A post Vardy Leicester

[Jonaldinho]

Assuming Rodgers is here I think we'll aim for someone in the Kane/Aguero mould, someone who is capable of holding the ball up and being involved in the build up but also capable of running in behind. Essentially a much better version of Iheanacho. 

[berniethebolt]

If only we could of hung on to Krameric! 

 

Saying that, I suspect he would not of gone on to be a good as he is now, as would have played second to Vardy for all those years. 

 

Will be a sad day when it comes but I think we'll be fine but may take 2 or 3 big money signings to get it right.

[Leicester_Loyal]

I'm just gonna start following Liverpool, once Vardy is done, LCFC is done

[Guest ttfn]

I think we’d be better off buying another wide player and using Barnes as an alternative to Vardy until such a time as Vardy is either no longer good enough or Barnes has surpassed him.
 

Once Vardy retires we then need to spend big on a replacement. Nobody worth their salt is going to come and sit on the bench for 40 games a season and any young player we bring in is going to struggle to develop significantly enough with the limited minutes on offer to replace even half of Vardy’s output when he retires.
 

As it is I think Barnes has everything to be a top class striker, except of course a cool head in front of goal. With good coaching that can be learned - Vardy was lashing at chances as late as his first season in the Prem with us (when he was 27). 

 

 

[HybridFox]

One of those things we'd deal with when the time comes. Can't see him being phased out. Think he'll retire when his legs give in and we'll splash the cash on a striker who won't have to worry about playing second fiddle.

 

Never will see a like for like though 

[Foxxed]

Maddison is good for goals in the middle. Harvey, on the wing. Just need another goal scoring winger then we may survive, if we recruit a good striker.

[Farrington fox]

Realistically how much longer can he go on as first choice striker. I’d say next season and that’ll about be his lot. I really don’t want to think about a post Vardy era. He’s without any question the most influential player we’ve had in the near 50 years supporting our club. 

[wardyfox86]

It only looks impossible at the minute due to the vastly different play styles of our 2 strikers. How often do we see Vardy dropping off the last man to collect the ball?? That's Iheanacho's first instinct, but our wingers don't adapt to the 2 different styles. We are currently built around Vardy, every forward player knows what to do to make chances for him. That's why we seem blunt when Iheanacho plays, we are so ingrained to play the Vardy style. 

 

We are a good team that can fashion chances. Once somebody comes in who can hold a high Goals/xG ratio, as soon as that player begins to play the majority of games, we can learn to play to that players strengths.

 

I don't really intend to defend Iheanacho, and Vardy absolutely has credit in the bank for the points I'm about to make, but Vardy was anonymous last week and, technically, missed the best chance he had. Save for a lucky own goal, that could have cost us a point. He's also very capable of missing penalties.

[Chester Dontlie]

A very good and relevant topic this.

 

It's hard to fathom but inevitably even the biggest club legend get to retire one day. We've been extremely lucky Vards avoided any long term serious injuries but as you all know the luck can go tits up any day, and the player's career just won't go on forever in the first place. As much as I admire how Leicester City are managed I've been quite upset for a couple of seasons seeing us having no reliable back up for the no-Vardy situation. It's like we refuse to believe it will happen one day. I think the supporters are allowed to believe that, but the club shouldn't be in denial, we should be planning for the future, for the seasons ahead. For a good while we've been stuck with Nacho who isn't even treated seriously by the consecutive managers, a square peg in the round hole, and still criminally lacks confidence which is a key for any striker. Before that we had Moose whose best game was a friendly against Barcelona... Shinji as much as l love him was always playing second fiddle to Vards, his job was to complement him like a trusty sidekick would, nothing more. The clubs around us are signing quality forwards but we always seem to have this 'got Vards, no worries' attitude. That's being complacent.

 

Vardy is irreplaceable... he's the bigger than life, once in a decade (or more, from the LCFC supporters point of view) kind of player but the board should be combing the market for a successor. That's why I think it would be a mistake to try to replace him 'like for like', we had already tried to do that with Nacho and Musa, didn't go as planned did it.

It doesn't have to be the same type of striker, but apart from the obvious (the ability to score goals and not being shit in general)  we need to judge the potential signing by his character... Ideally, he should be a cocky **** 

 

 

 

[Bert]

It’s going to be shit when he retires as he’s our talisman. But people thinking that we simply won’t be replacing him is laughable. Yes there will never be anyone like him again, but we’ll sign a striker that will score goals. 

[David Hankey]

3 hours ago, berniethebolt said:

If only we could of hung on to Krameric! 

 

Saying that, I suspect he would not of gone on to be a good as he is now, as would have played second to Vardy for all those years. 

 

Will be a sad day when it comes but I think we'll be fine but may take 2 or 3 big money signings to get it right.

Kramaric is certainly knocking 'em in for Hoffenheim but that's not the EPL.

Edited 28 December 2020 by David Hankey

[ajthefox]

3 hours ago, ttfn said:

I think we’d be better off buying another wide player and using Barnes as an alternative to Vardy until such a time as Vardy is either no longer good enough or Barnes has surpassed him.
 

Once Vardy retires we then need to spend big on a replacement. Nobody worth their salt is going to come and sit on the bench for 40 games a season and any young player we bring in is going to struggle to develop significantly enough with the limited minutes on offer to replace even half of Vardy’s output when he retires.
 

As it is I think Barnes has everything to be a top class striker, except of course a cool head in front of goal. With good coaching that can be learned - Vardy was lashing at chances as late as his first season in the Prem with us (when he was 27). 

 

 

Vardy was a little bit hit and miss in his early days with us but I think it's clear he's a natural and instinctive finisher.

 

With Barnes he will of course get better but it doesn't ever look the same.

[deep blue]

5 hours ago, adam said:

Barnes needs to stick to playing out wide. Were a decent side. Buy a forward. We don't have time trying to turn barnes into one. 

Agreed.  Barnes' best role is as a "roving winger".  If he were restricted to a striker role that would reduce his overall effectiveness.

 

I think the best way forward is to evolve a replacement striker, recruiting a young prospect (maybe 2, to increase the odds of success) and get him to learn as much from Vardy as he can.

[deep blue]

3 hours ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

I'm just gonna start following Liverpool, once Vardy is done, LCFC is done

Your pseudonym won't go down very well with the scousers.

[BenTheFox]

The more I've seen of Olly Watkins at Villa, the more I think he would have been a perfect successor to Jamie Vardy. He has all the traits we want from a striker, not as clinical as Vardy but very few are, he just offers the team so much. Unfortunately he's at Villa where he's playing every week and they have got ambitions of their own. 

[Mythyaar]

It's incredible that he's performing at the level he is for his age. And by doing this, he should have bought us the time we needed to source a quality replacement. But that time is running out fast now.

 

We missed out on both Bowen and Watkins past couple of seasons. Decent players, particularly Bowen,  but in reality, neither would've been the solution.

 

For me, Richarlison would've been the ideal replacement but he wouldn't move sideways to us even if we did find the £75+ million.

 

The obvious solution is Barnes. His movement is great, his finishing is improving but it will need to get to a new level if he's to be the long term answer. But it's possible.

 

 

 

 

[Simonb]

5 hours ago, SydenhamFox said:

How do we do the impossible? What’s the best plan?

 

Buy as similar player as we can get to the great man himself?

 

Smash our wage structure and try and get someone like Haaland?

 

Promote from within, eg, Play Barnes as a No.9?

 

What else?

Just shut the club down and keep the memories... Literally no idea... I'd imagine we'd have to learn a new style to be honest with a completely different type forward.. 

 

For me snapping up Watkins in the summer would've been a masterstroke but villa offered more minutes and its paying off

 

Hopefully he can play into his 50s and we'll be covered for a while 

[srex9]

Seen a lot of comments about Barnes being a potential Vardy replacement. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought it myself...but the more I have the more I've thought against the idea.

 

Both are pacey but Vardy has explosive pace off the mark and has predatory instincts that you just can't coach. His movement off the ball is some of the best in world football. Barnes doesn't quite have that and at the top level it can be the difference between a striker that scores 20 goals a season and another that will get 5 a season. 

 

And to add to that, Barnes would be wasted if not on the wing. He's thriving there now. Best not to plug one hole with a wishful fix and then leave another at left mid. 

[Captain...]

Vardy is a fvcking legend...

 

...but if Nacho had been played as the main striker or even as a number 10 from day one and the team was built and evolved around him he would be a very different, much better player. You make someone your main man they fulfil that role. Nacho and Slimani have both suffered from the fact they are not number one. Vardy is rightly number 1, but any succession planning needs to involve a player that doesn't expect to be number one.

[BenTheFox]

A lot of the time the answer isn't staring you in the face. Really wasn't long ago at all that a number of Everton fans deemed Calvert-Lewin not good enough to be their main man and now look at him. It's similar to how many of us would have felt about Vardy a number of years ago. 

Edited 28 December 2020 by BenTheFox

[twister]

1 hour ago, srex9 said:

Seen a lot of comments about Barnes being a potential Vardy replacement. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought it myself...but the more I have the more I've thought against the idea.

 

Both are pacey but Vardy has explosive pace off the mark and has predatory instincts that you just can't coach. His movement off the ball is some of the best in world football. Barnes doesn't quite have that and at the top level it can be the difference between a striker that scores 20 goals a season and another that will get 5 a season. 

 

And to add to that, Barnes would be wasted if not on the wing. He's thriving there now. Best not to plug one hole with a wishful fix and then leave another at left mid. 

Sorry lads don't see this barnes wont ever be a natural finisher

 

He can work on it but he is a 1 in five shooter

 

The team need a proper finisher, a jovic type perhaps.

 

For now i'd be scouting euroupe to see who we can get in, they are in short supply but  Jovic much under used by madrid will be a finished

5 hours ago, Farrington fox said:

Realistically how much longer can he go on as first choice striker. I’d say next season and that’ll about be his lot. I really don’t want to think about a post Vardy era. He’s without any question the most influential player we’ve had in the near 50 years supporting our club. 

I think so he is managing long term hip problems and other niggles.so this is sensible

 

He is irreplaceable though, one which is in his desire to win a game of football.  he looked leggy when he came on today but his sheer presence forced their two centre halfs to occupy him releasing space for others.

[filbertway]

Probably just sign another striker that's quick and good at taking pens! If only we could combine Graham Alexander and Usain Bolt

[FoyleFox]

I hope someone at the club is very seriously looking into options. 

 

I, however, am going to avoid thinking about it for as long as possible

[Royston.]

Given this a bit of thought and its too depressing.

 

[Dandy king]

Barnes is the young Jedi