RADICAL New Idea for Saturday

[OntarioFox]

Worth noting too that, while it's clicked on occasion (the 9-0 freak win for example), we've played our best football under Rodgers when we've torn up the rulebook and re-adopted our gung-ho style.

People point to the West Brom game when we raced into a 3-0 lead and then Rodgers wasn't happy with how "open" we were and the second half was complete toilet. But the one people forget is our 4-1 win away at Aston Villa. Two up front, Vardy & Iheanacho, it was true "classic" Leicester. The only reason we conceded on the day was a bit of individual magic from Grealish, the sort we now rely on from Madders or Tielemans to dig us out.

We absolutely demolished them without ever once resorting to death by a thousand passes. IMO, our best overall performance of the Rodgers era, and precisely because it was a rare occasion where the manager actually went against his instincts and played direct.

 

It's hard to sit there and take something that, for the most part, has been forced upon both us and the squad, and which has time and time again been shown to be less effective than our previous way of playing. It's now actively looking like our club could be relegated because of it.

Edited 19 January 2023 by OntarioFox

[ceebeefox]

I’m an ode git I guess, first season going down was ‘70/71 season as an 11 year old, had a break to play senior league football from ‘75 till I broke my leg in ‘90 and I’ve had a season ticket since then. I only see blue and white and whatever league we’re in I’m there. ( how many premier league hangers on will be there if relegated?  -8000? ). I’ve seen good bad and very bad prior to magnificence more recently. I fully agree with roaring them on Saturday even in blind ignorance! It’s needed. My gripe isn’t style or system it’s lack of hard running in the side. I read through the Newcastle and Forest teams pre match and couldn’t envisage being out played, but out ran was enough in all games.

[RonnieTodger]

5 hours ago, nnfox said:

Meh, just bring the clappers back.

That would be the final straw for me, I reckon 

[MancFox24]

57 minutes ago, Kitchandro said:

If you think this then you simply did not watch the matches. it's completely false. I'm a bit fed up with correcting people on this.

We did the exact opposite of what you are suggesting - we tried to change to a more ‘considered’, possession based style of play (probably because we lost Kante) and that is why we nearly got relegated. Shakespeare came in and changed it back for a spell, resulting in us beating Sevilla and a dramatic improvement in form.

To be clear, the key components of our 2015/16 style (and of pretty much every good side nowadays) is a high press and a high tempo with emphasis on pace. It's not necessarily just long balls in the channels and it wasn't when we won the league either. We won the ball high up the pitch and got near the goal as quickly as posible, that is how you win games, statistics have proven this.

I won't accuse you of not watching games, but I might politely suggest you're misremembering them. Statistics show our possession and pass completion were virtually the same in the year we won the league and the year after. As for a key component being pace, who apart from Vardy was particularly quick in that 15/16 team? I'm not criticising the way we played then, I just completely disagree with your characterisation of it. 

 

I agree with you about wanting to see a high press but it has to be done sensibly. I think we've been too gung ho in our high press at points last season and at the start of this one and although they make for entertaining games, we aren't anywhere near solid enough at the back to play like this. We were actually doing it well pre World Cup by using KDH as the trigger and you could see the improvement in his decision making on when to press compared to when he first came into the team and was running around like a headless chicken. People may not like it but that might have something to do with Rodgers' coaching. 

 

High press, high tempo, pace are all important. But so is possession and just dismissing it is such a small club mentality. We haven't got the balance right at the minute, largely down to injuries and lack of squad depth. But for most of Rodgers' period in charge we have got it right and if the injuries improve and we get a couple of players in I think we'll be OK.

[fox_up_north]

That's all well and good but if I'm spending the best part of £60-70 going to a game then I want my fuching money's worth. 

 

These are not local lads who love the game. They're millionaires paid to play football and they should be professional about it. Same goes for the manager. 

 

One thing about Leeds under Bielsa that always made them cheer was the entertainment and passion. They'd either be amazing or dreadful. But at least it was interesting. Last few games I've done would have been better spent going to the cinema, if we're being blunt. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

8 hours ago, Saxondale said:

  

P.S. I realise the very first reply to this post will be some ode git angrily retorting something along the lines of  “maybe the players should give us something to cheer about”, but don’t waste your breath.

 

 

You mean like Keats or Wordsworth?

[fuchsntf]

7 hours ago, Kilworthfox said:

I've been "selling" the idea for years. Look where the club is now. 

Aren’t you the lost & hidden great fortune teller…

Everyclub should have a @Kilworthfox it will solve so many future problems..

A sort of a manager-diviner…

In our case Rodgers-deviner ….

Stand up you Hero of Leicester..

[Ted Maul]

Agree with most of that- our home support is shocking and has been for years now.

 

Don't agree regarding the style of football. I'd say the game has moved on from the slow passing style we try to play every week- we remind me of Swansea during their downfall at the moment. 2 of our easiest games in 2015/16 with our high intensity press and direct approach. Nobody is asking us to play route one hit and hope stuff- just transitioning quicker, with more purpose and without letting the opposition defence settle before we get to the half way line would be a massive improvement.

[TJQuik]

4 hours ago, THE MAGICIAN said:

Best post of the Decade, no actually it's the best post EVER, let's get behind them while they are playing, stay behind and vent ya anger after should you need to but for the 90 minutes plus. Let's av it 

1st minute - 90th minute: yess gwon you Foxes, we love you, we believe in you!

FT: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! YOU'RE SHIT! BRENDAN OUT! FAES AND AMARTEY ARE SHIT!

1st minute in the next match: yess gwon you Foxes we love you!

[Kilworthfox]

3 hours ago, fuchsntf said:

Aren’t you the lost & hidden great fortune teller…

Everyclub should have a @Kilworthfox it will solve so many future problems..

A sort of a manager-diviner…

In our case Rodgers-deviner ….

Stand up you Hero of Leicester..

Cheers babes 😎😘

[TheLittleBigMan]

If I get too excited it makes me need a poo.

Edited 19 January 2023 by TheLittleBigMan

[ShepshedFox1884]

22 hours ago, Saxondale said:

Lads, I’ve got a bit of a mad new idea for Saturday. It’s a bit of a new one, and it’s going to be a struggle to get it to catch on. The idea is so left field that people are going to take some serious convincing. 

 

Hear me out: Why don’t we actually cheer the team on? You know, give them a bit of encouragement?

 

In all seriousness, we KNOW the side plays better when the crowd is bouncing. This is how momentum builds. Yes, it is a chicken / egg situation: the crowd is bouncing when the team is playing well and vice versa. When we won the league, the crowd was unbelievable every week and the team felt unbeatable. They were unbeatable. Which came first? IT DOESN’T MATTER.

 

Furthermore, professional players will openly say that they play better when the crowd is behind them. They will also explain how when the crowd is on their back, they freeze up and are frightened to play with any creativity and expression for fear of making any mistakes.

 

Look at Barnes: he can’t hit a barn door at the moment. It’s absolutely obvious what’s going on - he’s a confidence player. He goes on runs of being amazing, then being erratic; it exactly mirrors how the team is doing and how the crowd is behaving.

 

We as the fan base need to do our bit to break the cycle of negativity. With the current sour atmosphere, we could have Messi and Mbappe in the side and we’d still lose. If you were a player and your own fans were jeering and booing you, would you want to play for them? I wouldn’t.

 

We also need to dispel a few misconceptions. The “forward, quicker” mob need to have a word with themselves. We’re not Wimbledon in 1995 and - even if we wanted to be - we don’t have Ekoku and Gayle up front. It’s 2023, and football has moved on from those halcyon days, whether you like it or not.

 

When players pass it around at the back, it’s not because they’re being “negative”, it’s because they’re retaining possession and trying to draw the opposition players into a press to create a gap in midfield. When they spot a space opening up, they will progress the ball forward. Ironically, when the the defenders and DMs do take a gamble and lump a quick forward pass and it doesn’t come off, the “forward, quicker” whingers are the first to shout “RUBBISH!”

 

It amazes me the number of fans who will boast “I’ve been watching City for 55 years, I know what I’m talking about”, yet seem incapable of understanding even the very, very basics of how modern football is played. Honestly lads, if you don’t like it, no-one’s forcing you to keep coming.

 

One of these chaps came up to me at the Brighton game to have a whinge about our “negativity” or some other bollocks, which I wasn’t really in the mood to entertain. This bloke claimed very insistently “we won the league playing one-touch football”.

 

Now, I’m not entirely sure what he meant by this, especially given that a lot of our unbelievable attacking play centred around Mahrez taking thirty touches and skinning an entire opposition defence. In any case, I suspect what he was actually referring to was our quick breaks and counter attacking.

 

Yes, we famously won the league with very little possession - but even if our possession was as little as 33%, we still had the ball a third of the time. It’s funny how people’s memories are selective. We all remember the Drinkwater dinked through balls and Vardy chasing them and blazing it in the bottom corner. But people forget Drinkwater and Kante retaining possession, passing between each other and the back four, drawing out the opposition to create the space for us to launch our attacks. 

 

In summary: STOP WHINGING - we’ve heard it all before. Get behind the team. If you’re going to get upset that we’re not the 90s Crazy Gang, stay at home. Whether you like it or not, a continual negative atmosphere will send us down to the Championship.

 

P.S. I realise the very first reply to this post will be some ode git angrily retorting something along the lines of  “maybe the players should give us something to cheer about”, but don’t waste your breath.

 

P.P.S. I realise that now I’ve said that, somebody is going to post that exact thing to be comical. Fair play.

If I go back to this I completely agree with him and have been thinking for a while what happened to are top class support week in week out at the king power for years do people not remember how often birch would speak about are support and always praise us for it. i can say now I want us to be talked about for are atmosphere again and I don’t believe it would be too difficult to get the whole stadium bouncing again I’m not saying we need to get the atmosphere to what it was like the year we won the league but with 30,000 Leicester fans cheering there team on it could go a long way to get the players confident and get them playing better 

[volpeazzurro]

22 hours ago, Saxondale said:

You say that, but Rodgersball had us in top four form for a nice little run before the World Cup.

 

Im not pro-Rodgers by the way, I’m just being pragmatic.

I wouldn't say we were in top form at all, we merely played 3 teams that, at that time, were even bigger duffers than we were 🤣.

 

We also, in Maddison, had a player that was substantially better than any the opposition had got.

 

Even when on the surface, when we looked to be doing well in finishing 5th, my personal thoughts were that we were very poor to watch and flattered to deceive. We largely didn't get there due to the quality of our team play and Rodgersball, it was more the individual skills and moments from some of our players.

 

Without those individual skills and moments propping us up, due to injuries or sale of players, there has been no quality of play, system or tactics to fall back on. Most teams face such issues for similar reasons but it is then down to the skill of the manager to alter his system and tactics to suit whatever players he has available to him still.

 

Ploughing on regardless like a one trick pony is a recipe for disaster. If we do survive, it will be less to do with Rodgers and more to do with whether we get certain players back from injury and performing somewhere near their best in time,  because on paper, despite certain known deficiencies in particular areas of the pitch, when all available, we still have a better squad of players than most around us at the bottom. 

[Saxondale]

Bumping this because it's as relevant as ever.

 

If the atmosphere at our remaining games is as sour as it has been for much of the season, we will go down. 

[volpeazzurro]

On 19/01/2023 at 21:58, TheLittleBigMan said:

If I get too excited it makes me need a poo.

At least you're probably young enough to hold the turtle in poo harbour for a while.

[shailen]

It won't be tonight at least. Like a pressure valve has been released. 

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

Bring back the clappers! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m being serious.

[OntarioFox]

LET THE GOOD (ish) TIMES ROLL 

[sishades]

2 hours ago, Saxondale said:

Bumping this because it's as relevant as ever.

 

If the atmosphere at our remaining games is as sour as it has been for much of the season, we will go down. 

We are going down anyway.

[Saxondale]

5 hours ago, sishades said:

We are going down anyway.

OK, no need to watch any of this season's remaining games then if you already know how it's going to end.

[SemperEadem]

5 hours ago, Wasyls Pec Deck said:

Bring back the clappers! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m being serious.

Might find them in your seat Saturday.

[HybridFox]

Rodgers

Assembled

Defenders

Into

Crap

At

Leicester

[Gamble92]

Birch loses the plot pre-match and windmills his cock for the big screens. The PA man starts playing our goal music. 

 

Everyone gets right up for it