The Enzo Thread

[Dan LCFC]

On 16/04/2024 at 09:50, Koke said:

Even if we get promoted and we crawl over the line, who wants to give him another chance next season?

For me only if I see some genuine imagination. He's so brazen about his stubbornness that you cannot possibly back him for anything other than blind faith that he will make necessary changes. Use a different system every now and then, and stop tolerating and accepting abysmal performances while others who could do no worse are frozen out.

 

I fear this weekend is another of the same system, Faes and Daka in the side and another flat performance. Results are more important at this stage but if I see the identical set up again, even if it yields a win I won't be even 1% more assured that he should be here next season. The acceptance and repetition of what's being served up is unforgivable to me - for somebody who when he got here said he wanted to make us a "demanding club". Very disappointing he's gone much up the victim route.

 

On 16/04/2024 at 09:46, RoboFox said:

Balague's a grifter. Stopped taking what he has to say seriously when he basically followed his mate to the county to leverage his connections at the club in order to flog his nonsense. 

Think this of sports journalism in general - I try and keep who I listen to now almost single handedly to people who don't have a clear agenda. So for example if there's a podcast with people on it whom are say "Manchester United club correspondent" I just switch off, at least in my head anyway. What's the point of listening to controlled narrative.

 

Balague is at this point pretty much a salesman of Maresca. Actually thought he came across very well on BSLB when he was on it, but I don't think he's looking as reassuring here as he thinks he is. People lose context when they're discussing us this season. We're off the back of one of the most extraordinary underperformances ever to get relegated. Promotion should be a bare minimum and nobody should be seriously lapping up outshooting teams like Plymouth and Millwall.

[Ric Flair]

5 hours ago, gurru991 said:

Vardy is good for a 37 year old but very average  for a championship striker. The definition of average may be "under performing".. !!

He's got one of the best goals to minutes ratio in the league has he not? He's certainly not under performed for the role he's played this season. I think what the stats don't tell you though are a lot of his goals came in shirt cameos off the bench where he nabbed a couple and that compensates for the starts in games where he's been less effective. Either way, he's on 16 goals from just 1,606 minutes.

[Pliskin]

4 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

He's got one of the best goals to minutes ratio in the league has he not? He's certainly not under performed for the role he's played this season. I think what the stats don't tell you though are a lot of his goals came in shirt cameos off the bench where he nabbed a couple and that compensates for the starts in games where he's been less effective. Either way, he's on 16 goals from just 1,606 minutes.

I’d argue Vardy has done his bit. Probably gone beyond…. He had a bad game V Bristol but as we’ve discussed in the past, when your team is on its arse it can have a massive impact on your form too. 
 

The ones who have been abominations have been Daka and Kalechi…… the former being given countless chances and repeatedly making a mess of it, the latter, granted he has been injured, has been so disinterested in surprised he has even turned back up. 
 

Meanwhile Cannon, who clearly wants to play barely gets a minute. 

[Chelmofox]

Just now, Ric Flair said:

He's got one of the best goals to minutes ratio in the league has he not? He's certainly not under performed for the role he's played this season. I think what the stats don't tell you though are a lot of his goals came in shirt cameos off the bench where he nabbed a couple and that compensates for the starts in games where he's been less effective. Either way, he's on 16 goals from just 1,606 minutes.

Love the stats - but we need to separate the part from when we were good and when we turned to poo (or maybe just the run in!). Also what goals have changed matches. 

 

Of the 4 strikers, Vardy is the only one who has really had an impact on any games since the loss to Leeds. He scored the winner against Sunderland and the equaliser against Hull. The goal against Norwich was important, but we were already 2-1 up and Norwich were panicked, so i'm not considering it game changing.

 

So in the last 5 very key matches he's played 213 minutes and not been able to contribute a game changing goal, with Bristol being arguably the worst game he has played this season, and he was really poor against Millwall.  He's largely regresses in the same way Daka has. 

 

So in this run in mini league, none of our strikers are contributing important goals and their stats have fallen off a cliff, arguably at the moment you needed them the most.

 

Not done any major analysis on it, but I bet you can easily look at the Leeds game as being the turning point for a lot of our stats and form.

[Chelmofox]

15 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

I’d argue Vardy has done his bit. Probably gone beyond…. He had a bad game V Bristol but as we’ve discussed in the past, when your team is on its arse it can have a massive impact on your form too. 
 

The ones who have been abominations have been Daka and Kalechi…… the former being given countless chances and repeatedly making a mess of it, the latter, granted he has been injured, has been so disinterested in surprised he has even turned back up. 

I agree that Vardy has done his bit, and i think he is likely barely training at all now.  We shouldn't be in the position where we are even considering him as the game changing option. Regarding Bristol - the team gave him plenty of chances - the team wern't on their arses at that point, he f4cked that game up himself.

 

Daka's form pre Leeds was good - its as the pressure mounted he has folded, so this isn't a case of Enzo just playing the donkey. Daka had great stats up until his drop off. Kels i agree with.

 

15 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

Meanwhile Cannon, who clearly wants to play barely gets a minute. 

 

I still think there has been injury and match fitness considerations here. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

5 hours ago, Chelmofox said:

I agree that Vardy has done his bit, and i think he is likely barely training at all now.  We shouldn't be in the position where we are even considering him as the game changing option. Regarding Bristol - the team gave him plenty of chances - the team wern't on their arses at that point, he f4cked that game up himself.

 

Daka's form pre Leeds was good - its as the pressure mounted he has folded, so this isn't a case of Enzo just playing the donkey. Daka had great stats up until his drop off. Kels i agree with.

 

 

I still think there has been injury and match fitness considerations here. 

The difference between Vardy and the others is he has the mentality to come back from bad streaks when it's needed. The others don't. 

 

I'm convinced JV will score at least one more absolutely gargantuan goal this season. 

Edited 18 April by Sol thewall Bamba

[Gamble92]

I see Rodri has come out criticising Real Madrid for playing a different style and beating them. I remember similar when we beat them 5-2. 

 

There seems to be a very arrogant attitude from any lovers of this philosophy that it's the only true way to play football, and anyone who questions it or plays a different way somehow doesn't deserve to win. 

[Scotch]

6 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

I see Rodri has come out criticising Real Madrid for playing a different style and beating them. I remember similar when we beat them 5-2. 

 

There seems to be a very arrogant attitude from any lovers of this philosophy that it's the only true way to play football, and anyone who questions it or plays a different way somehow doesn't deserve to win. 

He said similair when Scotland beat Spain 2-0. He just can't accept that the way his teams play has a weakness and tries to discourage other teams exploiting that weakness by criticising anyone who plays a way that's successful against him. 

[Chelmofox]

25 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

I see Rodri has come out criticising Real Madrid for playing a different style and beating them. I remember similar when we beat them 5-2. 

 

There seems to be a very arrogant attitude from any lovers of this philosophy that it's the only true way to play football, and anyone who questions it or plays a different way somehow doesn't deserve to win. 

Didn’t see it. Did Madrid low block them?

[Blarmy]

26 minutes ago, Scotch said:

He said similair when Scotland beat Spain 2-0. He just can't accept that the way his teams play has a weakness and tries to discourage other teams exploiting that weakness by criticising anyone who plays a way that's successful against him. 

Craziness. The arrogance in the sport these days is off the charts. As a fan, I will only ever consider a manager good if my team is getting good results. Literally nothing else matters to me.

[jayfox26]

42 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

I see Rodri has come out criticising Real Madrid for playing a different style and beating them. I remember similar when we beat them 5-2. 

 

There seems to be a very arrogant attitude from any lovers of this philosophy that it's the only true way to play football, and anyone who questions it or plays a different way somehow doesn't deserve to win. 

I absolutely can't stand him, he's a top player but he's incredibly bitter and a sore loser. Some players avoid interviews and the media as much as possible and I think he'd do well to do this as he just talks absolute crap and makes himself look like a nob. Whilst it can be frustrating to play against teams that play a low block, its totally understandable why teams do it and teams that play this "Pep" style of football (including ourselves) need to accept it and find ways to combat it rather than just been disrespectful to the opposition. 

[bmt]

To be fair Real were extremely lucky. Man City could have scored quite a few goals but wasted chances. Real had absolutely nothing.

 

Not sure it's the same as us beating them 5-2 where we absolutely countered their style and deserved to win.

 

 

[lcfc sheff]

I do wonder next season (if promoted) he’ll try copy Man City further with 4 centrebacks on the pitch. Might make fans even more annoyed.

[Happy Fox]

If Sevilla want him can see him jumping ship.

 

The club needs to be sold, that should be the priority then the footballing side can thrive again under new leadership.

[Ric Flair]

3 hours ago, Chelmofox said:

Love the stats - but we need to separate the part from when we were good and when we turned to poo (or maybe just the run in!). Also what goals have changed matches. 

 

Of the 4 strikers, Vardy is the only one who has really had an impact on any games since the loss to Leeds. He scored the winner against Sunderland and the equaliser against Hull. The goal against Norwich was important, but we were already 2-1 up and Norwich were panicked, so i'm not considering it game changing.

 

So in the last 5 very key matches he's played 213 minutes and not been able to contribute a game changing goal, with Bristol being arguably the worst game he has played this season, and he was really poor against Millwall.  He's largely regresses in the same way Daka has. 

 

So in this run in mini league, none of our strikers are contributing important goals and their stats have fallen off a cliff, arguably at the moment you needed them the most.

 

Not done any major analysis on it, but I bet you can easily look at the Leeds game as being the turning point for a lot of our stats and form.

Vardy's goals in February-March when we were crap was incredible to be fair, it was everyone else around him I'm afraid. Zero goals from KDH and Mavididi didn't help.

[Gamble92]

5 minutes ago, lcfc sheff said:

I do wonder next season (if promoted) he’ll try copy Man City further with 4 centrebacks on the pitch. Might make fans even more annoyed.

It'll play out exactly the same as having the 3 at the moment with inverted full back. Only difference is a libero like Stones goes into the midfield instead of Ricardo. 

 

The teams we've played done have to worry about a Justin or Ricardo overlapping our wingers so they just have Mavididi or Fatawu running out of ideas constantly. Id love to talk to Enzo directly and make him explain why he thinks this system makes us better off. 

 

I should have paid £300 for that shit meal with Gulliem. If I knew I wouldn't punch anyone I might have done.

Edited 18 April by Gamble92

[sm1]

1 hour ago, Blarmy said:

Craziness. The arrogance in the sport these days is off the charts. As a fan, I will only ever consider a manager good if my team is getting good results. Literally nothing else matters to me.

That's how its should be but slowly you see the term "our way" creep in. West Ham supporters dont like Moyes, even though he's their most successful manager for 50+ years, because he doesn't play the "West Ham way". I've heard similar comments from Spurs and Utd fans in the past, even Forest fans, wtf is the "Forest way". Ancelotti knew he had to tighten up at the back after the 1st leg to have any chance of going through, that's exactly what he did.  Good managers adapt to the opposition and situation. Take note Enzo.

[LVFox]

41 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

If Sevilla want him can see him jumping ship.

 

The club needs to be sold, that should be the priority then the footballing side can thrive again under new leadership.

If we go up I can see Enzo's agent pimping him out across Europe. Both Sevilla and Fiorentina would really attract him 

[Gamble92]

On the point of not playing Cannon - how much has having Enzo as manager set us back financially just from a picking players perspective?

 

The whole philosophy involving no wing backs meant Kristensen who'd just been bought for £15m went out on loan. Coady signed and given god knows what in wages when we could have just used Nelson. Souttar new signing for £10m+ or whatever it was, non existent. 

 

The list goes on. Those in charge have wasted huge amounts of money and the appointment of Enzo has just compounded that further. 

Edited 18 April by Gamble92

[LVFox]

2 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

On the point of not playing Cannon - how much has having Enzo as manager set us back financially just from a picking players perspective?

 

The whole philosophy involving no wing backs meant Kristensen who'd just been bought for £15m went out on loan. Coady signed and given god knows what in wages when we could have just used Nelson. Souttar new signing for £10m+ or whatever it was, non existent. 

 

The list goes on. Those in charge have wasted huge amounts of money and the appointment of Enzo has just compounded that further. 

Agree, this is why I don't lay as much blame at Enzos feet. Genuinely feel he has a squad that largely doesn't suit him, and that, again, comes back to DOF and recruitment.

 

If we'd have kept Kristiansen, bought in Winks and Coady still, we would have been perfect for playing wing backs.

[Chelmofox]

31 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

On the point of not playing Cannon - how much has having Enzo as manager set us back financially just from a picking players perspective?

 

The whole philosophy involving no wing backs meant Kristensen who'd just been bought for £15m went out on loan. Coady signed and given god knows what in wages when we could have just used Nelson. Souttar new signing for £10m+ or whatever it was, non existent. 

 

The list goes on. Those in charge have wasted huge amounts of money and the appointment of Enzo has just compounded that further. 

But he was given a project. The focus was on a rebuilt to fulfill a certain goal. Nelson is part of the project via the academy, but at the start of the season couldn't be banked on. The issue with Coady is because Jannick performed in a way noone was expecting.

Edited 18 April by Chelmofox

[Les-TA-Jon]

40 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

On the point of not playing Cannon - how much has having Enzo as manager set us back financially just from a picking players perspective?

 

The whole philosophy involving no wing backs meant Kristensen who'd just been bought for £15m went out on loan. Coady signed and given god knows what in wages when we could have just used Nelson. Souttar new signing for £10m+ or whatever it was, non existent. 

 

The list goes on. Those in charge have wasted huge amounts of money and the appointment of Enzo has just compounded that further. 

Those players are underutilized, sure. But the club clearly has a favoured type of manager and type of football. So why sign Souttar, Coady, Kristiansen when they don't fit into it? 

 

It's on Maresca a bit, but it's more on the club than anything else. 

[Gamble92]

11 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

But he was given a project. The focus was on a rebuilt to fulfill a certain goal. Nelson is part of the project via the academy, but at the start of the season couldn't be banked on. The issue with Coady is because Jannick performed in a way noone was expecting.

I just think a project is something you invest in when we were at the Puel stage or just after. Not in a promotion at all costs season. I will still think it if we go up. 

 

I don't think the likes of Rudkin even realised that appointing Enzo will mean abandoning our wing backs. He's that inept. 

[Gamble92]

37 minutes ago, LVFox said:

Agree, this is why I don't lay as much blame at Enzos feet. Genuinely feel he has a squad that largely doesn't suit him, and that, again, comes back to DOF and recruitment.

 

If we'd have kept Kristiansen, bought in Winks and Coady still, we would have been perfect for playing wing backs.

Id love to know what the communication on this was like before he was appointed. I seriously wouldn't be surprised if not playing with wing backs caught them off guard. 

 

Then I'd love to know what the conversation was surrounding Cannon. Yes we needed a striker for the AFCON part of the season, but he clearly isn't fancied by Enzo so more money down the spout. The list of ineptitude goes on and on.

[lcfc sheff]

1 hour ago, Gamble92 said:

It'll play out exactly the same as having the 3 at the moment with inverted full back. Only difference is a libero like Stones goes into the midfield instead of Ricardo. 

 

The teams we've played done have to worry about a Justin or Ricardo overlapping our wingers so they just have Mavididi or Fatawu running out of ideas constantly. Id love to talk to Enzo directly and make him explain why he thinks this system makes us better off. 

 

I should have paid £300 for that shit meal with Gulliem. If I knew I wouldn't punch anyone I might have done.

I still maintain it wouldn’t be so bad if we had a target to aim for in the box, not even just that but someone who can hold it up in transitions and lay it off to the wingers who’ll be in better/higher up positions. We only seem to play it wide to our wingers from the centre half’s which means they’ve already got 8 men behind the ball by then giving the wingers too much to do. I get he tries to bypass this with Kdh and Ndidi overlapping them further up but then leaves us with one less player in the box to get on the end of things.