Centre midfield crisis on the horizon?

[Hamilton Fox]

3 hours ago, beepee1984 said:

Why does every one assume we are losing Maddison this summer, yes there is interest, yes he will be in the final year of his contract, but lets be right our club have proven to be very stubborn when it comes to selling hence why Youri is still here. Mahrez stayed an extra transfer window. We will either get a very good price for him or he will play out his final year. If we get a good price, then I expect Glover already has a replacement in mind.

Because after tielemans going for free and us not being able to buy players last summer the club will now think we cant let that happen again.

 

I personally think they must have been in discussions with Maddison on a new contract and there hasn’t been any indication he’s going to sign a new one so think he will be off in summer

[Unabomber]

3 hours ago, beepee1984 said:

Why does every one assume we are losing Maddison this summer, yes there is interest, yes he will be in the final year of his contract, but lets be right our club have proven to be very stubborn when it comes to selling hence why Youri is still here. Mahrez stayed an extra transfer window. We will either get a very good price for him or he will play out his final year. If we get a good price, then I expect Glover already has a replacement in mind.

If he doesn’t go to Newcastle I will be absolutely amazed 

[Foxes96]

Plenty of options out there as others have said. And potentially the option for a refresh and a more balanced midfield 3 with a proper RW. 

 

Enzo Le Fee

Orkun Kökcü

Hossem Aouar

Daichi Kamada 

Alex Scott 

Matt O’riley

Dominik Szoboszlai

[Guest Col city fan]

42 minutes ago, Foxes96 said:

Plenty of options out there as others have said. And potentially the option for a refresh and a more balanced midfield 3 with a proper RW. 

 

Enzo Le Fee

Orkun Kökcü

Hossem Aouar

Daichi Kamada 

Alex Scott 

Matt O’riley

Dominik Szoboszlai

There is no way on earth Dominik Szoboszlai signs for Leicester.

[jayfox26]

2 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

There is no way on earth Dominik Szoboszlai signs for Leicester.

Was my first thought when i saw that post 🤣

[FoxyLeon]

Tielemans leaving will be a blessing for Ndidi. Youri's inability to get around the pitch leads him to being so deep than Ndidi is often the one who has to do the higher pressing. Hopefully next season Ndidi will return to the number 6 role with KDH one side and then a new number 8/10 the other. 

[sacreblueits442]

11 hours ago, Scotch said:

I see it as the opposite. 

 

With the current squad we have, 4 at the back, 3 playing behind the striker...

It leaves a 2 man midfield as the only option but how may of our current lot are fully comfortable in a 2 man CM role? Even on form, Ndidi isn't. Youri isn't really. Soumare is supposed to be but I think he lacks the legs and energy to do it at this level. Praet isn't. KDK arguably is and Mendy is but isn't quite there in terms of quality. 

 

With Tielemans, Mendy and possibly Praet leaving... It gives us the chance to get in midfielders who suit that system. If we can get in two players who can defend, get around the pitch and pass the ball, that team yesterday is a very good one. 

...did we not play with a midfield two, when we were challenging for top 4!!!

[Nicolo Barella]

All these people saying Ndidi is just devoid of confidence, I really think his best is past him. He's suffered a lot of injuries and been brutally overplayed, I wouldn't be surprised if he can never achieve his old levels.

[sacreblueits442]

52 minutes ago, FoxyLeon said:

Tielemans leaving will be a blessing for Ndidi. Youri's inability to get around the pitch leads him to being so deep than Ndidi is often the one who has to do the higher pressing. Hopefully next season Ndidi will return to the number 6 role with KDH one side and then a new number 8/10 the other. 

...I do not believe it is Tielemans  inability to get around the pitch, which sees Ndidi floundering in the midfield and playing so high up the pitch!!!

  Ideally for Rodgers,  that is what he wants from his players and he has resolutely stuck to an image of how he wishes to use Ndidi. But like Perez it does not work and he will have to look elsewhere to bring in the player he needs.

Edited 5 February 2023 by sacreblueits442
Spelling error.

[StriderHiryu]

9 minutes ago, Nicolo Barella said:

All these people saying Ndidi is just devoid of confidence, I really think his best is past him. He's suffered a lot of injuries and been brutally overplayed, I wouldn't be surprised if he can never achieve his old levels.

He might also need a change of scenery. I could see him doing well in Serie A for example. But it’s definitely a downfall because in 19/20 it looked a shoe-in to go to one of the elite clubs for 50-60m whereas now he looks like a mid table player at best. I wouldn’t agree he got overplayed, plenty of players in world football have been played even more at even younger ages, but recurring injuries can hamper any player, see one Eden Hazard for proof of that. 

[Nicolo Barella]

14 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

He might also need a change of scenery. I could see him doing well in Serie A for example. But it’s definitely a downfall because in 19/20 it looked a shoe-in to go to one of the elite clubs for 50-60m whereas now he looks like a mid table player at best. I wouldn’t agree he got overplayed, plenty of players in world football have been played even more at even younger ages, but recurring injuries can hamper any player, see one Eden Hazard for proof of that. 

I think he was overplayed in the sense that he wasn't allowed to recover properly from his injuries. 

[Scotch]

1 hour ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...did we not play with a midfield two, when we were challenging for top 4!!!

I wouldn't say so, no. IIRC, Maddison was playing far deeper than he does now with him and Youri playing as #8's leaving Wilf as an out and out #6. 

 

[dylanlegend]

The big worry for me is we are trusting Rodgers to replace Maddison and Tielemens 

[fuchsntf]

2 hours ago, dylanlegend said:

The big worry for me is we are trusting Rodgers to replace Maddison and Tielemens 

Rodgers/any manager doesn't come into it...!! It depends who the recruitment management Bring in..

[Bptiger]

I think the best way to keep our best players is to keep bringing in class players like TETE, if we had done this when we were running in the top four we would have kept YOURI and maybe others players would not have taken a nose dive in form 

[Finn Claw II]

Even if we lose Maddison and Tielemans, we will have Ndiddi, Mendy, KDH and Soumane with Beaybrooke also.

 

Not a crisis but obviously at leas lt one comes in if both Madders and Tielemans go

[HighPeakFox]

21 minutes ago, Finn Claw II said:

Even if we lose Maddison and Tielemans, we will have Ndiddi, Mendy, KDH and Soumane with Beaybrooke also.

 

Not a crisis but obviously at leas lt one comes in if both Madders and Tielemans go

Not to mention Praet, if he isn't gone.

[willie-bell-in-rothley]

12 hours ago, Hamilton Fox said:

Because after tielemans going for free and us not being able to buy players last summer the club will now think we cant let that happen again.

 

I personally think they must have been in discussions with Maddison on a new contract and there hasn’t been any indication he’s going to sign a new one so think he will be off in summer

There are no indications that he not going to sign one either, 

[StriderHiryu]

8 hours ago, Nicolo Barella said:

I think he was overplayed in the sense that he wasn't allowed to recover properly from his injuries. 

You are bang on there. I remember one game he was rushed back early and then he was out for another few months. 

 

And that disruption and constantly being out of the team leads to a lack of confidence and not being up to speed to the ferocity of the Premier League. 

 

On topic, losing Maddison, Tielemans and Ndidi even would be disruptive as these 3 IMO have been the marquee players of the Rodgers era, but I think all can be replaced somewhat. Maddison is the hardest one to replace as he's added consistency to his game and IMO is one of the best players in the division. I don't think it's hyperbole to say he's been better than Kevin De Bruyne this season, even if that's more down to the latter being out of form. But you can always build the team in a slightly different way; after Mahrez left, Maddison became the creative spark. When Maddison leaves, it probably becomes the wingers and fullbacks to provide that creative spark. 

[Dahnsouff]

7 hours ago, dylanlegend said:

The big worry for me is we are trusting Rodgers to replace Maddison and Tielemens 

No we aren't, surely the last window should alleviate some of those concerns? 

[SpacedX]

4 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

You are bang on there. I remember one game he was rushed back early and then he was out for another few months. 

 

And that disruption and constantly being out of the team leads to a lack of confidence and not being up to speed to the ferocity of the Premier League. 

 

On topic, losing Maddison, Tielemans and Ndidi even would be disruptive as these 3 IMO have been the marquee players of the Rodgers era, but I think all can be replaced somewhat. Maddison is the hardest one to replace as he's added consistency to his game and IMO is one of the best players in the division. I don't think it's hyperbole to say he's been better than Kevin De Bruyne this season, even if that's more down to the latter being out of form. But you can always build the team in a slightly different way; after Mahrez left, Maddison became the creative spark. When Maddison leaves, it probably becomes the wingers and fullbacks to provide that creative spark. 

You could also contend that the 'creative spark' you refer to has more consistently come from our #8 - particularly over the last two seasons with Maddison being hauled out wide, dogged by injury and occasional inconsistency. The team looked so much more balanced on Saturday with the addition of an out and out quality winger and Maddison operating centrally as a number 10. Granted, Tielemans has not been at his best, but he is at his best as a creative midfielder. Drinkwater was outstanding alongside the interceptor Kante and I think that Youri's role has been more challenging without the time and space to operate covering for Castangne and lacking the break up play of a painfully out of form Wilf. Whichever way you look at it, losing a number 8 (for free) and number 10 - both of world class calibre this summer will present a huge challenge to recruitment. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

No because there's no one crap in there on big contracts we would struggle to shift past this summer. Yeah the club will have to dip into their pockets to swell the ranks if we have 3/4 of them leave in the summer but that's their problem caused by their mismanagement of their contracts. 

 

Only potential issue is if Ndidi is permanently crocked now, but he's only got 18 months left too anyway. 

[dylanlegend]

8 hours ago, fuchsntf said:

Rodgers/any manager doesn't come into it...!! It depends who the recruitment management Bring in..

So Rodgers has no say on player recruitment?

 

Is it just a coincidence that In all the years Rodgers has been here we haven’t signed 1 player who has improved the quality of any position (1-11) compared with the team he inherited. Not including any of the Jan signings as it’s too early to tell.

[indierich06]

Not particularly worried. KDH, Ndidi and Soumare are solid players - a couple of additions in the window to replace Maddison and Tielemans and our midfield will be sorted. Just don't let Big Rodge anywhere near the money.

[indierich06]

1 hour ago, dylanlegend said:

So Rodgers has no say on player recruitment?

 

Is it just a coincidence that In all the years Rodgers has been here we haven’t signed 1 player who has improved the quality of any position (1-11) compared with the team he inherited. Not including any of the Jan signings as it’s too early to tell.

Agreed - there are signings we have made that have very clearly been down to him. Perez and Bertrand immediately spring to mind. Would love to blame Vestergaard on him, but I believe he was mentioned as being on our radar pre-Rodgers.