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

[Rossiter]

6 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?

Raided seems a bit strong imo. Which players would be of interest to PL clubs? Maddison is going, YT same, Barnes maybe. Justin perhaps but question mark over injury record.  I think that's it. 

[MancFox24]

26 minutes ago, 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.

I don't think it's inconsistent at all to say we had a really strong squad a couple of years ago and now it looks as weak as anything in the PL. Schmeichel and Fofana have gone, JJ and Ricky have had long term injuries, Evans is a couple of years older, and Soyuncu's form fell off a cliff well before he was dropped. And that's just the back line. 

 

Football changes very quickly. Just look at Delli Ali's career. I think the attitude that we finished 5th a couple if seasons ago with a similar squad so should be good enough now is exactly the one that the board had. And it's left us with a stale squad and players running down their contracts. In the meantime, all the clubs around us have strengthened. We finished 8th last year but anyone who watched us would know that was a false position- we played like a lower half team. I don't think it can be any surprise that after the lack of investment in the summer we've found ourselves in the position we're in.

[Edingleyfox]

I think that the strong squad on paper has led to the complacency this year that everything will be alright in the end. The other problem has been that several players have been considered not good enough but because we have been unable to move them on it has prevented new blood from coming in. Therefore last summer's refresh was a non-event and Kasper left with barely a whisper. Injuries haven't helped and the frustration expressed early in the season with lack of investment must impact on the players thoughts about the direction of travel.

[Saxondale]

 

[Koke]

Yes we have some mediocre players like Amartey,  Ward and Soumare. But overall we have great players who are currently playing poorly.

[Twitcher]

17 minutes ago, MancFox24 said:

I don't think it's inconsistent at all to say we had a really strong squad a couple of years ago and now it looks as weak as anything in the PL. Schmeichel and Fofana have gone, JJ and Ricky have had long term injuries, Evans is a couple of years older, and Soyuncu's form fell off a cliff well before he was dropped. And that's just the back line. 

 

Football changes very quickly. Just look at Delli Ali's career. I think the attitude that we finished 5th a couple if seasons ago with a similar squad so should be good enough now is exactly the one that the board had. And it's left us with a stale squad and players running down their contracts. In the meantime, all the clubs around us have strengthened. We finished 8th last year but anyone who watched us would know that was a false position- we played like a lower half team. I don't think it can be any surprise that after the lack of investment in the summer we've found ourselves in the position we're in.

I think you can add Castagne to that. Not the player he was, maybe after his serious head injury, who knows. Personally wouldn't start him at present.

[ParkerPen]

squad isn't what it was, but it is at least 17th best 

[Le Renard]

It is all about perception, and it should be doing better.  The team lacks strong characters who have been gradually shipped out of the club by Rodgers.  These are the type of players that give you the will to fight when the s**t hits the fan.  It is no coincidence, Rodgers cosied up to these when he arrived, he knew the power dynamics of the dressing room, but to get full control he had to be careful.  He then gradually lessened their influence at the club and wrongly got rid of the biggest gob in the dressing room, and replaced him with DW.  You need players that are going annoy the hell out of the others, you can't have a dressing room full of nice guys, this is why our club finds itself in a bind, the squad has talent but no balls.

[Gevans_97]

Ricardo, Castagne, Ndidi, Tielemans, Maddison, Barnes, Vardy. 
 

7 players that started regularly for us when we finished 5th (FIFTH).

 

Bar Vardy, who’s clearly just getting on a bit, these players have all shown that at times they can play to a European standard of football, so in theory, what’s stopping them from regaining that quality?
 

Of course we have a better squad than those around us. Plenty of the players have the potential to be top 6 quality, we’ve literally seen it in the last 2 years. It’s just getting their performances out of the mud that’s the tricky part.

[Gamble92]

1 hour ago, Sampson said:

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.

Even the scoring side isn't good. Yes, the stats are good because when we've gone ahead sometimes we've ended up getting 4 goals that's made us look like we score at will.

 

But I'm reality when the other team scores first we are genuinely clueless and hardly ever get back in a game. 

.

[Tackeberry29]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

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. 

Agreed on all of this. 

[Tackeberry29]

2 hours ago, Sampson said:

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.

A championship standard with each of our defenders being International regulars???

[BigGibbo]

2 hours 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.

Cool story, Brendan.

[norwichfox]

A session with a hypnotist is required for the whole squad...

[mozartfox]

This is really about having had inferior coaches and having inferior people  trusted by the Owners to run the Club on a day to day basis.  Hopefully we will see some improvement over the next weeks.  BUT without doubt we do have some players that are really not up to it any longer.   Total revamp and re-start required.  

 

First flush everything Rogers down the Seagrave crapper and replace the Director of Football Operations.

 

 

[SheppyFox]

We did have until the manager convinced them they weren’t good enough anymore and tricked the fans into agreeing with him.

[BigGibbo]

If you put this squad down on paper 18 months ago we would be expecting a 7th to 9th place finish.

 

Stop drinking the Rodgers kool-aid.

[trooky]

Maddison, YT and Barnes are quality Nacho is good  but not valued by Rodgers and therefore inconsistent.

 

Ricky P, Justin and Evans have been ravage by injury, Ndidi and Castagne have zero confidence. Vardy is showing his age.

 

Ward, Amartey, Soumare and Mendy are not PL standard 

 

The rest of the players are of a similar standard to our relegation rivals. 

 

There are also obvious issues with morale and players frozen out, not playing for Rodgers after what happened in the summer.

 

The squad has been in steady decline from the FA cup and 5th place finishes and should have been improved. 

 

 

[Stinkenzo]

In short we do have a better team, just next to none of them are performing near to their best

[Tielemans63]

We have the most lopsided squad. Some top level players and some absolute pub players. The top level players can't bail out them out every week.

 

The resilience of the squad is the major issue

[dmayne7]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

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. 

Absolutely. And unfortunately, there's a bunch more who are either injured/had bad injuries or had their confidence shattered (Ndidi, Soyuncu etc).

 

In terms of quality, this group of players is light years ahead of the other teams around us.

 

We are however, the worst team in the league with a huge question mark over the mentality of this group. That's why people start talking as though we're a poor group of players.

[FoxTimmy2]

53 minutes ago, Koke said:

Yes we have some mediocre players like Amartey,  Ward and Soumare. But overall we have great players who are currently playing poorly.

Mediocre? what a compliment

[Rossiter]

18 minutes ago, Tackeberry29 said:

A championship standard with each of our defenders being International regulars???

International football ain't what it was. 

[Rossiter]

9 minutes ago, dmayne7 said:

Absolutely. And unfortunately, there's a bunch more who are either injured/had bad injuries or had their confidence shattered (Ndidi, Soyuncu etc).

 

In terms of quality, this group of players is light years ahead of the other teams around us.

 

We are however, the worst team in the league with a huge question mark over the mentality of this group. That's why people start talking as though we're a poor group of players.

'Light years' ...not sure about that. Imagine sitting down to write down our first 11. Normally a manager can write it out and the first three or four are certainties, put your mortgage on kind of players. At the moment who can you rely on? Question marks over all of them at the moment imo. Various reasons why. Hope it changes. 

[Dusty]

Well this is cheery.