We do not have a superior squad to our relegation rivals.

[SkidsFox]

We still get posters claiming our squad is better than our rivals. What planet are they on? We have regular first team starters - Amartey, Soumare, Daka, Vardy (sorry not the great player he once was), NDidi (ditto), Ward, Castagne, Mendy who would struggle to be chosen elsewhere. Yes we have the odd star player like Barnes and Maddison, but every Premiership team has at least a couple of good players.

I'm not saying it's totally impossible to avoid relegation, but let's not kid ourselves we have a superior squad.

[LCFCCHRIS]

Been in the back of my mind too recently. Every pundit seems to claim we have a much higher level squad then we do, that’s even been the reason they’ve cited for us not going down up until we actually found ourselves in the relegation zone. 
Yes a lot of these players had us in the top 4 a couple of years ago but a lot have also regressed passion and ability wise… 

 

Edited 11 April 2023 by LCFCCHRIS

[Number 6]

We do though? It's maybe not as good as some make out but the squads at Bournemouth, Southampton, and Everton for instance, are absolutely honking.

[Pliskin]

We’ve got better key players. So the likes of Ricardo, Youri, Barnes and Madders yes. No one around us has players of that quality. What Smith needs to do is turn the confidence around quickly, and get those players firing. 
 

I also think they will get Daka firing too. It’s going to have to be a fairly simple approach to begin with, but I’m actually quite confident with proper guidance we can beat the teams we need to beat, and get something out of Liverpool and Newcastle.

Edited 11 April 2023 by Pliskin

[sdb]

I think the actual technical talent of the squad is close to top half. But the mentality is worst in the league by far. We also have injuries to key players.

 

But you can't say a fit and focused Youri, Madders, Wilf, Riccy P, Castagne, Soyuncu, Evans , Barnes is a bottom 3 standard. Even Iheanacho, Praet, Souttar, Daka could feel hard done by on that claim.

[SafewayFox]

6 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

We’ve for better key players. So the likes of Ricardo, Youri, Barnes and Madders yes. No one around us has players of that quality. What Smith needs to do is turn the confidence around quickly, and get those players firing. 
 

I also think they will get Daka firing too. It’s going to have to be a fairly simple approach to begin with, but I’m actually quite confident with proper guidance we can beat the teams we need to beat, and get something out of Liverpool and Newcastle.

Newcastle will be extremely tough BUT this seasons Liverpool….just make sure we play a high press - silly statement considering the players seem to have forgot how.

 

But this Liverpool team look leggy and well off it, should def not give them the same respect of recent years.

[Sampson]

We have scored a lot more goals than our relegation rivals tbf: The problem is we have a Championship standard defence and played a League Two goalkeeper for the first 26 matches.

[Captain...]

It's so hard to judge, these same players smashed 4 past Villa and Spurs not that long ago, then turned dog muck overnight. We've also been the architects of our own downfall with stupid errors giving away winning goals against Palace and Bournemouth. As well as some bad luck, Iversen's "own goal".

 

It's been like that all season. If our first 11 are motivated and firing we'll be fine. The key for me is playing Inheanacho he embodies Leicester this season fluctuating between brilliant and donkey in the blink of an eye. 

 

I just worry that the first game Vs Man City could be a massacre and any new manager bounce gets squashed flat.

[hebangsthedrums]

Based on players previous performance levels I think we do have better potential. The issue is removing the Brendan malaise and getting them back to previous levels - wilf being the best example for me. At current t levels we're grim 

Edited 11 April 2023 by hebangsthedrums

[Scotch]

34 minutes ago, SkidsFox said:

We still get posters claiming our squad is better than our rivals. What planet are they on? We have regular first team starters - Amartey, Soumare, Daka, Vardy (sorry not the great player he once was), NDidi (ditto), Ward, Castagne, Mendy who would struggle to be chosen elsewhere. Yes we have the odd star player like Barnes and Maddison, but every Premiership team has at least a couple of good players.

I'm not saying it's totally impossible to avoid relegation, but let's not kid ourselves we have a superior squad.

I think we do (have a better squad) and we don't. 

 

There is no getting away from the fact that on this seasons form (and most of last) that they are no superior to our rivals but many of these same players have also shown themselves to be very good players too and if we can get them back to that form, we certainly have a better squad. 

 

Soyncu, was a very good PL defender at one point, but always had the odd mistake in him. 

 

Castagne, started well for us and showed in Italy and for Belgium team that he's not as bad as his form suggests. 

 

Ndidi, was a destroyer at one point. 

 

Nacho, has always been patchy but when on form is very dangerous. 

 

I'm not going to go through them all but same could be said for RIcardo, Mendy, Youri, KDH, Maddison, Tete, Barnes etc. 

 

If Smith can get them to resemble the players they've shown to be at one point or another, we certainly have a good enough squad to stay up but if they continue with their current form.... You're right and we go down. 

 

[Matt]

I see two sides to this.

 

I have seen some nonsense wrote about this squad, these players not being good enough - It was only the summer before last how we were universally lauding that we'd got the strongest squad and depth we've ever had. This is the same group of players that were 4th all season, dropping out to 5th two seasons running, who won an FA Cup, a Charity Shield, got to a Europa conference semi-final, a team who we're struggling last season yet still managed to finish 8th.

 

Yes the players get older, yes we do need a rebuild, we have been in decline each year and you might get a drop off but i'm sorry, you don't go from the above, to fighting relegation in the space of one summer.

 

On the other hand i've seen people claiming "We're too good to go down" or "There are 3 worse teams than us"", that is all dangerous mentality to have.

[Dahnsouff]

Our lack of consistency means we don’t, it’s not down to raw stats or isolated incidents (oooh look at those stats, look at this one game, etc) it’s consistency or rather lack of.

 

That’s why we are poor, we no longer have that hunger to ensure we provide enough  effort to provide the required level of consistency.

[Dahnsouff]

Just now, Matt said:

I see two sides to this.

 

I have seen some nonsense wrote about this squad, these players not being good enough - It was only the summer before last how we were universally lauding that we'd got the strongest squad and depth we've ever had. This is the same group of players that were 4th all season, dropping out to 5th two seasons running, who won an FA Cup, a Charity Shield, got to a Europa conference semi-final, a team who we're struggling last season yet still managed to finish 8th.

 

Yes the players get older, yes we do need a rebuild, we have been in decline each year and you might get a drop off but i'm sorry, you don't go from the above, to fighting relegation in the space of one summer.

 

On the other hand i've seen people claiming "We're too good to go down" or "There are 3 worse teams than us"", that is all dangerous mentality to have.

This club has done it (League and FA Cup) in recent memory, but everyone knows we cannot do it again, big 6 have seen to that, so where’s the drive? The hunger? The target?

 

We are stale, we have been in this space for a generation, so mid table pushing for Europe yet falling short, is that enough to inspire given we have tasted better?

[Captain...]

15 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Our lack of consistency means we don’t, it’s not down to raw stats or isolated incidents (oooh look at those stats, look at this one game, etc) it’s consistency or rather lack of.

 

That’s why we are poor, we no longer have that hunger to ensure we provide enough  effort to provide the required level of consistency.

But that can be fixed with the right manager. That's also kinda the point, abilitywise we should not be in trouble, it's the attitude and mentality and that can be fixed.

[Twitcher]

Totally agree with the initial poster. If we go down, Maddison, Tielemans and Barnes will attract interest from other Premier League clubs. I don't see clubs getting excited about anyone else.

[shailen]

Maybe we do but every other team has more fight and belief than us. Let's see if that now changes!! 

[Dahnsouff]

4 minutes ago, Captain... said:

But that can be fixed with the right manager. That's also kinda the point, abilitywise we should not be in trouble, it's the attitude and mentality and that can be fixed.

Yes to a degree,  but we are in a position unique to clubs outside the ‘big clubs’ in as much as we did the impossible in recent memory. How much drive we can muster is up for debate and not the innate ability within the players.

[Rossiter]

58 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

We’ve got better key players. So the likes of Ricardo, Youri, Barnes and Madders yes. No one around us has players of that quality. What Smith needs to do is turn the confidence around quickly, and get those players firing. 
 

I also think they will get Daka firing too. It’s going to have to be a fairly simple approach to begin with, but I’m actually quite confident with proper guidance we can beat the teams we need to beat, and get something out of Liverpool and Newcastle.

On paper I agree but Maddison - will he put everything on the line? I hope so. Barnes blows hot and cold and doesn't seem to be the sort to get stuck in. YT - will he return from injury in time? Ricardo - was the business...will he get back to those levels after such bad injuries? That leaves us about the same as relegation rivals imo.

[Finnegan]

Bollocks tbh. We absolutely do. 

 

"Okay we've got a few stars but..." 

 

Translation: we've got some absolutely exceptional players but somehow that doesn't mean we've got a better squad than other teams in the league? Barnes and Maddison have productivity numbers that would be at home in the top four. 

 

If Tielemans gets back fit some time soon he's a verging on world class playmaker. 

 

Iheanacho, Daka, Vardy, Barnes and Maddison outperformed pretty much the entire league last year outside the "greedy six" on G+A/90. 

 

And you don't think we've got a better squad than Forest's lucky dip, Southampton's complete shambles, Everton relying on Demarai fvcking Gray and the muck at Leeds? 

 

What a load of drivel. 

[Dahnsouff]

It’s not about talent entirely at this stage, it’s about grit and determination too and as the idiom says, ‘hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard’

[VictorFox]

Best way to look at it is how many players would get into our side out of those teams. I’d say out of the majority of teams in the bottom half of the table probably only 1 or 2 players from each team would actually get in ours 

[Finnegan]

4 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

It’s not about talent entirely at this stage, it’s about grit and determination too and as the idiom says, ‘hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard’

 

Yeah absolutely and I don't mean to imply we aren't in trouble. We are. 

 

But the notion that the squad isn't better than the other rubbish down here is just a complete lie. Worst than that, it's a lie that's lead to us accepting our situation and sticking with the incompetent pick that took us down there in the first place. 

 

It's just step one on the path to Rodgers Revisionism. 

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, Number 6 said:

We do though? It's maybe not as good as some make out but the squads at Bournemouth, Southampton, and Everton for instance, are absolutely honking.

Nailed it.

 

It's incredulous that we've given 6 points away to both Bournemouth and Southampton. Bournemouth deserve a lot of praise, they have a poor squad and invested very little in it, even if their new owner did front up some cash for players in January. But they have got fight and got some decent results. But on paper we've got a better first 11 and squad than the three teams mentioned here. After that, probably not.

 

However, to give the thread starter some credit, it's clear that this season teams in the league went ballistic in terms of strengthening their squads. 

[Nobbyburton]

If we get relegated our squad would get raided, mostly by top clubs. Can you say that about many other teams around us?

[Fox92]

7 minutes ago, Nobbyburton said:

If we get relegated our squad would get raided, mostly by top clubs. Can you say that about many other teams around us?

I'd imagine West Ham would.