The Championship Thread 2023/2024

[Foxin_Mad]

2 minutes ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

Under Pearson you always felt you could win the game, even when behind… that I haven’t felt for a long time 

This is the thing. Since we won the league mentality wise we have got worse and worse. If we go 1-0 down now we are done. We struggle defending basic set pieces, we are no threat from set pieces. For large parts of the great escape season we were never totally out of games, we lost by fine margins in the end we changed the margins by hard work and determination, that's still a big part of football, this team doesnt have that, the Rodgersteam didnt, no grit, not able to get basics right. That's where the others will finish above us. 

[An Away Move]

11 minutes ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

So when he changed it up to keep us up with 7 wins from 9 he was tactically inept… okay 

Ahh, but was that all him? 

[Muzzy_no7]

17 minutes ago, An Away Move said:

He played Vardy as a winger. 

Vardy was purchased from Fleetwood Town where he played predominantly off the left as an attacking LW in a 4-3-3. 
 

He also played in a two up top and out wide occasionally for Halifax. 

[foxes_rule1978]

Just now, An Away Move said:

Ahh, but was that all him? 

Well yeah 

[An Away Move]

Just now, foxes_rule1978 said:

Well yeah 

Ok. 

[foxes_rule1978]

Just now, An Away Move said:

Ok. 

So what makes you think otherwise I’m lost here 

[Chrysalis]

Apparently we were heading for a record points total under mastermind Enzo and Ipswich would have dropped way off by now.

[Matt]

9 minutes ago, An Away Move said:

Ahh, but was that all him? 

Probably not, but he was head of the team.

 

Just like all managerial and back room staff are, a team.

 

Was Pearson willing to listen, take advice on board, was that management team flexible, make allowances, change things? Yes.

 

Can you say that about Puel? No

 

Rodgers? Certainly not. 

 

Enzo's? Not shown any signs of it yet.

 

Flexibility, adapting to situations, that's all I ask.

 

Not the insipid one size fits all and if that doesn't work do it better attitude.

 

Edited 29 March 2024 by Matt

[Jattdogg]

As much as it has sucked the last x amount of games, we are still in contention and until the season is over anything is possible.

 

Keep the faith and hope for the best. We can  dissect the season once we know where we will be playing next season.

 

Pains me to say it but leeds, Ipswich and perhaps southampton all done well this year so cant be snobby. One of us 3 is not going up and that will suck for the fans.

 

 

[foxinsox]

18 minutes ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

So when he changed it up to keep us up with 7 wins from 9 he was tactically inept… okay 

The critical difference that season that shifted us from losing games by one goal to winning games by one goal was signing Robert Huth.

 

With defensive solidity we could attack with confidence.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

1 minute ago, Jattdogg said:

Keep the faith and hope for the best.

Good evening Jon.

[foxes_rule1978]

1 minute ago, foxinsox said:

The critical difference that season that shifted us from losing games by one goal to winning games by one goal was signing Robert Huth.

 

With defensive solidity we could attack with confidence.

I agree, and Pearson made the right call doing that. 

[Jattdogg]

Just now, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Good evening Jon.

Thats fooking Jondeep to you mate!

[foxinsox]

Just now, foxes_rule1978 said:

I agree, and Pearson made the right call doing that. 

You will never hear a bad word about Big Nige from me. 

[Mickyblueeyes]

30 minutes ago, Matt said:

Nige nails it as always.

 

"Every manager or coach, whatever their job title is, has a different way of playing, but the bottom line is, you have to appreciate what you have and its about getting the best out of the players, so if you've got players who are fast, powerful, try and utilise it, you know we talk about possession football, yeah, it's alright, if you like possession football, but if the players are suited towards being pretty hard to deal with on the counter then give them the opportunity to do that more often."

 

He doesn't miss.

The thing is this is experience speaking. Nige was never a “this is my style” sort of manager but he had his stubbornness. The season before we were promoted, very little change during a horrendous run. Tweaked things the following season. The season we stayed up in the PL, he nearly changed it too late. Albrighton couldn’t get a look in.  
 

Important thing to note of course is he did change things. And that’s experience. The problem Enzo and even Kompany have at the moment is they believe the style is king. And you must live and die by it. The reality is, their messiah Pep also changes things. The inverted fbs with Cancelo shipped out is his most recent change. Both are inexperienced managers who haven’t cut their cloth. If it wasn’t for their association with the greatest current manager, they shouldn’t anywhere near the jobs that they are doing. 
 

We are a massive job. Especially at this level. Especially with what is going on. Especially given how we came down. It’s Enzo and Willy walking around on the touch line. Both relatively new in their field, both learning their trade. Is there anyone challenging the decision making behind the scenes ?
 

Maybe Enzo will be saying something similar in a few years. There is potentially a good “biggish” manager in there in a few years. The problem is, this is a top level job and at this moment he is showing league one level expertise - and that isn’t a criticism or an insult. We all need to learn in our given professions. The level of learning he needs to do, with hindsight could mean this job is too big for him. That could be catastrophic for us. 

[foxinsox]

5 minutes ago, Jattdogg said:

As much as it has sucked the last x amount of games, we are still in contention and until the season is over anything is possible.

 

Keep the faith and hope for the best. We can  dissect the season once we know where we will be playing next season.

 

Pains me to say it but leeds, Ipswich and perhaps southampton all done well this year so cant be snobby. One of us 3 is not going up and that will suck for the fans.

 

 

Purely looking at the table we look likely to go up, but there is no denying our relegation level form and predictable tactics.

 

I will be pleased but surprised if we go up, astonished if we stay up.

[supernuk]

We've got lucky today. Yes we are in slump but it's VITAL we play our part on Monday 

[foxes_rule1978]

2 minutes ago, supernuk said:

We've got lucky today. Yes we are in slump but it's VITAL we play our part on Monday 

Enzo has a job on his hands now, he needs to step up and get us the results needed.

[An Away Move]

25 minutes ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

So what makes you think otherwise I’m lost here 

There has been a lot of talk about Cambiasso’s role and influence in the Great Escape season. 
I love Pearson but he could be very rigid and made baffling tactical decisions at times. Ranieri had the same team but had infinitely better tactical nous. The difference between them was night and day.  Pearson is rightly a legend, but it’s also true that our fans see him through rose tinted specs and have forgotten his limitations. 

[Jattdogg]

16 minutes ago, foxinsox said:

Purely looking at the table we look likely to go up, but there is no denying our relegation level form and predictable tactics.

 

I will be pleased but surprised if we go up, astonished if we stay up.

Of course that's how it feels but we can hope for a miracle return to form. Deep down, we all want that.

[STEVIE B]

13 minutes ago, supernuk said:

We've got lucky today. Yes we are in slump but it's VITAL we play our part on Monday 

Lucky, how ? 

[FrankieADZ]

36 minutes ago, supernuk said:

We've got lucky today. Yes we are in slump but it's VITAL we play our part on Monday 

huh, we got lucky?

 

dunno how you make that out, Vardy's chances we shouldnt have even lost

[The Bear]

Losing 4 out of the last 6 games when you had lost the exact same amount in the previous 32 games is errrr.... not great. 

[HybridFox]

3 hours ago, Clever Fox said:

Looking at todays goals, it just proves if you don't shoot you don't score. We're over playing the ball at times.

Especially when we've scored some absolute pearlers this season. Clearly got the ability, just don't try our luck enough!

[john ridley]

It was in our hands last season and look what happened,its in our hands again and look what's happening,we are mentally  weak from the players to the management. We keep clearing out players and managers but nothing  changes ,gonna be a hard season next season .