Last year compared to this year

[Guest StevieLynex]

On this day last year, we had 40 points from 20 games. Today, we have 28 points from 15 games. 

 

What is your analysis (good/bad) in terms of how we have progressed and how will we are now placed to get into the Champions League?

 

Here are my thoughts:

 

- Defensively we seem a little weaker, especially in terms of conceding from set pieces. The long term absences of Ricardo, Soyuncu and Ndidi may be the reason for this? Fofana was an inspired signing. Justin is probably the most improved player over the past year.

 

- We are still over reliant on Vardy to score goals. We haven't really made progress in this particular area, Barnes has come on, but Iheanacho has remained static. Perez blows hot and cold - progress has been disappointing in the past twelve months. Transfer market dealings have not really addressed the issue - Under has arrived, and shows promise, but yet to establish himself.

 

- The midfield depends heavily on Ndidi. Mendy has been a revelation. Tielemans flatters to deceive - sometimes, he looks class, other times he goes missing. Madders hasn't kicked on - maybe his absence due to injury is a reason for this. Praet is a useful addition to the squad, but seems a bit part player. Hamza's progressed has stalled, after an encouraging start last year.

 

- Brendan Rodgers has had a chequered year, which started with so much promise and then petered out as we missed out on the Champions League. At times, tactically, he seems out of depth when he comes up against Liverpool, in particular, and sides struggling at the wrong end of the table. Maybe he is ultra defensive?

Edited 27 December 2020 by Guest

[HighPeakFox]

I think this is harsh in parts, especially about BR. tactically, he's moved forwards a lot. I think you've also answered a lot of your own questions, citing injuries.

[Guest StevieLynex]

Transfer dealings over the past twelve months - Fofana superb, Under and Praet - ok, Castagne - good. Great to get £50m for Chilwell

[HighPeakFox]

1 minute ago, StevieLynex said:

Transfer dealings over the past twelve months - Fofana superb, Under and Praet - ok, Castagne - good. Great to get £50m for Chilwell

Praet was signed summer 2019.

[Vacamion]

5 minutes ago, StevieLynex said:

On this day last year, we had 40 points from 20 games. Today, we have 28 points from 15 games. 

 

What is your analysis (good/bad) in terms of how we have progressed and how will we are now placed to get into the Champions League?

 

Here are my thoughts:

 

- Defensively we seem a little weaker, especially in terms of conceding from set pieces. The long term absences of Ricardo, Soyuncu and Ndidi may be the reason for this? Fofana was an inspired signing. Justin is probably the most improved player over the past year.

 

- We are still over reliant on Vardy to score goals. We haven't really made progress in this particular area, Barnes has come on, but Iheanacho has remained static. Perez blows hot and cold - progress has been disappointing in the past twelve months. Transfer market dealings have not really addressed the issue - Under has arrived, and shows promise, but yet to establish himself.

 

- The midfield depends heavily on Ndidi. Mendy has been a revelation. Tielemans flatters to deceive - sometimes, he looks class, other times he goes missing. Madders hasn't kicked on - maybe his absence due to injury is a reason for this. Praet is a useful addition to the squad, but seems a bit part player. Hamza's progressed has stalled, after an encouraging start last year.

 

- Brendan Rodgers has had a chequered year, which started with so much promise and then petered out as we missed out on the Champions League. At times, tactically, he seems out of depth when he comes up against Liverpool, in particular, and sides struggling at the wrong end of the table. Maybe he is ultra defensive?

 

Seems a bit darker than I think most of us perceive things.

 

And it doesn't mention our progress in Europe.

 

 

[Fox42]

Really annoys me when I see someone say “we’re still heavily reliant on Vardy”. Surely that means we have a working system that shouldn’t be altered. It’s either that or continue to try different systems... which means plan A is a failure.

 

How many teams in the Prem do you find play 3/4 strikers in one game? What does that tell you? That haven’t found that working formula yet. Or not at a consistent rate.

Edited 27 December 2020 by Fox42

[StanSP]

I think we're doing very well considering the circumstances around lack of pre-season, injuries to key players, cramped schedule and European participation (which is a big plus in itself). 

 

I'm sure targets were to be competitive for Europe in the league, and qualify for knockouts in EL which we did pretty easily. Some of the fringe players have shown their worth and I think Rodgers and staff have done fantastically all things considered. We've picked up some huge results and barring a few surprises and upsets (mainly at home), I don't think there can be that many serious complaints. 

 

We do need to improve on our consistency but even then, we've put together some good runs of results. 

 

Highlights so far have been Man City away, first win in decades at Arsenal, win at Leeds, Pereira's brief comeback, sitting in top 4 all season, some good Europa League performances. 

 

I think looking at the big picture we've come through a hugely hectic schedule and still remain very competitive. Big test will be the 2nd half of the season and not collapsing/significantly dropping form. I have faith in Rodgers and the squad to do that and they'd have learnt for sure 

[Ric Flair]

We are over our collapse from 2019/20, we aren't quite as solid as we were in the first half of 2019/20 season but we now have the ability to get results vs teams in and around us. If we can get Ricardo and Soyuncu back then I'm confident we can get back to being way too much for teams that sit back against us. All in all I think we are ticking along nicely.

 

Still would like a couple of different options in attacking areas, hopefully Ünder can force his way in here and bring us some goals and assists. Gray and Slimani are off, and possibly Iheanacho by the summer.

[ealingfox]

Home form is a disappointment but it's been largely made up for by some outstanding results on the road. Dealt with injury problems very well and made a good fist of juggling domestic and European commitments.

 

We are exceeding my expectations and to only be a small amount off last year's pace is significantly ahead of what I'd have considered acceptable before the off given the circumstances.

 

Credit where it's due, Rodgers is doing a good job so far this season. Apart from some annoyance about home performances in the league I don't see how that can be disputed really.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Realistically speaking, the 'Rodgers era' has been an unmitigated success. We have established ourselves not only as a legit top half side but a top 6 side too. Teams fear 'coming to Leicester'. When has that ever been the case in our history in the top flight? We seem to focus a lot on the negatives but most of the clubs in this league aspire to be like us. And what's more, we do things the right way both in and off the pitch. Great times at LCFC and hope they continue for as long as possible.

[tfoxt]

20 minutes ago, StevieLynex said:

Tielemans flatters to deceive - sometimes, he looks class, other times he goes missing.

I think Tielemans is one of the main improvements  from last year. The combination of him and ndidi in holding midfield is appearing to allow us to control and dictate play in the majority of the games we are involved in.

[nnfox]

I see progress this season.  Our squad is stronger this season.  New signings Fofana, Castagne and Under all look good.  Praet, Justin and Mendy have come on too and are providing good competition for starting places.

 

Last season we were brilliant for the first half of the season and woeful in the second half.  This season those two sides of our game seem to change week by week, but I see hope that we might reduce the amount of bad performances which is good.

 

I still have concerns over our reliance on Vardy for goals.  The system is largely set up to create chances for Vardy.  When it isn't working we have a very visible lack of a Plan B.  I'd like to see more of Nacho to share the load and give different options going forward.

[sdb]

Club is still on the up with an improving, young squad and a better mentality against the top sides. 

 

However, we do need to improve on breaking defensive teams down, not getting caught out by breaks and our own poor back lines, plus set pieces which are a bit of a farce. 

 

If we can replace Gray, Morgan and Fuchs with equally good players with even better potential, and shift the last of the deadwood whilst improving the areas above, then we really could be something special.

[I blame Wellens]

Better atmosphere In the ground  this season 

[Hammo]

We are in a very good place - nicely nestled in the top four of the Premier League and through to the knockout phase of the Europa League. Every fan would have signed up for that back in the summer after last season’s unexpected post-Christmas decline.

 

Ndidi, Tielemans and Vardy are all still top class, Barnes and Justin are much improved since this time last year, while Fofana and Castagne have proved to be excellent buys and Chilwell, as expected, has scarcely been missed. Furthermore, getting a fully fit Ricardo and Soyuncu back can only strengthen us.

 

The away form has been sensationally good. To win at Man City, Arsenal and Tottenham is the stuff of wild dreams. It would be astonishing if we can keep that going over the rest of the season, but what really needs to improve is our ability to break teams down and work the goalkeeper more when we have so much of the ball against deep lying defensive blocs at home. And of course our set pieces - at both ends - are among the worst in the league and cannot continue to be such a handicap if we are to realise our top-four and European ambitions. A striker who is strong in the air and can come off the bench to add penalty-box presence - especially at corners - would be my first choice in the January transfer window. Unless you count Slimani, it is the one option I feel we really lack in the squad.

 

All in all, though, what with the best owners in football and a spanking new training centre, you could say that Leicester City have never had it so good.

 

Let’s hope we are still saying that in May.

[davieG]

 

Barnes’ seventh of the campaign also means he has equalled his number of goals from last season in half the time. It took him 42 games to reach that total last term, while he’s only played 20 matches so far in 2020-21
.

[Matt]

So far I think we've improved, certainly in style of play which was my main gripe.

 

People said the first half of last season we played some great stuff, I disagreed abit, I didn't think were amazing, very passive, lots of sideways and backwards movement. I think people got carried away with league position and results (Rightly or wrongly, listen it's ultimately all that matters, right?) which papered over how we were actually playing, after the restart, results tailed off and in the end we didn't keep our league position which woke people up to our insipid, one trick pony style.

 

This season, at times we've played in a similar style but not exclusively, we have mixed it up, changed it, which is all I was asking last season.

 

I said after yesterday's game I think defensively we're sometimes just too easy to play against (But that goes for all possession based sides imo), it's a simple pass through the lines every time that opens us up but i'd rather that if that means us actually going forward, opposed passing it sideways, gifting possession, making mistakes and gifting the opposition a goal all in vein of playing 'possession football'.

 

I'd like us flood opposition box or get the ball in there more, more centrally, I think we struggle with that abit, we tend to rely on going down the wing and crossing it, usually not getting to the target or crossing it to no-one.

[UpTheLeagueFox]

We've made very good progress since the problems second half of last season.

We've made very good progress since BR took charge.

We're enjoying the best few years in our entire history.

 

[coolhandfox]

Considering 90% of Foxestalk had us down as struggling due to injures and the poor form of last year, the negtivetiy of this post is amazing.

 

We are 3rd with 28 points, winning 9 of 15, yes we have been a little brittle at the back, but considering;

 

Riccardo 0 PL games (Missed 15)

Soyuncu 4 PL games (Missed 11)

Ndidi       7 PL games (Missed 8)

Evans      11 PL games (Missed 4)

Castange 8 PL games (Missed 7)

 

We could easily match the 40 pts at the 20 game mark.

 

We have coped with with a game every 3-4 days for the first half of the season and smashed our Europa League group.

 

BR has shown great tactically flexibility.

 

If we carry on as we are I can see us making the top 6 or 4.

 

We have progress more then any other club in the PL since our promotion. 

Edited 27 December 2020 by coolhandfox

[Dandy king]

Feel like the squad as a whole is more solid and ready for whatever gets thrown at it. In fact, we've seen the evidence of this all season through injuries. When everyone's fit, a strong squad means that players that aren't performing may be dropped, or at least know that they have to perform week in week out which is only a good thing in terms of competition. I feel like the progress is that when you look at our squad, it's obvious that we're going to be competing in the top half of the table for the foreseeable future. Which is f****ng brilliant news. 

[Koke]

2 hours ago, Fox42 said:

Really annoys me when I see someone say “we’re still heavily reliant on Vardy

 

Snnoys me too. We are more reliant on our full backs + midfield 3 for creativity. Its lazy analysis. 

[Mr Weller]

I think a possible difference with last year is that we’ve a long injury list in the first half of the season this whereas las year we had several key injuries in the second half. If we avoid another injury crisis there’s a good chance we will maintain or even improve on our form in the second half of the season.

 

We have greater strength in depth and at least two outstanding additions to the squad and the experience of last year may help the players, though only time will tell.

 

Overall, we’re in our 7th straight season in the top flight and the best 5 years in the club’s history. However, expectations have changed and finishing top half or avoiding relegation is no longer enough  so we can’t keep measuring ourselves against the pre Thai era. The trick is to ensure we build up the infrastructure to maintain our strength should the day come when the owners move on.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Definitely questions to be asked about the home form which really does need sorting, even if some of those losses are converted to draws - but virtually every side in the league has been the victim of one or two shockers in a strange season, it's not exclusive to us.

 

The squad is clearly better off than last season, we're going to look very healthy once everyone's fit and firing too.

 

Loads more positives than negatives, and, bar the Anfield mess - we're starting to play teams rather than occasions when we face the big boys.

[Angus Sze]

There is one thing no change compared to last year. We love City, we love all players here, we always trust them and support them. 

[KingsX]

 

 

Edited 27 December 2020 by KingsX