Demarai Gray

[Ashley]

2 hours ago, South Shire Fox said:

Id say theyve both been as inconsistent as each other the whole time theyve been here tbh. I think Demarai should leave at the end of the season for the good of his career but i dont understand some of our fans hatred for him. Then again ive seen the way they treat a club legend in Riyad Mahrez for a misinterpreted quote and booed Kante first game he returned with Chelsea so not really surprised. 

Kel was always good for me. 

 

I've posted this on here I dont know how many times but if you think back to the BMG friendly we was 1-0 down. Bought on Kel and we looked dangerous as soon as he came on with him, Mahrez and Vardy all linking up. We went 2-1 up within 5 minutes of this happening 10/15 minutes later he broke his big toe? Then later got another injury later in the Season. Then the loss of confidence came and thats where it all goes down hill. Brendan has finally got the confidence back in him and we are seeing the original player we signed.

 

I've wanted Demi to do well here and like I said in my earlier post he has shown signs of brilliance and then on the other hand he has done some silly silly things. I wish the man well should he move on and it does look likely he will do. 

 

But you're spot on regarding the Mahrez thing, never heard boos for Kante though?

[Webbo]

9 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

Kante rightly booed for leaving a club at its highest point, with champions league, for a side that finished mid table but offered more £. 
 

Mahrez, again, rightly booed. There’s no misinterpretation for saying he wasted 2 years of his career at Leicester. How else do you want it dressed up? 

Kante left to live in London, play for a team that was likely to be in the champions league and challenging for honours more often than us and yes more money, what's wrong with that.?

He played for a year for us, he'd probably never heard of Leicester before he signed for us. You can't expect undying devotion. 

[sacreblueits442]

10 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

Kante rightly booed for leaving a club at its highest point, with champions league, for a side that finished mid table but offered more £. 
 

Mahrez, again, rightly booed. There’s no misinterpretation for saying he wasted 2 years of his career at Leicester. How else do you want it dressed up? 

..we keep bringing this up!!!

Prior to coming here, Kante had never heard of Leicester City Football Club. He was holding out for an offer from another French team which did not materialize so our offer was the only one on the table.

 He had no allegiance to our club and Chelsea were a club who had played in the Champions League on a consistent basis. I suspect it's not the Pound notes that attracted him although that would have been a bonus.

 Just for clarification, from what you have read and seen with your two eyes do you really believe he is all about money?

[Oswinner]

I’ve got mixed feelings on Kanté. I don’t boo him but understand people that do. He left a team that won the league and would be competing in the champs league to join a team that finished mid-table. Really should have given us another season and then left but oh well.

 

Riyad is just silly. If he really wanted out after we won the league then he shouldn’t have signed that new contract - but I guess he wanted the pay rise. I understand people that boo him also.

[sacreblueits442]

24 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

Well of course he’s only about the money otherwise he wouldn’t have gone to Chelsea! 
 

He had the pick of any team in the world at that point, but the one that offered him the most money he went to... 

 

..how do you know that!!!!

I suspect if that was the case he would have gone to Real or Barca. They also have the Pound notes so why did he not choose either of these stellar clubs.

  To boo Kante must have been cringe worthy for his ex-team mates and a sad reflection of the lack of respect and any sort of understanding by our fans.

 

Edited 29 April 2020 by sacreblueits442
correction.

[brucey]

24 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

Well of course he’s only about the money otherwise he wouldn’t have gone to Chelsea! 
 

He had the pick of any team in the world at that point, but the one that offered him the most money he went to... 

 

 

I won't remember him fondly for jumping ship the first chance he could, but Kante was a childhood Chelsea fan.

[sacreblueits442]

Just now, brucey said:

 

I won't remember him fondly for jumping ship the first chance he could, but Kante was a childhood Chelsea fan.

..source!!!

[brucey]

1 hour ago, sacreblueits442 said:

..source!!!

Shortly after he left for them, he was quoted saying he grew up watching Chelsea and idolising some of their players. Might have been Makelele or Diarra. Can't be arsed to find it now. Unless he was just saying it to appease their fans like Maguire did. 

[sdb]

How could anyone ever boo Kante? Even if he didn't win the Premier League in his one season here, he's a total babe.

 

People who boo Kante are missing something happy in their life (aside from N'golo)

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

There is almost nothing any of the title winning squad could do to make me fall out of love with them never mind boo them. Madness. 

[1972 Fox]

Is this the Demarai Gray thread?

[Fox42]

4 minutes ago, Blue Fox 72 said:

Is this the Demarai Gray thread?

Even in his own thread he’s absent 

[Father Ted]

Gray + £20 million for Schlupp, get it done Brenda

[South Shire Fox]

On 29/04/2020 at 10:23, pmcla26 said:

Kante rightly booed for leaving a club at its highest point, with champions league, for a side that finished mid table but offered more £. 
 

Mahrez, again, rightly booed. There’s no misinterpretation for saying he wasted 2 years of his career at Leicester. How else do you want it dressed up? 

Missing the part where Kante and Chelsea went on to win the league that season while we were fighting relegation for most of it. He’d won the title with us, there was literally nothing more he could of achieved at us and was always destined to go to a bigger more prestigious club unfortunatley. Way i see it is we are lucky to have had someone as good as him even for one season. Him and any other player from that team should get a standing ovation anytime they return to the KP for what they did. Some people really are so bitter its unbelievable.

Edited 30 April 2020 by South Shire Fox

[foxile5]

20 minutes ago, South Shire Fox said:

Missing the part where Kante and Chelsea went on to win the league that season while we were fighting relegation for most of it. He’d won the title with us, there was literally nothing more he could of achieved at us and was always destined to go to a bigger more prestigious club unfortunatley. Way i see it is we are lucky to have had someone as good as him even for one season. Him and any other player from that team should get a standing ovation anytime they return to the KP for what they did. Some people really are so bitter its unbelievable.

There wasn't 'literally nothing' he could achieve. He literally could've helped us into our first champions league campaign which would've been his first too.  He literally couldn't have achieved that and could've have done that with Chelsea that year. 

Edited 30 April 2020 by foxile5

[foxile5]

3 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

100% right. This is what pisses me off, when people just act like that title winning team was shit and couldn’t have gone on to do anything else. Kante left at our highest point and a low one for Chelsea for money, it’s fine people saying they went on to win the league but he didn’t know they would! He knew he had Champions League football at Leicester though and not at Chelsea, that was the only guarantee for 16/17.

Yeah people struggle with cognitive dissonance. 

 

He was our finest player in our midfield but he left for a team with no guarantee of success. He won the league with them, well played, but there was no iron clad guarantee of that. If he was 'humble' like some made out then the money and prestige of Chelsea wouldn't have been so irresistible. He had money and prestige with us. 

 

Wasted talent in many ways. He should've been at a bigger club for the better years of his career

 

[Toddybad]

On 29/04/2020 at 10:23, pmcla26 said:

Kante rightly booed for leaving a club at its highest point, with champions league, for a side that finished mid table but offered more £. 
 

Mahrez, again, rightly booed. There’s no misinterpretation for saying he wasted 2 years of his career at Leicester. How else do you want it dressed up? 

Kante left for a bigger club where he won the title again, became a cog in the French team that won the world cup and is quite likely to end up at Madrid.

 

Mahrez, and I think many people need to hear this, did waste 2 years of his career at Leicester. He stayed for the Champions League campaign and it's pretty clear we promised him an exit at that point, then we tried to keep him here despite the fact we'd become a mid table team going nowhere under puel. Whilst he did have an unprofessional paddy mid season, he still came back to be our best player by a mile (as we weren't playing to the strengths of vardy). 

Edited 30 April 2020 by Toddybad

[ealingfox]

10 minutes ago, Toddybad said:

Kante left for a bigger club where he won the title again, became a cog in the French team that won the world cup and is quite likely to end up at Madrid.

 

Mahrez, and I think many people need to hear this, did waste 2 years of his career at Leicester. He stayed for the Champions League campaign and it's pretty clear we promised him an exit at that point, then we tried to keep him here despite the fact we'd become a mid table team going nowhere under puel. Whilst he did have an unprofessional paddy mid season, he still came back to be our best player by a mile (as we weren't playing to the strengths of vardy). 

 

He wasted 1 year at best. Playing in the Champions League with us was not a waste of his career even if the awful league season was a waste of his time. Allegedly nobody came in for him in the summer if 2016 anyway.

Edited 30 April 2020 by ealingfox

[inckley fox]

7 minutes ago, Toddybad said:

Kante left for a bigger club where he won the title again, became a cog in the French team that won the world cup and is quite likely to end up at Madrid.

 

Mahrez, and I think many people need to hear this, did waste 2 years of his career at Leicester. He stayed for the Champions League campaign and it's pretty clear we promised him an exit at that point, then we tried to keep him here despite the fact we'd become a mid table team going nowhere under puel. Whilst he did have an unprofessional paddy mid season, he still came back to be our best player by a mile (as we weren't playing to the strengths of vardy). 

I'm really not sure Mahrez was our best player by a mile at the end of that season. On occasions, yes, but a look at the player ratings threads from that period tells us that it wasn't a clear-cut or consistent thing. And there's little doubt that the problems connected with him played a major part in derailing our season, just as his dreadful form the previous season (as one of many factors, including poor investment, the ageing of the squad, the disorientation caused by having won the league, Ranieri's erratic decision-making, the loss of Kante, the way sides set up to nullify us and the loss of form of Vardy) played a major part in us not doing a great deal better in the league. So, yes, maybe he wasted that time, but he needs to look at the part he played in making it a waste of time.

 

It's impossible to know what agreements had and hadn't occurred. A player who wanted to leave said he'd been made assurances, but the detail has never been clear and we only ever heard one side of the story. What's certain is that he had a contract and at one point he wasn't respecting it, though in the wider context of his achievements - and given the uncertainty over what had and hadn't been said - I wouldn't hold it against him too much. But a contract, regardless of verbal promises. has to be respected more than he respected it. Most of us on this forum will have had personal experiences where we had to respect a contractual agreement despite verbal promises being broken in the meantime, and I don't see why we should sympathise with Mahrez having been in the same situation, but having the profile and the wealth to be able not to honour his obligations. Many other players have just got on with it in the same circumstances.

 

As for Gray, he spent too much time complaining about his lack of game-time and not enough working on his own game. I don't know whether the rumours about him being problematic under Ranieri were true, but I do know that his agent was having meetings with the club about his lack of game time under Shakespeare, and that these conversations contributed to a feeling in the club that a new manager could do more with our younger players. So you could argue that his demand for game-time, not to mention the unsettling impact of his frequent social media gripes, served to undermine CS. The upshot of it all became clear under Puel when he finally got the game-time and failed to make the most of it. So, much like the Mahrez situation, he'd have to look at himself if (and it's a big if, of course) he's unhappy about the past few seasons. When you consider where he came from, and the fee, you'd hope that he'd be positive about a move which gave him a title winner's medal within 6 months, CL football, and 100+ matches (in which, for the most part, it's generally agreed that he under-performed) for a mid-table-to-top-half EPL side.

[Toddybad]

27 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

 

He wasted 1 year at best. Playing in the Champions League with us was not a waste of his career even if the awful league season was a waste of his time. Allegedly nobody came in for him in the summer if 2016 anyway.

Ok, there's an argument to be had about 1/2 years dependent on what offers he had, but my point really was that I don't think it's unfair for him to feel he wasted part of his career. 

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, pmcla26 said:

It’s not missing that part out though, yes he’s won the league at Chelsea and a Europa League as well - but after that title winning season he shown himself as the best defensive midfielder of his generation. He could’ve gone to Juventus, Real, Barca... a club with prestige, not Chelsea, and cemented himself as a legend within the game. He’s not even been Chelsea’s best midfielder this season, the point I’m trying to make from the beginning in booing him is as his greed in summer 2016 has led to his career being quite underwhelming for what it could’ve and should’ve been. 
 

You can call it bitterness or maybe it’s just not respecting a decision that was made as he should’ve been so much more? I wouldn’t have cared if he’d gone to one of the aforementioned teams that summer, would’ve been quite nice for a Leicester player to go on to be a superstar but he’s not really done it since 2017 has he?

...so what you are saying if he had gone to Barca, Real, PSG or Juve, you wouldn't have booed him!!!

If as previously mentioned he is a admirer of Chelsea and followed them, then this opportunity to move is just common sense. His numbers were top of the list under Conte but Sarri moved him out wide, for some reason Lampard has followed that thought process and a move from Chelsea now to his preferred position will see him back to his best.

 You never did answer my question, from knowing who he is and the way he conducts himself are you still saying he is all about the Pound notes!!!! 

[Cameron Davidson]

I thought Gray would step up when Mahrez left. I got that he was annoyed at being sub, but at the time he was seen as the new up and coming one. A bit like Maddison, Chilwell and Grealish. He was ahead of them in the pecking order. He just never progressed, to the point where the others around like Mason Mount have all outgrown him too. He may push on and realise his potential, but I am not sure, and I doubt it will be with us. It is a shame as I remember points last year when we had a front 5 of Tielemans, Maddison, Barnes, Gray and Vardy. Looked solid on paper, but spot the odd one out now. 

 

 

[fox_up_north]

Just had to check facts and he's only just coming up on 24. However, it has been a LONG time since he had a consistent run of more than 60 mins per game. Clearly Brendan doesn't see anything in him. It's such a shame because he really had potential but he was given most of the season under Puel. It's a tough one because you really want him to progress.

 

I like to have SOME hope because Nacho absolutely turned it round and showed us all what he's capable of but Demarai's been here nearly 4 years now. I think, unfortunately, it's back to the Championship for him. 

[Webbo]

2 hours ago, foxile5 said:

Yeah people struggle with cognitive dissonance. 

 

He was our finest player in our midfield but he left for a team with no guarantee of success. He won the league with them, well played, but there was no iron clad guarantee of that. If he was 'humble' like some made out then the money and prestige of Chelsea wouldn't have been so irresistible. He had money and prestige with us. 

 

Wasted talent in many ways. He should've been at a bigger club for the better years of his career

 

No guarantee, true, but Chelsea did actually win the league. So if he was chancing it, he proved right. 

[foxile5]

14 minutes ago, Webbo said:

No guarantee, true, but Chelsea did actually win the league. So if he was chancing it, he proved right. 

Oh yeah no doubt. But they'd have been interested the year after. It was highly disappointing. And all this 'humble' stuff really serves to highlight that action as highly unhumble.