Maddison, Evans and Ricardo

[messerschmitt]

I think we're probably going to have to make do with the injury problems with the squad we have, maybe use Amarty and Justin right back, Justin and Thomas left back, Teilemans in the Madison role and use Benkovic. If we bring in the players that have been talked about where do they go once players recover. We already have several we can't move on and you can only have 25 in a squad.

[Raw Dykes]

6 minutes ago, messerschmitt said:

I think we're probably going to have to make do with the injury problems with the squad we have, maybe use Amarty and Justin right back, Justin and Thomas left back, Teilemans in the Madison role and use Benkovic. If we bring in the players that have been talked about where do they go once players recover. We already have several we can't move on and you can only have 25 in a squad.

There's still plenty of time until the transfer window closes.

 

I wouldn't expect to see Amartey in the team. I think he's out injured still. Hasn't played since 2018.

 

The players we can't move on won't be named in the squad. Players under 21 years old don't need to be added to the 25-man list.

 

GK

Schmeichel, Ward, Jakupovic

 

Def

Evans, Soyuncu, Benkovic, Wes, Ricardo, Justin, Fuchs, Amartey

 

Mid

Ndidi, Mendy, Choudhury, Tielemans, Maddison, Praet, James

 

Fwd/Wing

Vardy, Iheanacho, Perez, Barnes, Gray, Albrighton

 

That's 24, and I don't think James or Amartey will be named if we can get signings in.

[Katy]

Every time I see the ‘players in - none’ on our bit of Sky Sports News I get a wave of anxiety. The lack of signings wouldn’t be acceptable if we didn’t have the Europa League but we have, so god knows how we’ll get though with our ridiculous lack of depth. Surely we’ll get someone we need in before the 13th? 

[foxile5]

Just now, Katy said:

Every time I see the ‘players in - none’ on our bit of Sky Sports News I get a wave of anxiety. The lack of signings wouldn’t be acceptable if we didn’t have the Europa League but we have, so god knows how we’ll get though with our ridiculous lack of depth. Surely we’ll get someone we need in before the 13th? 

You're dead right about the europa league - it means that failure to sign anyone means a failure full stop. 

 

 

I mentioned this at the end of the season and got shot down but I'll say it again. Rodgers didn't sign anyone in January because he likes a small squad and we paid a very big price. If he wants to be a big manager he needs to manage a big squad. Somebody should be telling him this because being blinkered about this won't work over a long and difficult season. 

 

[BKLFox]

Just now, foxile5 said:

You're dead right about the europa league - it means that failure to sign anyone means a failure full stop. 

 

 

I mentioned this at the end of the season and got shot down but I'll say it again. Rodgers didn't sign anyone in January because he likes a small squad and we paid a very big price. If he wants to be a big manager he needs to manage a big squad. Somebody should be telling him this because being blinkered about this won't work over a long and difficult season. 

 

I don’t get the Rodgers likes a small squad thing, every club is allowed 25 + unders, Rodgers had 25 + unders are you saying whilst he had these he never spoke to 8 or 9 of them?

[Col city fan]

1 hour ago, Raw Dykes said:

There's still plenty of time until the transfer window closes.

 

I wouldn't expect to see Amartey in the team. I think he's out injured still. Hasn't played since 2018.

 

The players we can't move on won't be named in the squad. Players under 21 years old don't need to be added to the 25-man list.

 

GK

Schmeichel, Ward, Jakupovic

 

Def

Evans, Soyuncu, Benkovic, Wes, Ricardo, Justin, Fuchs, Amartey

 

Mid

Ndidi, Mendy, Choudhury, Tielemans, Maddison, Praet, James

 

Fwd/Wing

Vardy, Iheanacho, Perez, Barnes, Gray, Albrighton

 

That's 24, and I don't think James or Amartey will be named if we can get signings in.

If we pick a first team from that squad list, again, I think it’s severely lacking

I guess time will tell and I hope they all perform but I see clear weaknesses there

[Farrington fox]

This is set to be the worst preseason on record, no incomings, key players injured or suspended for the start. Not feeling remotely confident I’m afraid. 

[Raw Dykes]

5 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

If we pick a first team from that squad list, again, I think it’s severely lacking

I guess time will tell and I hope they all perform but I see clear weaknesses there

It's the same squad that was flying in December minus Chilwell.

 

2 or 3 good signings could make a big difference.

[Matt]

The summer window after we won the league was bad, we were at our strongest point in our history but still couldn't attract or make decent signings, and it led to a bad season the following season, fair play, luckily it'd didn't damage our long term aim of dining towards the top table and we restored that however this is arguably our 2nd strongest point in our history, this is worse (So far. I'm not ruling out things changing but it's getting to a point of doubting whether they will).

 

Edited 30 August 2020 by Matt

[RobHawk]

2 minutes ago, Matt said:

The summer window after we won the league was bad, we were at our strongest point in our history but still couldn't attract or make decent signings, and it led to a bad season the following season, fair play, luckily it'd didn't damage our long term aim of dining towards the top table and we restored that however this is arguably our 2nd strongest point in our history, this is worse (So far. I'm not ruling out things changing but it's getting to a point of doubting whether they will).

 

Anyone would think we're bloody Burnley the way we're operating.

 

But I'd also like to hope that we have learnt from previous mistakes and won't be shelling out big money on players not good enough. 

 

Signing the likes of slimani that summer did alot more damage to out long term aspirations, than had we not signed anybody. 

 

We all want signings, but it's not always easy to get the right calibre and personality for what we need, given we are still a small unfashionable club, trying to dine out at the top tables of Europe.

[Matt]

11 minutes ago, RobHawk said:

But I'd also like to hope that we have learnt from previous mistakes and won't be shelling out big money on players not good enough. 

 

Signing the likes of slimani that summer did alot more damage to out long term aspirations, than had we not signed anybody. 

 

We all want signings, but it's not always easy to get the right calibre and personality for what we need, given we are still a small unfashionable club, trying to dine out at the top tables of Europe.

Correct, it's a fine balance.

 

But (And I think IIRC I had this opinion following the summer window after we won the league) let's have some foresight, some forward planning.

 

I'm not asking anyone to predict the future but building a squad isn't asking that and if we are to go down the continual route of losing a player every year, lets have a continual route of having players to replace them - easier said than done but ultimately it's the scouts/management teams job.

 

We could and should have done better last summer window, the January window is a hard window to operate in but are you really telling me we couldn't have done better than Ryan Bennett in January? We could and should be signing identified targets this window.

 

All it adds up to is ready made excuses, an 'easy ride' as far as i'm concerned when you add League/Europe to juggle, a condensed league season e.t.c, you only have to look at our restart and second half of the season to see we can't couldn't handle such a schedule, well we've got another thing coming in this coming season if everyone thought that was tough.

 

As you said you'd like to hope we have learnt from previous mistakes, so likewise you'd like to hope we'd have learnt how we struggled with the League/Europe balance last time but so far it seems we havn't because we arguably have a smaller, less experience squad this time.

 

Edited 30 August 2020 by Matt

[l444ry]

Spending too much money on the wrong sort of players has cost this club dearly. There are still a fair few that need offloading and messing our FFP situation. It's clear that we are not in the market just to spend for the sake of it. The targets have to fit the project and be at the right price and age. Frustrating but we have to be patient. 

[foxinsocks]

1 minute ago, l444ry said:

Spending too much money on the wrong sort of players has cost this club dearly. There are still a fair few that need offloading and messing our FFP situation. It's clear that we are not in the market just to spend for the sake of it. The targets have to fit the project and be at the right price and age. Frustrating but we have to be patient. 

Just out of interest do u have any idea what kind of player might fit... abdvthe spend and wages?

[foxile5]

58 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

I don’t get the Rodgers likes a small squad thing, every club is allowed 25 + unders, Rodgers had 25 + unders are you saying whilst he had these he never spoke to 8 or 9 of them?

He didn't buy more players to keep the squad size small. So instead of having lots of players in the squad - not JUST the named 25 - he has fewer. 

 

 

[l444ry]

15 minutes ago, foxinsocks said:

Just out of interest do u have any idea what kind of player might fit... abdvthe spend and wages?

No. Do you?

[foxinsocks]

3 minutes ago, l444ry said:

No. Do you?

No... I have no idea what they will do.  I have plenty of ideas myself.  I am worried they will do nothing.... if they were to do nothing then the activity todate would be what it would look like 

Edited 30 August 2020 by foxinsocks

[l444ry]

1 minute ago, foxinsocks said:

No... I have no idea what they will do.  I have plenty of ideas myself.  I am worried they will do nothing.... if they were to do nothing then the activity todate would be what it would look like 

If they do no business then I think everyone will be justified in asking serious questions.

[foxinsocks]

6 minutes ago, l444ry said:

No. Do you?

Buy welbeck and michel antonio... both can be 9 or wide and will come despite vardy being here. 

Dacoure from Watford.

Southampton left back.. redish hair

[BKLFox]

12 minutes ago, foxile5 said:

He didn't buy more players to keep the squad size small. So instead of having lots of players in the squad - not JUST the named 25 - he has fewer. 

 

 

Ok with you the entire playing staff not the 25 you mean, I imagine that’s the same with most managers but guess the reason for no January buys was the lack of value over having an additional head + at the time we were on a roll and the few losses he could have put down to a blip.
Hindsight we should have brought but we didn’t expect the injuries to the most influential players within the squad and all at the same time.
I think we will sign 2 or 3 maybe even a 4th this window as I expect the same amount to leave or be bought out their contracts.

[Col city fan]

1 hour ago, Raw Dykes said:

It's the same squad that was flying in December minus Chilwell.

 

2 or 3 good signings could make a big difference.

Yes it’s also the same squad who couldn’t buy a win in 2020!

I agree we need 2 or 3 good signings 

[Raw Dykes]

1 hour ago, Col city fan said:

Yes it’s also the same squad who couldn’t buy a win in 2020!

I agree we need 2 or 3 good signings 

True, but we know what they are capable of. A poor squad wouldn't get to be 14 points clear of 5th halfway through a season.

[BKLFox]

2 hours ago, Col city fan said:

Yes it’s also the same squad who couldn’t buy a win in 2020!

I agree we need 2 or 3 good signings 

The same squad that spent the entire season up to the last 2 weeks in 3rd place or better.

It’s there, it just needs galvanising and those 3 positions upgraded that we are all aware of, management included.

You can never say never but can’t see a relegation battle looming just because of the bad ending.

[Col city fan]

41 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

The same squad that spent the entire season up to the last 2 weeks in 3rd place or better.

It’s there, it just needs galvanising and those 3 positions upgraded that we are all aware of, management included.

You can never say never but can’t see a relegation battle looming just because of the bad ending.

I think we need to be honest here people

We didn’t have ‘a bad ending’.. we have had a bad (albeit broken) YEAR.

I’m sure I saw us in 17th if the 2020 form table was anything to go by

I’m just surprised it looks like we go into the new season not yet having addressed the areas of the pitch where (we all agree I think..) we need to.

Just get some perspective on this. The first half of last season was amazing, but the second was really quite awful. 
Frankly, all we needed to have done was to have ‘parked the bus’ in a couple of matches towards the end and we wouldn’t have gone into the last game with Utd having the jitters

The arse end of last season was poorly managed really.

To date, we have not added anyone to our squad (eg a quality winger even) to make me think ‘yes, that’ll really help in that key area’

All we’ve done is sell Chilwell and re-signed some of our existing squad

I’m surprised 

 

Edited 30 August 2020 by Col city fan

[BKLFox]

43 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

I think we need to be honest here people

We didn’t have ‘a bad ending’.. we have had a bad (albeit broken) YEAR.

I’m sure I saw us in 17th if the 2020 form table was anything to go by

I’m just surprised it looks like we go into the new season not yet having addressed the areas of the pitch where (we all agree I think..) we need to.

Just get some perspective on this. The first half of last season was amazing, but the second was really quite awful. 
Frankly, all we needed to have done was to have ‘parked the bus’ in a couple of matches towards the end and we wouldn’t have gone into the last game with Utd having the jitters

The arse end of last season was poorly managed really.

To date, we have not added anyone to our squad (eg a quality winger even) to make me think ‘yes, that’ll really help in that key area’

All we’ve done is sell Chilwell and re-signed some of our existing squad

I’m surprised 

 

Yep agree perspective required, 2020 wasn’t good but again down to a multitude of reasons but we were still better overall.

When and where you get your points is all relative as you end up in the same position yet I feel if we had the season reversed starting bad ending good people would say wot a great season and if we got a few points here and there spread through it would be classed as a steady to solid season yet each time finishing 5th.

We fell short at the death the season is 38 games so those that argue if there were a few more games we would have dropped out of Europe, there wasn’t and we didn’t, I’m as disappointed as the next that we lost our CL spot but I also can see why, squad depth, which does need addressing yes that RW and now LB but mainly to cover another freak period where we lose Vardy, Ndidi, Ricardo, Maddison, Chilwell, Calgar all in and around the same time and not because the first 11 isn’t good enough because as I say for all but 2 weeks we were top 3

 

I hope the team especially the younger set learn and grow from this in much the same way as missing out on PO v Watford.

 

[Oxfordfox83]

On 30/08/2020 at 15:38, BKLFox said:

Ok with you the entire playing staff not the 25 you mean, I imagine that’s the same with most managers but guess the reason for no January buys was the lack of value over having an additional head + at the time we were on a roll and the few losses he could have put down to a blip.
Hindsight we should have brought but we didn’t expect the injuries to the most influential players within the squad and all at the same time.
I think we will sign 2 or 3 maybe even a 4th this window as I expect the same amount to leave or be bought out their contracts.

It wasn’t hindsight though-we were all screaming for at least a winger and have been for years. 
 

Rodgers has bought nobody of note in his year+ in charge (YT was Puel), which is worrying. More worrying, our psyche seems desperately weak-we don’t try and score until we’ve conceded, and don’t show any urgency or inspiration before 80 minutes in games. 
 

This makes me worry that Rodgers is incapable of planning. Even if we squeeze another year of decent performance out of this squad, we’re going to be lacking people waiting in the wings to replace leavers, cover injuries etc. We should have announced the winger we’d spent all year identifying on 1st July, and the rest of this window should have been secretly buying an exciting 21 year old CM for Europa League, to step up when Maddison/Tielemans force a move next summer.

 

I don’t want to be sceptical about our manager, but Rodgers has made me nervous throughout his whole tenure here and the deafening silence this summer makes it seem like the winning streak was the blip.