Realistically, what would you do with this squad during the next 12 months?

[Sly]

At this point, we’re in a bit of a mess and it’s safe to say the squad and coach are dividing opinion. 
 

So in the next 12 months, how would you adapt the squad, given our expectation of to achieve European football.  

[moore_94]

Sell those who have 18 months left and won't agree new deals - would give us plenty of money for a massive reshuffle

[HesNotGudjonsonn2]

He has been brilliant for us for a long long time and all I have to say about him is positive. That will change soon though as the time has come, I feel, for a new goalkeeper. One with the metal to control his defenders and area. Not to be captain, as I don’t think a keeper should be, but to control and manage and to come for crosses. A good keeper is worth about 15 points a season at least. Is Kasper still worth that?

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Doesn't matter, we'll consistently have 10 of the 25 man squad out injured regardless if we continue to bury our heads in the sand. 

[Fightforever]

This will be unpopular.

 

Statistically. Ndidi is still putting tackles in and our attack is very good. 19 goals in 7 games. That's nearly 3 goals a game. 

 

Defence is the issue. 

 

Schmeichel has been here too long needs to be shipped off or dropped for Ward to have a go. Even if Ward is not as good we need to put a message out to the rest of the team. 

 

Soyuncu needs to be sold while there are still clubs that will want to put a punt on him.

 

Evans is getting injured far too often and we need a new center back. To replace him.

 

We need a natural LB so if we dont have the funds stick Thomas in so he can learn at the very least. He has a good cross on him and he will get better. 

 

Bertrand and Vestagaard should be sent to the U23s. And whoever signed them should be giving lectures on what he saw in them purely for comedic value. 

 

Use pre season next year to try every formation under the sun to find a way to fit Vardy/Daka and Iheanacho in the same system while having the rest of the team still be able to function. If we do that we get 60 goals a season easy. 

 

Using the sale money from Soyuncu, Tielemans and whoever else we can ship off. Try getting in Tarkowski and whoever is an upcoming cb in Europe. Someone like Botman or Vuskovic. There is no guarantee Fofana or Justin will come back the same player as we have seen with Barnes and Ricardo.

 

Also use left over funds to buy a goal keeper that can distribute the ball and provide competetion. The goalkeeper spot has gone far too stale.

 

Why would Kasper ever learn to claim the ball or to learn to distribute better when he knows he won't get dropped anyway?

 

Use KDH as a Tielemans replacement since we aren't going to get anyone nearly as good as Tielemans anyway so we may as well give him a go no harm in it anyway since qualifiying for Europe is out of the question. Plus we need to funds for our defence which is in dire need of a refresh.

 

Blood in some of the promising youngsters in the academy as well. We are going through transition now so why not. Forget Europe we are midtable for the foreseeable. Hell even give Ben Nelson a go. 

 

And finally bring in a new physio team. They have been stupidly inept for the past 2 years now.

Edited 26 December 2021 by Fightforever

[Mr Mister]

Buy an entirely new defence. The one we currently have is not fit for purpose.

[dayday]

New manager, assess squad, move on

I have no faith in Rodgers anymore

[Guest Col city fan]

2 minutes ago, Mr Mister said:

Buy an entirely new defence. The one we currently have is not fit for purpose.

I agree 

Fofana aside (and we’ll have to see if he comes back the same player), we are very very poor.

Evans is past his best and can’t be relied on in terms of injuries.

Cags has regressed. No doubt about it

Amartey is just not good enough even to rely on as a ‘squad player’

And Vestergaard is worse than all of them

We need another quality, first choice CB to play alongside little Wes. And better options to bring off the bench

But that’ll be difficult to achieve and will cost lots.

Castagne is good enough and Justin is good enough, after that though.. we’re struggling 

[LVFox]

Stay with me here…and I know this won’t be popular within such a feisty bunch as FT is after any loss…but not much at all.

 

The worst thing we can do is panic, when we panic buy, it doesn’t work out (look at Vestegaard).

 

Firstly we need to remain patient and not rush players back from injury. Yes we all want Justin and Fofana back asap, but let’s make sure when they are back they stay fit.

 

The Youri situation needs sorting in the summer, if he won’t sign, let’s sell and bring someone in the middle of the park who can pass through the lines. It’s the biggest thing we miss when he’s absent.

 

Id like a right winger in the summer, but let’s stick to our usual targets of 20-24 year olds with something to prove. 
 

Other than that, I’m pretty calm with our squad once everyone is fit. 

[NewquayFox]

Clear the decks of the so called fringe players, might get slated but we need a keeper who commands his area, a defensive coach and ditch the zonal marking, do whatever it takes to keep Maddison as he is back to his brilliant best and finally can we employ a Doctor of some sort to get our players back to how they were in 2015/16 when miraculously we didn’t have any and I mean any serious injuries…

PS… Can we find another Robert Huth please.

[Lambert09]

I don’t think we drastically need to change much, but that is putting hope on 3 of the injured defenders coming back at a decent level. 
 

Evans needs to become 4th choice. We need a new cb to partner fofana, that has to be the future. 
 

id still keep soyuncu as 3rd choice as with more stability we could hopefully get him back to a good standard.

 

I honestly don’t think we’ll find an improvement on kasper, I’d give ward a try but would be very weary of the transfer market. It’s a huge problem position for recruitment. And trust me the grass isn’t greener. 
 

Youri unfortunately is gone, that money should be used to improve the standard of the squad rather than the 11. I’d also go as far as selling nacho (just to fund the build). I honestly think the difference between us and top 7 is the overall squad. 
 

id be happy to lose Praet, Hamza, Perez, Armartey, Bertrand, vesty, (lookman) and even castagne for the right price. 

 

this is where we’ve been let down, the available rotation hasn’t been good enough and with a few shrewd signings we would have got over the injury crisis that seems to have lasted 3 years now. 
 

For comparison I’d look at a club like Spurs’s options for rotation, a team who generally don’t spend as much money as the other big teams.  
 

they have a huge gap up front. But with Ali, bergwign, Rodon, Davies, winks/skipp, sessagnon they are all premier league players. They all can step in at a high standard.
 

 We have soumare, castagne/Ricky, daka/vardy/ nacho, Thomas and I’d say soy doesn’t make the best 11.
 

So we aren’t a million miles off where we need to be. We’re just one of the most unlucky sides going 

Edited 26 December 2021 by Lambert09

[tylesta]

23 minutes ago, Fightforever said:

This will be unpopular.

 

Statistically. Ndidi is still putting tackles in and our attack is very good. 19 goals in 7 games. That's nearly 3 goals a game. 

 

Defence is the issue. 

 

Schmeichel has been here too long needs to be shipped off or dropped for Ward to have a go. Even if Ward is not as good we need to put a message out to the rest of the team. 

 

Soyuncu needs to be sold while there are still clubs that will want to put a punt on him.

 

Evans is getting injured far too often and we need a new center back. To replace him.

 

We need a natural LB so if we dont have the funds stick Thomas in so he can learn at the very least. He has a good cross on him and he will get better. 

 

Bertrand and Vestagaard should be sent to the U23s. And whoever signed them should be giving lectures on what he saw in them purely for comedic value. 

 

Use pre season next year to try every formation under the sun to find a way to fit Vardy/Daka and Iheanacho in the same system while having the rest of the team still be able to function. If we do that we get 60 goals a season easy. 

 

Using the sale money from Soyuncu, Tielemans and whoever else we can ship off. Try getting in Tarkowski and whoever is an upcoming cb in Europe. Someone like Botman or Vuskovic. There is no guarantee Fofana or Justin will come back the same player as we have seen with Barnes and Ricardo.

 

Also use left over funds to buy a goal keeper that can distribute the ball and provide competetion. The goalkeeper spot has gone far too stale.

 

Why would Kasper ever learn to claim the ball or to learn to distribute better when he knows he won't get dropped anyway?

 

Use KDH as a Tielemans replacement since we aren't going to get anyone nearly as good as Tielemans anyway so we may as well give him a go no harm in it anyway since qualifiying for Europe is out of the question. Plus we need to funds for our defence which is in dire need of a refresh.

 

Blood in some of the promising youngsters in the academy as well. We are going through transition now so why not. Forget Europe we are midtable for the foreseeable. Hell even give Ben Nelson a go. 

 

And finally bring in a new physio team. They have been stupidly inept for the past 2 years now.

To be honest we have scored 60 plus past few season and been about at the 60 mark in other season's

[beepee1984]

GKs -Ward out - buy a GK that can compete with Kasper, I think Ward is a great GK, but has settled for being 2nd choice and Kasper needs competition, this would also resurrect Wards career

 

RB - Not needed Happy to keep Pereira and Castagne

LB - Need someone better than Thomas - Sell Bertrand

CB - We need An experienced consistent CB that can lead, to play alongside Fofana, keeping Evans and Cags as back up - Sell Vestegaard, Amartey.and Benkovic

We also have Justin who can play anywhere in defence

 

Midfield we need back up and/or structure - We recruited really poorly last summer in this area. First choice midfield is decent, but we have no back up we need better options

 

We have Ndidi who is a ball winner, if he is not available is Choudhury good enough? Mendy clearly has no future

Tielemans can pick a pass, but who replaces him if he is not available. I'm also not sure we can keep him

Maddison when confident is a creative genius, but out of form we have no one that can replace that

Although decent, I don't know where Soumare fits in, KDH is still young and deserves his chance

 

Wide Men Barnes, Lookman, Perez and Albrighton are all OK, I think Albrighton can offer something different, Perez is better at Number 10 where he won't play ahead of Maddison here so we are forcing him to be a wide man, Lookman is OK if he goes back to Leipzig could easily be replaced though. Barnes has still got improvement in him. Priorities in Jan have to be Defence and backing up Midfield, so this is not a priority but the wide man could be improved

 

Attack - Vardy, Daka, Iheanacho - Please do not touch

 

Summary we need - GK, LB, CB and at least 1 CM

[Fightforever]

11 minutes ago, tylesta said:

To be honest we have scored 60 plus past few season and been about at the 60 mark in other season's

Thats the point. Combining both in the same team makes it so that losing Tielemans doesn't **** us as hard as it would have otherwise.

[Merging Cultures]

Backroom:

- Data analysis and recruitment, who do we have at the moment?

- Sports psychologist, did he ever get replaced?

- Medical and physio staff with a lot of experience 

 

Coaching:

- GK

- Defensive

- Set pieces

- Fitness to work with the medical etc to ensure the players are fit

 

Playing:

- GK who can command his area

- CB (or 2 if Cags goes and Fofana isn't back to same level) who can defend and not get injured

- LB if JJ takes time to recover his form, just a back up to Thomas who has done well (bin Bertrand)

- RW, Lookman or actual RW

- Deep lying playmaker as YT will be going

 

Do we think Ndidi and Ricardo will stay?

[Spiritwalker]

Aside from either replacing or resigning Youri a 1st choice CB and RM should be priorities.

[StriderHiryu]

Teach them how to defend set pieces!

 

We struggled with set pieces in the early part of the 15/16 season but Ranieri sorted it. It's a 100% fixable issue, and needs to be the focus for the entire team.

[BenTayfour]

• Staff :

- New Manager if thing won't turn around or an assistant manager to sort our defence and set peices.

- whole new medical team.

 

• Players : 

 

• Players to be sold :

 

 - Bertrand.

 - Vestergard.

 - Hamza.

 - Mendy.

 - Praet.

 - Perez.

 - Benkovic.

 - Ricardo

 - (Amartey, Tielemans, Albrighton, Evans) 

 

• Players in :

- Two CB.

- Two Fullbacks.

- Two leftfooted right wingers.

- CDM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tickler28]

I'd love nothing more in the next 12 months to look into why we get so many bloody injuries.

 

Other than that I want us to defend corners differently....ie better.

 

Thats all....the rest will be what it will be

[tickler28]

1 hour ago, BenTayfour said:

• Staff :

- New Manager if thing won't turn around or an assistant manager to sort our defence and set peices.

- whole new medical team.

 

• Players : 

 

• Players to be sold :

 

 - Bertrand.

 - Vestergard.

 - Hamza.

 - Mendy.

 - Praet.

 - Perez.

 - Benkovic.

 - Ricardo

 - (Amartey, Tielemans, Albrighton, Evans) 

 

• Players in :

- Two CB.

- Two Fullbacks.

- Two leftfooted right wingers.

- CDM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sell Ricardo?!?! Are you mad?

[lcfc sheff]

It’s just injuries that are the real problem innit

[Sooper Steve's shin]

Experience. I have said this for the last couple of seasons when we crumbled at the last and I still firmly believe we need one of those signings that Pearson was good at - an older head to steady things like a Wasilewski, Huth or Cambiasso. We don’t have those leader types in the team (or arguably the squad) except at either end of the field in Schmeichel and Vardy. We need a hard b*stard centre half and/or centre midfielder who can knock a few heads together (our own or the opposition’s). Tielemans is fantastic and has a certain type of leadership in terms of dictating play, but he does not seem to be the vocal leader to fire a team up. Ditto Ndidi who is great defensively but seems a quiet lad. Evans is a good organizer of the defence but I’m not sure he’s one to be getting things through to the midfield. Soyuncu, Castagne, Perreira, Fofana, Amartey - all quiet lads. 
I don’t know who the person is - it may be a leftfield shout from overseas like Cambiasso - but I think it’s character we lack more than any particular deficit in playing ability or football skills. 

[jayfox26]

14 hours ago, LVocey said:

Stay with me here…and I know this won’t be popular within such a feisty bunch as FT is after any loss…but not much at all.

 

The worst thing we can do is panic, when we panic buy, it doesn’t work out (look at Vestegaard).

 

Firstly we need to remain patient and not rush players back from injury. Yes we all want Justin and Fofana back asap, but let’s make sure when they are back they stay fit.

 

The Youri situation needs sorting in the summer, if he won’t sign, let’s sell and bring someone in the middle of the park who can pass through the lines. It’s the biggest thing we miss when he’s absent.

 

Id like a right winger in the summer, but let’s stick to our usual targets of 20-24 year olds with something to prove. 
 

Other than that, I’m pretty calm with our squad once everyone is fit. 

You don't think we need a keeper and a defender or 2?

[Dusty]

I’ve been thinking about who’s looking to still be here in 2 years time, and I think there’s a lot of players that will be different. Wouldn’t be surprised if kasper, Ricardo, Jonny, Cags, fofana, Bertrand, Youri aren’t here by that point. It’s a lot of people and certainly leaves cb with a lot of work to do to replace. But I also think we’ve got some really talented players that will be here that will keep us challenging for Europe. Justin, Thomas, Castagne, Wilf, Soumare, KDH, Barnes, Daka. To me that’s the core of a really strong team. 

Madders is a difficult one to predict as on his day he’s incredible and could play for most teams in the world. But then the other part of him is injury prone and inconsistent. 

 

We’ve got some work to do to fill in the gaps so I’m hopeful we can improve. 

[escape2victory]

Very big summer ahead and key decisions to be made with Amartey and Lookman expiring this summer and then Tielemans, Soyuncu, Ricardo, Perez, Bertrand, Evans, Mendy, Vardy, Choudhury, Schmeichel and Benkovic contracts all expiring in 2023, so realistically this summer will be the last window where we can get a fee for them. For what it’s worth I’d do the following:

 

Amartey: offer new deal, is a decent steady squad player. Not sure if he wants to be 4th choice, but if happy, offer new deal.

Lookman: try and buy if it’s a decent fee. Good squad cover for both left and right wing.

Tielemans: unfortunately sell as clearly not signing a new contract so get what we can

Soyuncu: Sell. Turned into a comedy defender

Ricardo: sell unfortunately. Injuries and poor form, can’t see him ever getting back

Perez: sell, get whatever you can

Bertrand: a loan to the championship probably best bet, and then release 2023.

Evans: offer new 1-2 year deal

Mendy: sell/release whatever

Vardy: new deal for as long as he wants to keep playing.

Choudhury: Sell, get whatever we can

Schmeichel: let him run down contract and then go our seperate ways in 2023. 
Benkovic: sell/ release whatever.

 

So this summer I would sell Tielemans, Soyuncu, Ricardo, Perez, Bertrand(loan), Mendy, Choudhury, Benkovic…….clear the decks