Are we looking at the right priorities?

[Ric Flair]

16 minutes ago, lcfcbluearmy said:

Hopefully not sure lack of chances is Barnes problem though when he messes up or just refuses to shoot on the ones he does get

Still scores and assists up there with the top performing wingers in the league, so I repeat, with less focus on him being our only attacking outlet he gets more space to attack and gets more chances both for him to finish or for him to provide.

[Ric Flair]

36 minutes ago, FoxinNotts said:

In your opinion, Ric, what formation should we be playing?

With the current players available? Or if we get a RW in?

 

Currently a fluid 4-3-1-2 / 4-3-3 where Iheanacho and Barnes support Daka or Vardy in a 3 or with one of them dropping in behind the two. 

 

With the addition of a RW then 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 all the way. Maddison back central but in a free role to support the striker and generally cause havoc. A front 3 of Barnes Daka Tete with Maddison behind is mind bending if it happened. You watch Daka become much more integral with space created for him, his inability to do that himself is frustrating but giving him a hand in that and he'll bludgeon goals.

[splinterdream]

I’d look at giving Thomas a go on the left wing if Barnes is that bad, the lad can cross a ball at least.

[yorkie1999]

4 minutes ago, splinterdream said:

I’d look at giving Thomas a go on the left wing if Barnes is that bad, the lad can cross a ball at least.

The lad needs a permanent chaperone, which is what is hampering Barnes.

[lcfcbluearmy]

12 minutes ago, Guest said:

I'm hopeful that with Congerton gone and Rodgers seemingly trying to distance himself from the Kristiansen signing, the days of us buying players specifically for him rather than for the club are finished. If he is the decent coach he professes to be then it should be well within his power to coax some goals and creativity from a squad containing Maddison, Tielemans, Barnes, Vardy, Iheanacho, Daka and our theoretical new right winger, and if his system prevents him from doing that then he wants to have a good look at his system. In both a financial and sporting sense we cannot afford to let our transfer business be dictated by him.

Again I do agree but I think as shown by previous actions Rodgers is very happy to exclude players that he dosent like/ don't fit into his system and I worry if we are making signings that he dosent think fit/ are not his signings we will get a repeat of this and unless we are planning to get rid of him, which we don't seem to be it dosent seem to be a good idea if he continues to be stubbern and not change the way we play

[sacreblueits442]

On 23/01/2023 at 13:33, lcfcbluearmy said:

I'm actually of a view that I know is the minority but its Barnes that is the main problem down the left side and a better winger would help Thomas but I understand that is different to what alot of people think

...you are correct to a point, Barnes gives little help to Thomas and he himself is lost if players crowd him or show him the outside!!!

[hackneyfox]

On 23/01/2023 at 17:12, lcfcbluearmy said:

Again I do agree but I think as shown by previous actions Rodgers is very happy to exclude players that he dosent like/ don't fit into his system and I worry if we are making signings that he dosent think fit/ are not his signings we will get a repeat of this and unless we are planning to get rid of him, which we don't seem to be it dosent seem to be a good idea if he continues to be stubbern and not change the way we play

Manager doesn’t pick players he doesn’t like/don’t fit into his system shock!!!!

What kind of manager would pick a player that doesn’t fit into the chosen system????

You’ll be claiming that some managers have favourites next.

[lcfcbluearmy]

1 hour ago, hackneyfox said:

Manager doesn’t pick players he doesn’t like/don’t fit into his system shock!!!!

What kind of manager would pick a player that doesn’t fit into the chosen system????

You’ll be claiming that some managers have favourites next.

No my point was that he buys people then dosent use them because he decides he no longer likes them/they don't fit e.g. Perez, vesterguarrd, Bertrand to some extent soumare and also excluding good players e.g. Soyuncu 

[lcfcbluearmy]

On 23/01/2023 at 13:02, SecretPro said:

We are currently looking at RW and CB. That's basically what we need.

As time goes on it looks even more likely that we prioritised wrong in looking for a LB which wasn't a priority and we are going to run out of time/ money to improve tge wingers and CB which is where the focus should have been

[FrankieADZ]

we arent, we need a new manager and DOF too

[LVFox]

Tete and Souttar would be brilliant, really confident both happen now. I'd still like a new GK but can understand the thinking of waiting until the summer on that. 

 

[FLAN]

On 23/01/2023 at 17:10, yorkie1999 said:

The lad needs a permanent chaperone, which is what is hampering Barnes.

You are surely not suggesting Barnes isn’t playing well due to covering Thomas?

[yorkie1999]

1 hour ago, FLAN said:

You are surely not suggesting Barnes isn’t playing well due to covering Thomas?

I surely am.

[FLAN]

6 minutes ago, yorkie1999 said:

I surely am.

One of the weirdest takes I’ve heard on Barnes so far. 

[yorkie1999]

43 minutes ago, FLAN said:

One of the weirdest takes I’ve heard on Barnes so far. 

Ok, but if you've ever tried running up and down the wing covering both your left back and also trying to score 20-30 times, you'd realise just how knackering it is, you watch him, he looks completly fvcked.

[FLAN]

But he doesn’t cover him. He’s hardly busting a gut every week is he?

[Death by Football]

On 23/01/2023 at 16:57, Guest said:

I'm hopeful that with Congerton gone and Rodgers seemingly trying to distance himself from the Kristiansen signing, the days of us buying players specifically for him rather than for the club are finished. If he is the decent coach he professes to be then it should be well within his power to coax some goals and creativity from a squad containing Maddison, Tielemans, Barnes, Vardy, Iheanacho, Daka and our theoretical new right winger, and if his system prevents him from doing that then he wants to have a good look at his system. In both a financial and sporting sense we cannot afford to let our transfer business be dictated by him.

I'm hopeful that the club is dictating the players we sign for positions that we know we need, while we have a respected (by the media) manager in place that shows the incoming players we have stability, but once the transfer window closes and they're in place we then sack off Rodgers and put Vardy and Huth in place as interim management team.  We'll still get relegated but it will be a sh!tload more entertaining. 

[Chrysalis]

On 23/01/2023 at 13:01, lcfcbluearmy said:

Cool we have made outr first signing a LB to support Luke Thomas. This was probably needed but should it have been our top priority I would very much argue not. 

 

Part of our problem is at the moment with Vardy ageing and Barnes being put of for whilst Rodgers insists in playing a 4-3-3 with wingers (which we don't have) is that we are toothless on attack. This means that the opposition defense is not scared of our attack which means they can push forward more and put more pressure on our flaky defense. 

 

Therefore I would say that our priority this transfer window needs to be bringing in at least 1 if not 2 wingers and possibly another striker if Rodgers is refusing to play 2 upfront. 

 

If this is not done by the end of the window I would see this as a faliure of the window and the recruitment team getting their priorities wrong 

We have signed almost a dozen defenders during BR's reign, the thinking seems to be defensive woes is down to players not coaching, I expect more money to be spent in that area as well.

We deffo need wingers, maybe a striker, and I assume someone to replace Maddison.

 

But rodgers loves to hang on to one goal leads and pass it round the back, so what do I know.

[Lesterlad]

On 23/01/2023 at 16:40, Mike1983 said:

Almost criminal how vastly underrated the GK position is. We are in this predicament we’re in because we have the worst GK in the PL (despite all our flaws and weaknesses).

 

Going from Kasper to Ward has to be one of the biggest downgrades in this club’s history.

Dont know Wallington to Grew took some beating 

[deep blue]

On 27/01/2023 at 11:06, FLAN said:

You are surely not suggesting Barnes isn’t playing well due to covering Thomas?

I find the Thomas - Barnes discussion intriguing, and hard to sort out what's gone wrong.  Thomas was perfectly adequate when he first stepped up and had good interplay with Barnes, but for a while now it's gone very sour and Thomas looks like a little-boy-lost, rarely showsing the quality that he undoubtedly has at forward passing. crossing the ball and supporting Barnes. His confidence seems to have collapsed.  

 

I remember Chilwell's main asset being his athleticism running forward with the ball and how effective he was, until we played Liverpool and Man C in successive games in Dec 2019.  In those games the opposition spotted a weakness in our formation on that side and swamped that side of the field when attacking, which overwhelmed Chilwell.  Soon after that he had a spell when suddenly he would advance so far up the wing but then inexplicably turn back, as if he had lost his confidence to push forward.

 

I wonder if a similar situation has occurred with Thomas.  I've certainly seen him play with much more authority, coolness and confidence than he is showing at the moment.

 

[surrifox]

22 hours ago, Lesterlad said:

Dont know Wallington to Grew took some beating 

Lineker to whoever ( think Mark Bright) too 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Does anyone think we might need another CM?

 

I guess you could say Mendy / Ndidi as DM and then 2 from 3 of Youri, Praet and KDH but I don't know - except for KDH (who has a ceiling) those guys are out of form or disillusioned and have their eye on the exit door. 

 

I'd feel a lot more comfortable if we could get in another top quality option in the engine room to invigorate the others, a bit like Faes has been doing in defence.

[moore_94]

1 minute ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

Does anyone think we might need another CM?

 

I guess you could say Mendy / Ndidi as DM and then 2 from 3 of Youri, Praet and KDH but I don't know - except for KDH (who has a ceiling) those guys are out of form or disillusioned and have their eye on the exit door. 

 

I'd feel a lot more comfortable if we could get in another top quality option in the engine room to invigorate the others, a bit like Faes has been doing in defence.

I would like one but I think we will be okay

 

With Tete coming in I expect to see Maddison central in an 8/10 role now anyway

[Bluearmyfox28]

Dream scenario for me across this window and the next is bringing in:

 

GK - Lafont (Nantes) 

CB - Souttar (Stoke)

CDM - Mohammed Camara (Monaco)

CAM - Alex Scott (Bristol City)

Winger - Harrison

Winger - Any decent free agent to balance the squad (would love Bouriegeaud but would come at a cost)

Then sell/release:

Ward

Soyuncu

Vestegaard

Bertrand

Thomas (Loan, option to recall)

Mendy

Perez 

Praet

Offer new contracts to:

Amartey (Good enough as 4th choice)

Evans (Vital leadership/very good rotational) 

 

Would cost a lot of money but if the club want to be anywhere near what they use to be a huge rebuild is needed.

[TonyN11]

Hmm, still need a goalkeeper and a manager