Are we now going backwards ffs!!!

[thesilverbluefox]

I'm still buzzing about being Champions of English football, witnessing Champions League football, 2 top 5 finishes and a glorious F.A. Cup win but I have to ask myself am i probably guilty of expecting too much???.

After winning the Community Shield too and seeming like its set another season to remember up its been a total disaster with injuries, not enough quality of strength in depth, players woefully out of form and some basically not good enough in the first place, at times totally disagree with team selection and formation which lies at Rodgers feet. To top it off no chance of any sigings in the January transfer window. 

 

What do our brilliant fans think about where we are at the moment? This is just my opinion by the way so I'm really interested what other Foxes have to say and if they are as gutted and disorientated as I am at the minute?

 

Cheers as always  "Leicester till I Die"

[Spudulike]

I think we're all a bit tired and emotional after Wednesday. 

[Sunbury Fox]

I don't think any club could have handled the sheer number of injuries to defensive players this season. At the start on Wednesday we were missing 7 (!!!) first team defenders, including our entire first choice back 4. In fact, we've not been able to field our first choice back 4 together once all season. The knock on effect of these never ending injuries has meant continual changes in personnel at the back which in turn has led to inconsistency and a lack of coordination in our defending. That is the root cause of all of our problems. As we saw last season, even a side as strong as Liverpool struggled when faced with a similar (though still not as bad) situation and ended up getting about 30 points fewer than in the previous session. 

Edited 22 January 2022 by Sunbury Fox

[thesilverbluefox]

It's OK Rodgers saying we got this player back this week that player back that week so everything is looking rosy but in the meantime we getting and looking more like a mediocre mid table prem team 

[ronnup]

Take JJ, Fofana, Evans, Vardy and Ricardo out of the team and we are a mid table team. 

[foxfan92]

Thank goodness someone else has decided to create another over reactionary thread about one point they wanted to make , but that thought was deemed by them to be too important or unique to just add to one of a million very similar existing topics on here!

 

I worry we don't have enough things like this on Foxestalk!

[mozartfox]

FT is a place to avoid when we have had a bad result. We are not Manchester City and never will be.  We are all sore after Wednesday, I get this, but this is our beloved Leicester.    Some posters on here may be better off looking for a Club that wins every week and has cash oozing out by the skip load.

[Fox92]

Fvck me. Some of the reactions on here. 

Imagine being this gutted over an average mid table finish in the top flight.

[SemperEadem]

4 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Fvck me. Some of the reactions on here. 

Imagine being this gutted over an average mid table finish in the top flight.

Money warped it.

[fox_up_north]

When we don't have to pick our fifth choice emergency CB regularly, is the time to get wound up by results like that. 

[nnfox]

 

Here's where we're at.

 

Leicester have always been a club with ups and downs. We are not of a sufficient size to be expecting multiple seasons of European football and trophies every year.  Realistically, our ceiling is to get ourselves into a position to challenge the top teams.  We are at that level now and have been for a few seasons.  Plot our trajectory with 5 year periods...

 

06/07 - 10/11 We were a Championship club that suffered relegation to League 1 and bounced back to the Championship

11/12 - 15/16 We made solid plans to obtain Premier League status which we finally achieved with 14/15 being our first season back in the Prem.  We all lived the dream in 2015/16 with the unlikeliest title win in sport ever.

16/17 - 20/21 Champions League, Europa League, pretty much always being around the top of the league and an FA Cup win to boot.  A world class training facility is built.  This season is our 8th consecutive Premier League season

 

The trajectory is most definitely upwards, but I do think that we have reached as far as a club of our size can.  Now we are at that level, there will continue to be ups and downs.  Some seasons will be fantastic and some will be disappointing and there are so many variables that play a part - not all of which we can control.  When we are injury free and the top teams under perform we can take advantage, when the top teams play well and injuries mount up for us, then it's to be expected that we fall away somewhat.  To be able to consistently perform to that level whilst having mounting injuries and other set backs is probably the next level to aim at for us.  As we grow as a club with the stadium expansion and as we bed into the training facilities, we might get there, but to consistently finish in the top quarter of the Premier League is a very, very difficult thing to do.  We are talking of truly world class levels of performance at the very pinnacle of elite sport in the most competitive league in the world.  We are just not in a position to expect us to be there all the time right now.  It's difficult enough to sit at that top table, but there are a growing number of other clubs with legitimate ambitions of doing the same too, which only makes it more difficult.

 

The question mark for me is around Brendan and what his legacy will be.  He delivered us the FA Cup (and Charity Shield) but ultimately our league showing during his tenure is littered with missed opportunities.  There's no way we've gone backwards, but it does feel a little bit that we've stalled.  No doubt we are in a rut in this moment, it's all about where we emerge from it - back on the road to the top or dragged back into the pack?

 

One thing is for sure though.  This has been a golden age for our club.  Our achievements have been exceptional in the current climate.  To not be a traditional "Big 6" club and win one major trophy is unlikely, to win two is almost unbelievable.  Wes Morgan, Jamie Vardy, Kasper Schmeichel, Marc Albrighton and Christian Fuchs all have two winners medals.  I think I am right in saying there are no other players this century who have 2 winners medals for any domestic trophies without winning at least one of them by playing for a big 6 team.  Remarkable.

 

 

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

This season looks to be a write off in the context of recent times, but there are good reasons why.

 

Congested seasons, too many games, injuries, key players off form for long periods, questionable recruitment etc… and a lot of that has been beyond our control.

 

If we had hung on against Spurs would this thread have been created? 
 

Even the ‘big clubs’ have seasons like this where they under perform - for them it might be finishing 6th. But for us at the moment it’s finishing outside that group.

 

Recharge, regroup and go again next season I can’t see any reason why we can’t crack the top 6 again.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

We're giving the appearance that we're going forwards while actually moving backwards. So essentially we're moonwalking.

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, thesilverbluefox said:

I'm still buzzing about being Champions of English football, witnessing Champions League football, 2 top 5 finishes and a glorious F.A. Cup win but I have to ask myself am i probably guilty of expecting too much???.

After winning the Community Shield too and seeming like its set another season to remember up its been a total disaster with injuries, not enough quality of strength in depth, players woefully out of form and some basically not good enough in the first place, at times totally disagree with team selection and formation which lies at Rodgers feet. To top it off no chance of any sigings in the January transfer window. 

 

What do our brilliant fans think about where we are at the moment? This is just my opinion by the way so I'm really interested what other Foxes have to say and if they are as gutted and disorientated as I am at the minute?

 

Cheers as always  "Leicester till I Die"

...very much this forum is a barometer of how we feel in relation to your question!!!

  Maybe a tour in the various topics might assuage you anxiety or guilt.

 

[davieG]

With current set up of the league financially League wise I think we're destined at best to be in the 6 - 10th positions with occasional and hopefully regular forays into the top 5. assuming we can maintain this position with youth development and astute recruitment we're going to having to continually reshape the team as we will be forever having to replace our best players as they leave for richer clubs and they will unlikely be like for like. 

[Xen]

 

Taken from transfermarkt, thats an overview of our squad availability per game. Not so bad in midfield/upfront, but we've been decimated at the back. Any team would struggle to deal with that many injuries in the squad, let alone when focussed in one area like that. Then the lack of consistency means partnerships cant develop and miscommunications happen, and it weakens the defence even more so. Its no surprise we're struggling, although at least we've still been relatively good going forwards despite not having a base to build off of - which gives me hope for when we can eventually sort out our defensive woes.

 

Now, there's more to our failings than just injuries and we could criticise the club for why we're getting so many (impact injuries like Fofana, Justin, Castagne can't be helped, but others can) but there comes a tipping point where you enter a vicious cycle - not enough players available means overplaying the ones you do have (like Vardy, Evans) and creating more injury troubles longer term. It's a tricky one, but with JJ coming back slowly, a few others on the cusp, the imminent return of Amartey/Ndidi/Nacho and the promising signs from our youth players, we should start to get a bit more stability in who we have available (and the quality of those players).

 

In isolation, this season we have absolutely gone backwards, and it does risk stalling our progress in the transfermarket or losing players like Youri, but on the whole we're still capable of outperforming anyone in the league on our day (see: Liverpool) and we'll still be in the fight for 5th-8th alongside Spurs/Arsenal/West Ham over the coming seasons. Is Rodgers the right man to take us forward? Perhaps, perhaps not, but the overall progress of our club is to establish ourselves as regularly challenging for/in Europe, and the odd season where we miss the mark (particularly under mitigating circumstances) is to be expected.

Edited 22 January 2022 by Xen
Added source link

[FuriousFox46]

We’ve had a below par season for a variety of reasons.

 

I think it’s a big overreaction to say we’re going backwards. We’re probably treading water at the moment.

[Collibosher70]

It's a freak season....never known injuries this bad...we'll recover and move onwards and upwards

[filthyfox]

MATE!  Have you heard about the Harry Kane Wing?  
Its An extension of Tottenham Hotspur Throphy case, celebrating their glittering success at winning trophies since 2014!

[whoareyaaa]

Injuries mainly in the defence are the overall cause we just won the FA Cup and finished top 5 twice so can't be going backwards, this season everyone has been shit on the whole bar Man City and that's because they have about two first team squads full of quality.

Edited 22 January 2022 by whoareyaaa

[Stevosevic]

No club can always move forward. 

 

For us we'll be up and down. 

[HesNotGudjonsonn2]

I just like a thread title ending with FFS! From now on all my posts will end this way regardless of context.

 

With that in mind, let’s see how we do with a fit first team. We have Justin back now. FFS! 

[Captain...]

Last 3 games have been beating Liverpool, smashing Watford with a bunch of kids and being 1 minute from beating Spurs. I'm worried for the rest of the Premier League if this us going backwards.

[David Hankey]

I wouldn't say we're going backwards nor are we going forwards. More like treading water and given the circumstances with all the absentees and disjointed season it's not surprising.

 

If we can stay in the top half and kick on next season, I for one, would be relatively happy.

[Anglodanglo]

I thought we only went sideways