Leicester the play-off hopefuls we hoped we would be? no. We won against Coventry, whoop de do, they are a poor team, with a poor manager. People forget we have lost to teams like Burnley and Cardiff, among others. These are teams we should be beating. And we shouldn't be classed in the same group as Brighton, Burnley, Derby, Crewe etc. We want to be a good, solid championship side, who can win convincingly against the average teams, and put up a good battle, and compete with the teams like Reading, Leeds, Sheff Utd and Wolves etc. Some of you may think I'm being harsh on Levein, and maybe I am, afterall, it is virtually a new squad, he has had to deal with the mess Adams left the club in, and he's had to half the wage bill as well. He's also worked wonders for the academy, bringing far more players through than many managers have done in the past, in that respect, it stands us in good stead for the future. The squad is going to take time to gel, Levein still needs to work out his best team, find out every players strengths and weaknesses, and learn how to get the best out of each player. The thing that impresses me most about Levein, is that he is willing to look at the way he conducts himself, and the way the team plays on the pitch, and he tries to improve it. This is shown by how much time and effort he put into watching all the city games over the international break, and looking at what needed improving. We beat Watford because of this, but we lost to Burnley. That isn't acceptable, but one of the reasons could be that he didn't have enough time after the Watford game to study Burnley and how they play, and how to break them down. Now that is a good reason for why we didn't beat Burnley, but maybe Levein should have prepared for the Burnley game as well when he was watching the videos, afterall, he knew we had two games in close succession. There is one thing that still gets to me about Leicester though. Cardiff and Watford have had virtually the same number of players in and out as us, yet they are doing much better than us, and both look like very formidable teams, whereas we don't. Dave Jones has done it with Cardiff who are a heap of debt, and Boothroyd has done it on a tight budget as well. Why hasn't this happened with Leicester? Is Levein not as good as these two? He's had more time than both of them that's for sure. In my opinion, no, Levein isn't as good as those two managers. And I would much rather have had them incharge after Adams. But we have Levein, who is willing to improve as a manager, and that can only be good. I have faith that soon, he will maybe begin to turn the team around, we will look very competent, and begin a push for the promotion places. One thing is for sure though, if we don't start moving up the table, and hover in the lower half all season, without a glimmer of consistency and don't start to look like a very competent Championship side, I won't be best pleased. At the moment I do see improvement, but it has to continue, losses to both Cardiff and Preston will put us right back to square one again, and that won't do. Stick by Levein for the moment, he hopefully will improve, and so will the team. But if we finish around where we did last year, it won't make us look as if we are ready to make a serious bid for promotion next season. The most important thing is to keep the nucleus of the squad together for a number of years, and hopefully that includes Levein as well, that's what Sheff Utd have done, the fans were begining to doubt Warnock, but it has all come together now. The squad knows each other, and we've just got to pray that that wll happen to us. The main thing is though, Sheff Utd were still a competent team in those "transition" years, and we are not at the moment, but once again, that is down to how Levein improves himself and the team, and what tactics he decides to use. The fans must get behind the team, and support Levein, give them and him confidence, and they will repay us. Up the Foxes! Thats a quality post mate, i agree with ya 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted 25 October 2005 Share Posted 25 October 2005 On the issue of Cardiff and Watford... Both Jones and Boothroyd have had far more to build on at their respective clubs than Levein. Cardiff have 11 players who have been with them since at least the 03/04 season (most before that), Watford have 10. We have 3. (expansive stats below if anyone cares) Cardiff Squad: 26 players (3 loan) No. Of Players Who Have Been There 1 Season: 10 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 2 Seasons: 5 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 3 Seasons: 3 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 4 Seasons: 2 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 5 Seasons: 4 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 6 Seasons: 1 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 7 Seasons: 1 Leicester Squad: 26 players (1 loan) No. Of Players Who Have Been There 1 Season: 12 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 2 Seasons: 11 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 3 Seasons: 1 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 4 Seasons: 1 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 5 Seasons: 1 Watford Squad: 31 players (5 loan) No. Of Players Who Have Been There 1 Season: 17 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 2 Seasons: 4 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 3 Seasons: 2 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 4 Seasons: 1 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 5 Seasons: 6 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 6 Seasons: 0 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 7 Seasons: 0 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 8 Seasons: 0 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 9 Seasons: 0 No. Of Players Who Have Been There 10 Seasons: 1 (for arguments sake 2005/2006 has been counted as a season, so players who have arrived in the summer have been added to the 1 season tally) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Doyle Posted 26 October 2005 Share Posted 26 October 2005 Hey LCFC_826! Dident LCFC beat Bothroyds Watford for thier first away win of the season a few weeks ago (a win that was largly credited to CL management and coaching tactics). Burnley was dissapointing followed up with an excellent home win against Coventry. I take to positives out of this. One we have started to win away from home and two we have won at home pretty soon after. This is an improvement and should we get a result on saturday it would mean Three wins out of four. Thats not bad considering we are a developing team. Of course if we dont get a result on Saturday I have no doubt people will be calling for blood either players or the manager but I for one am in this for the long run. (Remember what City fans did to MON? Lets not do it again) COME ON YOU FOXES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gené and Tonic Posted 26 October 2005 Author Share Posted 26 October 2005 Good work Louise, but Cardiff have also had players such as Gabbidon, Peter Thorne, McAnuff and Colins leave, which is more more of a blow to them than Connolly leaving was to us. But I also agree that they had players coming through all the time like Jerome and others, whereas we didn't. It is only now that they are being brought through. Watford, most of their first team is new, King, Henderson, McKaay, Foster, Stewart, Spring, Sites and a few more. I think Watford are most like us in terms of rebuilding, it's good that we beat them, but I'm sure many teams at the moment would fear them more than us, and that has to change, which I'm sure it will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lester LXXIV Posted 26 October 2005 Share Posted 26 October 2005 So, 15 games in, and are Leicester the play-off hopefuls we hoped we would be? no. We won against Coventry, whoop de do, they are a poor team, with a poor manager. People forget we have lost to teams like Burnley and Cardiff, among others. These are teams we should be beating. And we shouldn't be classed in the same group as Brighton, Burnley, Derby, Crewe etc. We want to be a good, solid championship side, who can win convincingly against the average teams, and put up a good battle, and compete with the teams like Reading, Leeds, Sheff Utd and Wolves etc. Some of you may think I'm being harsh on Levein, and maybe I am, afterall, it is virtually a new squad, he has had to deal with the mess Adams left the club in, and he's had to half the wage bill as well. He's also worked wonders for the academy, bringing far more players through than many managers have done in the past, in that respect, it stands us in good stead for the future. The squad is going to take time to gel, Levein still needs to work out his best team, find out every players strengths and weaknesses, and learn how to get the best out of each player. The thing that impresses me most about Levein, is that he is willing to look at the way he conducts himself, and the way the team plays on the pitch, and he tries to improve it. This is shown by how much time and effort he put into watching all the city games over the international break, and looking at what needed improving. Unlike Adams, who has one way of working, and sticks with it, even if it is not going well. We beat Watford because of this, but we lost to Burnley. That isn't acceptable, but one of the reasons could be that he didn't have enough time after the Watford game to study Burnley and how they play, and how to break them down. Now that is a good reason for why we didn't beat Burnley, but maybe Levein should have prepared for the Burnley game as well when he was watching the videos, afterall, he knew we had two games in close succession. There is one thing that still gets to me about Leicester though. Cardiff and Watford have had virtually the same number of players in and out as us, yet they are doing much better than us, and both look like very formidable teams, whereas we don't. Dave Jones has done it with Cardiff who are a heap of debt, and Boothroyd has done it on a tight budget as well. Why hasn't this happened with Leicester? Is Levein not as good as these two? He's had more time than both of them that's for sure. In my opinion, no, Levein isn't as good as those two managers. And I would much rather have had them incharge after Adams. But we have Levein, who is willing to improve as a manager, and that can only be good. I have faith that soon, he will maybe begin to turn the team around, we will look very competent, and begin a push for the promotion places. One thing is for sure though, if we don't start moving up the table, and hover in the lower half all season, without a glimmer of consistency and don't start to look like a very competent Championship side, I won't be best pleased. At the moment I do see improvement, but it has to continue, losses to both Cardiff and Preston will put us right back to square one again, and that won't do. Stick by Levein for the moment, he hopefully will improve, and so will the team. But if we finish around where we did last year, it won't make us look as if we are ready to make a serious bid for promotion next season. The most important thing is to keep the nucleus of the squad together for a number of years, and hopefully that includes Levein as well, that's what Sheff Utd have done, the fans were begining to doubt Warnock, but it has all come together now. The squad knows each other, and we've just got to pray that that wll happen to us. The main thing is though, Sheff Utd were still a competent team in those "transition" years, and we are not at the moment, but once again, that is down to how Levein improves himself and the team, and what tactics he decides to use. The fans must get behind the team, and support Levein, give them and him confidence, and they will repay us. Up the Foxes! No matter how much planning you put in before a game, breaking down a 4-5-1 is gonna be difficult to do as Wolves found out when we played at their place. I feel that this voids the argument of Levein lacking in tactical ability in this instance, though I was very disappointed at the time also! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babylon Posted 26 October 2005 Share Posted 26 October 2005 Lets see where watford are at the end of the season shall we, i'd be willing to bet they are below us come the last game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Flair Posted 26 October 2005 Share Posted 26 October 2005 Lets see where watford are at the end of the season shall we, i'd be willing to bet they are below us come the last game. I agree, but this league is full of surprises. I had Watford down as relegation material, I suppose it could still happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gené and Tonic Posted 26 October 2005 Author Share Posted 26 October 2005 They do have some good strikers though. Ashley Young looks like a gem, Marlon King is reborn, don't know whether that's because he is looking for a contract there and is raising his game or what. Watford do have much less cover than us though, and that may well affect them in the long run, but if I were a championship team at ths moment in time, I'd fear them more than us. If we finish the season the way they have started it, then that will be improvement, but hopefully we are looking to better that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr The Singh Posted 26 October 2005 Share Posted 26 October 2005 I think watford have gelled as a team, where as CL is still trying to find his best 11 and there best positions. We definitely have a better squad and if CL can get his team\mixture right, who know's we could reach the hieghts at which watford are now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gené and Tonic Posted 26 October 2005 Author Share Posted 26 October 2005 Ok, we beat Cardiff, I now think that Levein is starting to turn things around, and we will move up the table. However, poor results against the next few teams will leave us back to square one, as I said in my first post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIRFOOT Posted 27 October 2005 Share Posted 27 October 2005 hard run coming up. two away games at preston and plymouth, then home to southampton. also got leeds and sheffield united coming up too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thracian Posted 27 October 2005 Share Posted 27 October 2005 This team should have no more fear of those than anyone else. But the Preston game is the only one that matters for the moment. Concentration needs to be focused rather than spread at random like flu bugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davieG Posted 27 October 2005 Share Posted 27 October 2005 hard run coming up. two away games at preston and plymouth, then home to southampton. also got leeds and sheffield united coming up too. We need to go right at Preston, they're there for the taking, not won at home this season, so nothing to fear except fear itself. This is not an away game we should go into in a defensive frame of mind. 4-3-3 Get into em!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted 28 October 2005 Share Posted 28 October 2005 We need to go right at Preston, they're there for the taking, not won at home this season, so nothing to fear except fear itself. This is not an away game we should go into in a defensive frame of mind. 4-3-3 Get into em!!! You've changed your name. 4-3-3 with Tiatto in the middle, yes please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davieG Posted 28 October 2005 Share Posted 28 October 2005 You've changed your name. 4-3-3 with Tiatto in the middle, yes please. I hadn't noticed Mr C must have done it. Nice one Mr C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NFFC Chris Posted 28 October 2005 Share Posted 28 October 2005 I think Leicester and Levein's luck is changing now,it will be proved if you win at Preston tommorow.I;m banking on Leicester getting so they go on a winning run now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thracian Posted 28 October 2005 Share Posted 28 October 2005 I think Leicester and Levein's luck is changing now,it will be proved if you win at Preston tommorow.I;m banking on Leicester getting so they go on a winning run now! Luck may play some part but mainly the players have got to know each other, new options have arrived, confidence has started to improve and just about everyone is fit. But, never bank on anything in football. If we want to keep winning we'll have to keep working hard, attending to detail and making the right decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gené and Tonic Posted 28 October 2005 Author Share Posted 28 October 2005 Your right, the team will have the confidence for the Preston game, giving us a bit of an advantage, but Preston haven't won at home all season, so I imagine Billy Davies will really be gunning for a result. I really hope for Levein's sake we win, Preston is a team we want to beat if we are to get anywhere near the play-offs this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted 28 October 2005 Share Posted 28 October 2005 This team should have no more fear of those than anyone else. But the Preston game is the only one that matters for the moment. Concentration needs to be focused rather than spread at random like flu bugs. One game at a time, one kick at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thracian Posted 28 October 2005 Share Posted 28 October 2005 Your right, the team will have the confidence for the Preston game, giving us a bit of an advantage, but Preston haven't won at home all season, so I imagine Billy Davies will really be gunning for a result. I really hope for Levein's sake we win, Preston is a team we want to beat if we are to get anywhere near the play-offs this season. I think much depends on Levein's approach to this game but Gold-Smith holds the key. Preston's manager will have been hoping for weeks that "this will be it" and his signing this week of a forward marks another attempt to change his luck. But the problem for them will be that, even if they go ahead, they will be desperate to stay ahead and very reluctant to over-expose themselves. Levein should take advantage of this. Retain a strong defensive unit with McCarthy doing another man for man mission if necessary but play all his strikers, two attack-minded full-backs and get the ball to Hume and Smith as quickly as possible. The full-backs will be vital because Preston are likely to swamp midfield. With Hughes injured Joey and Tiatto can win the ball and use our three man attack (two plus Hume) with Gold-Smith in a free role to cause havoc. Anything less than two ball winners (in the absence of Hughes) will make it too easy for a reinforced Preston midfield to search out their strikers. In essence, for us then, a fluid 3-5-2/4-3-3 formation with the full-backs working on a pivot to help provide width and an accurate supply of passes to the danger areas and Smith and Hume alternately making an extra man in the front three. With the speed of this assault Preston will be forced to deploy out of midfield to provide extra devensive cover, therefore inevitably reducing the opportunities for their own strikers. If we go out to score three that should be enough to win given our defensive organisation. It makes sense as well to vary our team and tactics from Cardiff. Clubs all send assessors to matches involving their next opponents and a different (more attacking) approach will almost certainly put Preston on the wrong foot to begin with. Take the initiative, Craig and keep one step ahead of the Preston thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gené and Tonic Posted 29 October 2005 Author Share Posted 29 October 2005 I don't really feel he took the initiative. Now, this would have been taking the initiative ----------------------Douglas---------------------- --------Gerrbrand-McCarthy-Johansson-------- -Sylla-----Gudjonsson-Williams-----Smith----- ---------Hammond--De Vries--Hume---------- Now that team would have ripped them apart. Having got ahead, we could have switched to 3-5-2 with Sylla operating as a wing-back, and Smith gven instructions not to go forward as much as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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