Are we really 30 points worse?

[Burleyfox]

Well, we are to all intents at the half way stage of the season and find ourselves 30+ points behind the front two in this mediocre division. I give full credit to all concerned at Reading and Sheffield Utd, but when I look at their squads and compare to ours on a man for man basis - there is no way that anyone at management level at LCFC can start to excuse our relative dire performance.

To me the issue is leadership both on and off the field. Levein talks a good game but seems to lack the organisational/motivational skills to get anything like the best from his squad. On the pitch there is no hard man leader to kick a few butts when the prima donnas switch off.

Sadly, I can't see a way forward which dosen't involve a change at the helm and a clear out of the dead wood. I hope I'm proved wrong. but it's getting increasinly hard to be positive.

[Milky]

everyone can beat each other in this league. we all know that, and we all know that we aren't 30points worse than the top two.

i've been thinking about what it takes in this division, and i think physical presence has a bit to do with it. sheff u and reading seem to have a bit of that. i think our promotion season showed that flair isn't always the name of the game. it is something that puzzles me though, i can't put my finger on it, how bigger part does fortune play?

[Durnerz]

Well, we are to all intents at the half way stage of the season and find ourselves 30+ points behind the front two in this mediocre division. I give full credit to all concerned at Reading and Sheffield Utd, but when I look at their squads and compare to ours on a man for man basis - there is no way that anyone at management level at LCFC can start to excuse our relative dire performance.

To me the issue is leadership both on and off the field. Levein talks a good game but seems to lack the organisational/motivational skills to get anything like the best from his squad. On the pitch there is no hard man leader to kick a few butts when the prima donnas switch off.

Sadly, I can't see a way forward which dosen't involve a change at the helm and a clear out of the dead wood. I hope I'm proved wrong. but it's getting increasinly hard to be positive.

Teams like Sheffield United and Reading havn't been assembled quickly like ours have, they have had seasons together to get to know each others style of play within the team, ours needs time to gel and from the start of the seasons showing we can play together as a team, its just finding that consistancy. I think leveins closer now to realising his best 11 than he was a few months back.

[Scow]

I think there's a number of factors behind our dire league form.

1) We don't have a prolific goalscorer, who we can bank on to turn those frustrating draws in to wins. Look at Sheffield United and Reading - They have the likes of Webber, Kabba, Shipperly, Kitson, Lita, who are all regular scorers in this league. What do we have? de Vries, who despite scoring 6 league goals, has failed to score in the majority of the games he's played. Two braces against the poor duo of Sheffield Wednesday and Coventry shouldn't pull the wool over anyone's eyes.

Hume and Hammond, despite looking promising as a partnership, haven't proved anything yet.

And Dublin? No thanks to him being a striker anymore.

2) Goals from other areas of the team is also a concern. Despite a flurry of goals from Joey over recent games (Let's not forget, mostly from penalties) we don't have anyone else we can rely on to chip in. Good teams near the top share their goals around the team. We have players who don't seem capable of grabbing goals from open play, or set pieces.

3) Inconsistent tactics and line ups from Levein has held us back. It's only taken him until recently to select a near consistent line up. The left back situation has been a problem all season. We've had Maybury, Stearman, Sheehan, Kisnorbo, Johansson and Gilbert play there. 6 players in one position, no wonder we've conceded soft goals when the back 4 changes almost every week.

Also a reluctance to play Hume, which the Sheffield United game helpfully reinforced the majority view that he should be starting.

4) Levein's fear of the opposition. Levein's tactics have been heavily influenced by who we play. So more often than not, we've been more fearful of the oppositon that they have been about us. Take Burnley and Wolves away for example, which epitomises why we've only won 2 away games in a year. At Burnley, Levein set up the team to miss out the midfield by playing two lumps upfront, just because Burnley played 3 in the centre of midfield. Guess what? We didn't look like scoring. Then at Wolves, we played an ultra negative 4-5-1, which we were lucky to get away with.

I think recent games have signalled a change in attitude. Playing a virtual front four of Sylla / Hammond / Hume / Smith has caused the top 6 teams in Sheffield United, Leeds and Stoke (at the time) major problems. A good mixture of pace and ability. If we can cut out the mistakes with set pieces and with silly goals like at Stoke, then we should be able to get it together. However, the rest of the team will need to contribute more goals, and either Hammond and Hume will need to start scoring regularly.

The next two home games will bring us past the half way mark in the season - games against weak oppositions in Crewe and Millwall will have an influence on how the rest of the season goes.

[Head Honcho]

Teams like Sheffield United and Reading havn't been assembled quickly like ours have, they have had seasons together to get to know each others style of play within the team, ours needs time to gel and from the start of the seasons showing we can play together as a team, its just finding that consistancy. I think leveins closer now to realising his best 11 than he was a few months back.

Two words as to why Reading are up there and we are not Steve Coppell

Yes Reading do have a sugar daddy but they haven't bought there way to the top they played their way and it's all down to Coppell

He has so much experience at this level he's head and shoulders above CL

Granted CL is still new to the game down here but why do we have to be his Guinea Pig!!

[Thracian]

I've been a critic of Levein for his defensive tactics but I've also said on several occasions that the guy is still a novice in English football.

He underestimated what was needed to win here and he underestimated what was required at this particular football club.

Well, it is a fool who doesn't learn from his mistakes and Levein seems to be learning slowly. We've mentioned what he's done for us financially and that shouldn't be undervalued.

Lately, with greater ammunition available in that department, he has started to commit himself to playing attractive attacking football and has still copped for two sucker results cos his team lost their discipline and their concentration.

Championship players will tend to do that, especially young ones, so he's gotta allow for it and explain precisely what he wants in any given situation.

What he needs now and what we need to give him is support - support for what he is doing. I didn't support the sort of defensive shit he's served up for months and which never got us anything but a few empty seats and a reputation for being dismal to watch.

But now he's doing some good things (and we WILL persuade him to put the finishing touches together) he doesn't need doubting Thomas's he needs an attititude that "this is the way I want to play (with a flourish), this is the way I'm gonna play (with a flourish) and you (the players) can either show you're good enough to come along with me or you can push off to Rochdale or some other wilderness.

This is not a time for dithering or uncertainty or for compromising on what you've set out to do.

This is a time for saying "you players do this job, in this way and for 90 minutes cos it's the only way I want it doing, and the only chance you're ever gonna get to put your miserable names up in lights."

If you take a team of dogs to the Arctic it's not all sunshine and tarmaced pathways, it's full of dangers, uncertainties, the unexpected, the unlucky, the evil unseen crevices, and it's full of lousy days that make your fingers freeze and your toes freeze and days that make you wanna quit.

Well that's the sort of journey we're on really. Winning with style takes nerve. And if you're the sort that's gonna cop out in a crisis then you shouldn't be wearing the shirt. We're just having a few of those lousy days I mentioned right now.

But we can learn from em, be more determined tomorrow, stop feeling the world's against us and we CAN reach our intended destination, we can raise our flag and we can be finally proud of ourselves.

As fans we too have gotta cope with the snowstorms and the frostbite before we can bask in the sunshine of success. But at least the clouds seem to be clearing and we should be bloody grateful - cos it's been a long, long winter for Leicester City.