How do we sort this out?

[TornadoShaunUK]

Ok - time to start a lengthy discussion and see if between us we can come to an agreement on this forum as to why things are going wrong and how to sort it out. Today we lost 2-0 away at Crystal Palace. Levein started the game with a 4-4-2 and we were a little lucky to see half time at 0-0 by the sounds of it. In the second half, Levein replaces Hume with De Vries and switches Hammond out to the wing reverting again to a 4-5-1 formation, the score is level 0-0 at this point. Then we concede a penalty, Rab once again makes a surprising save and keeps us in the game (not for the first time in this match - he had a good one for once) then a mere 3 minutes later we concede, Palace taking a deserved lead [i believe this was from an attack up our right flank although by the sounds of it we had alot of problems down our left hand side). In neither half did we have any particularly great chances and I think its about time Levein sorted his **** ideas out.

1.) It was quite apparant today that we need a 'finisher'. It has been apparent for some time and I think this should be Levein's main priority before we face Sheffield Wednesday (a must win game IMO)

2.) He needs to sort his best team out and **** stick to it. Craig Levein needs to start playing to players strengths. In my eyes we should have Gudjohnsson and Williams as the midfield pairing. Smith on the left wing, and Hughes on the right until we find a proper right winger (something this Griffiths guy might be the answer to). If you are going to play Mark De Vries, play the ball to feet, that is where he is best, I think hed make an ideal supporting striker rather than 'target man' as Levein points out. De Vries has great body strength and presence in the area and a good touch, it doesnt take a miracle worker to figure out that if you can get the ball to De Vries at feet in the area and give him support things are going to happen. You can have him laying the ball off to Hume, he seems like a decent finisher. I think we need to be pl;aying Williams from the start because he is arguably the best passer at the club at the moment, Hughes is creative and I think he needs to play aswell. Joey I think could be quite influential in midfield which is why I think the 4 man midfield I have suggested would be very handy.

Defense wise McCarthy is by far the best defender at the club, and is an obvious choice for CB (certainly future club captain material). I think Gerrbrand would make the best choice to partner him at the back, he generally seems very calm on the ball (whilst not to much so like a certain other patrick in midfield) and seems to be a good passer of the ball aswell. RB has to be Stearman I think, the best player I have seen for us in that position, for me LB is another problem area. Sheehan is the only natural LB we have, but is very inexperienced, I again reiterate the fact that I think he needs to go out on loan to get more experience in a 1st team, either that or perhaps give him a further run in the 1st team at LB, I dont think hes been worse than any other LB we have used this season. Indeed I think he was ok against Crewe its just a pity he got himself sent off for two silly bookings (which I guess shows his inexperience).

Ok in goal, I think Rab Douglas for once had a very good game, but I still don't believe he is enough of a rock at the back, I noticed a few mix ups at the back today between himself and the defense. As has been said many a time, good shot stopper, not particularly fantastic at anything else. I don't think it would be a bad idea to try out Henderson in goal although admittedly I haven't reaslly heard or seen much of him, kicking aside he seemed okay in the Inter Milan friendly and was apparently a key player in the cup win over Cardiff City.

3.) Ok it's not just the formation but the tactics you use with it that make it effective, I guess this again falls into playing to players strengths. If we are going to be a passing side we have to be really good at it, I rememeber hearing from Alan Hansen once he said the same thing, and I think thats about all we can do, theres no use us hurling long balls/playing hoofball because de vries cant head and we dont really have a great deal of aerial presence. I think we have great presence in the box with De Vries, as everyone says he can be a right nuisance we just need to use him in the right way. We have some good creativity in Hughes, we have good passing ability with Williams, we have good leadership and attitude in both McCarthy and Gudjohnsson. I think if we used Hume in the right way we would have ourselves a decent finisher, he is a player that can take people on, as do we with Ryan Smith until the end of this season atleast so lets make the most of that.

4.) Set pieces is worrying for me. Aside from when we get a penlty I never feel particularly confident that we are going to score from any set pieces we earn. This needs to be addressed. Set pieces are a big piece of the game and we showed once how successful a side can be if you are ghood at your set pieces. I don't even know who is our best set piece taker as I cant really recall anyone ever having delivered a decent ball into the box froma free kick or corner that people can attack.. .. its really that bad. I guess its not just about making the decent deliveries but also making sure people are in the right places in the box, give the set piece taker options and make it difficult for the opposition to mark down. I dont know how many peopel we have in the mixer but we should make sure we scatter around a bit.. one at the back post, one near near post, and perhaps two or three in the middle and perhaps another two or three a 20-30 yards out waiting for any clearances, loose balls. I think it would be particularly handy to have Joey hanging around the edge of the area at set pieces as he is particularly good at range shooting. De Vries would be perhaps a good choice to stick either near post or near the keeper just to give him the jitters. Then deliver to middle or back post where our best headers will be lying in wait. Have Joey and Gaz waiting outside the area for rebounds and perhaps the two wingers waiting edge of the area for rebounds/clearances in that direction. That leaves us with two players to sit back which would probably be Gerrbrand and the LB. As it may be best to have Stearman and McCarthy in the box as (if anyone), they probably have about the best aerial presence we have at the moment.

Comments on these little opinions of mine please.....

I do hope mr Levein reads this thread and has a long hard think about the situation the club is in etc..

[Lichfieldfox.]

Send in your CV ...you have been shortlisted for the managers job. You points re players in your post are highly valid and unlike CL you haven't rubbished the poor players ... just left them out of you plans and hopefully put them on the transfer list.

[Ultra]

But he's spent time thinking about tactics.

So he's clearly FAR too qualified to be appointed our manager!

[Lineker's Left Foot]

Ok - time to start a lengthy discussion and see if between us we can come to an agreement on this forum as to why things are going wrong and how to sort it out. Today we lost 2-0 away at Crystal Palace. Levein started the game with a 4-4-2 and we were a little lucky to see half time at 0-0 by the sounds of it. In the second half, Levein replaces Hume with De Vries and switches Hammond out to the wing reverting again to a 4-5-1 formation, the score is level 0-0 at this point. Then we concede a penalty, Rab once again makes a surprising save and keeps us in the game (not for the first time in this match - he had a good one for once) then a mere 3 minutes later we concede, Palace taking a deserved lead [i believe this was from an attack up our right flank although by the sounds of it we had alot of problems down our left hand side). In neither half did we have any particularly great chances and I think its about time Levein sorted his **** ideas out.

1.) It was quite apparant today that we need a 'finisher'. It has been apparent for some time and I think this should be Levein's main priority before we face Sheffield Wednesday (a must win game IMO)

2.) He needs to sort his best team out and **** stick to it. Craig Levein needs to start playing to players strengths. In my eyes we should have Gudjohnsson and Williams as the midfield pairing. Smith on the left wing, and Hughes on the right until we find a proper right winger (something this Griffiths guy might be the answer to). If you are going to play Mark De Vries, play the ball to feet, that is where he is best, I think hed make an ideal supporting striker rather than 'target man' as Levein points out. De Vries has great body strength and presence in the area and a good touch, it doesnt take a miracle worker to figure out that if you can get the ball to De Vries at feet in the area and give him support things are going to happen. You can have him laying the ball off to Hume, he seems like a decent finisher. I think we need to be pl;aying Williams from the start because he is arguably the best passer at the club at the moment, Hughes is creative and I think he needs to play aswell. Joey I think could be quite influential in midfield which is why I think the 4 man midfield I have suggested would be very handy.

Defense wise McCarthy is by far the best defender at the club, and is an obvious choice for CB (certainly future club captain material). I think Gerrbrand would make the best choice to partner him at the back, he generally seems very calm on the ball (whilst not to much so like a certain other patrick in midfield) and seems to be a good passer of the ball aswell. RB has to be Stearman I think, the best player I have seen for us in that position, for me LB is another problem area. Sheehan is the only natural LB we have, but is very inexperienced, I again reiterate the fact that I think he needs to go out on loan to get more experience in a 1st team, either that or perhaps give him a further run in the 1st team at LB, I dont think hes been worse than any other LB we have used this season. Indeed I think he was ok against Crewe its just a pity he got himself sent off for two silly bookings (which I guess shows his inexperience).

Ok in goal, I think Rab Douglas for once had a very good game, but I still don't believe he is enough of a rock at the back, I noticed a few mix ups at the back today between himself and the defense. As has been said many a time, good shot stopper, not particularly fantastic at anything else. I don't think it would be a bad idea to try out Henderson in goal although admittedly I haven't reaslly heard or seen much of him, kicking aside he seemed okay in the Inter Milan friendly and was apparently a key player in the cup win over Cardiff City.

3.) Ok it's not just the formation but the tactics you use with it that make it effective, I guess this again falls into playing to players strengths. If we are going to be a passing side we have to be really good at it, I rememeber hearing from Alan Hansen once he said the same thing, and I think thats about all we can do, theres no use us hurling long balls/playing hoofball because de vries cant head and we dont really have a great deal of aerial presence. I think we have great presence in the box with De Vries, as everyone says he can be a right nuisance we just need to use him in the right way. We have some good creativity in Hughes, we have good passing ability with Williams, we have good leadership and attitude in both McCarthy and Gudjohnsson. I think if we used Hume in the right way we would have ourselves a decent finisher, he is a player that can take people on, as do we with Ryan Smith until the end of this season atleast so lets make the most of that.

4.) Set pieces is worrying for me. Aside from when we get a penlty I never feel particularly confident that we are going to score from any set pieces we earn. This needs to be addressed. Set pieces are a big piece of the game and we showed once how successful a side can be if you are ghood at your set pieces. I don't even know who is our best set piece taker as I cant really recall anyone ever having delivered a decent ball into the box froma free kick or corner that people can attack.. .. its really that bad. I guess its not just about making the decent deliveries but also making sure people are in the right places in the box, give the set piece taker options and make it difficult for the opposition to mark down. I dont know how many peopel we have in the mixer but we should make sure we scatter around a bit.. one at the back post, one near near post, and perhaps two or three in the middle and perhaps another two or three a 20-30 yards out waiting for any clearances, loose balls. I think it would be particularly handy to have Joey hanging around the edge of the area at set pieces as he is particularly good at range shooting. De Vries would be perhaps a good choice to stick either near post or near the keeper just to give him the jitters. Then deliver to middle or back post where our best headers will be lying in wait. Have Joey and Gaz waiting outside the area for rebounds and perhaps the two wingers waiting edge of the area for rebounds/clearances in that direction. That leaves us with two players to sit back which would probably be Gerrbrand and the LB. As it may be best to have Stearman and McCarthy in the box as (if anyone), they probably have about the best aerial presence we have at the moment.

Comments on these little opinions of mine please.....

I do hope mr Levein reads this thread and has a long hard think about the situation the club is in etc..

Agree with you mate !!!

[martyn]

Big problems I see having watched the last 2 away games.

1) Ridiculously over exposed and understaffed in midfield when we lose the ball high up the field. Kisnorbo just doesn't do his job properly regardless of what people think his role is.

2) Maybury being a general liability defensively and offering nothing going forward. I have to take peoples' word for it that he was great last year

3) Lack of creativity. Hughes can pick a pass but he is not 'creative' in the truest sense of the word. Elsewhere we have no idea how to get behind a defence

4) Narrow formation. Today our best period was just before half time, we got the ball out wide to Smith and he created a chance and worried their fullback. I cannot understand why we completely abandoned this in the 2nd half.

5) Although Douglas was reasonable today, he inspires little or no confidence in both his defence and the fans.

6) Long balls up to Hume and Hammond - completely indicative of a team without direction/confidence. There was no gameplan today at all.

7) Lack of predatory striker. Elvis was good today bless him, but he'll never get enough goals to justify his position in the side.

[MC Prussian]

Alright, here's my input:

1) Our struggle to score goals. It's not just because our current strikers are underperforming and simply not doing what they're supposed to do, it's also because the formation and the team members on the pitch change on a regular basis - No way to get to know each other playwise and a big no-no in terms of player motivation. Why that is? We have poor strikers. The playing system is just not fitting (4-5-1 should be banned). It's just not "clicking". The manager's making the wrong choices on the day. You choose.

2) Our poor disciplinary record. Way too many yellow cards for unnecessary fouls and when things heat up, especially after cashing in the 1-0, some players just lose their head way too easily - especially Tiatto springs to mind. Why that is? Because we just don't have any character in the team. Because our players run out of reasonable responses on the pitch (by playing better or motivating teammates, for instance). Because our players just can't play football. You choose.

3) The everlasting little mistakes. I think in almost every game this season, there has been one single incident that decided the whole affair. I'm talking about sending-offs, concentration mistakes (talking about own goals), poor refereeing (one of our players gets booked or sent off, but it should be the other way around), or absences from key-players from crucial games due to illnesses or personal reasons.

4) An erratic buying policy. Yes, we have Hume and Smith. But the first one is not always playing (Tranmere fee?) and the latter is only on loan here and will very probably leave in the summer. Douglas was brought here thanks to his former international reputation. Has this move paid off so far? I'm not so sure. Gilbert was sent to the Wednesday rather quickly after a few games where he apparently "didn't impress". Under Sturrock, he's blossoming and getting praises from the fans. Hammond's and DeVries's goal scoring records are rather... short. Kisnorbo and Sylla were brought in as a part of the "Scotland connection", but haven't lived up to their supposed standard so far. Johansson seldomly plays, so does Gerrbrand. Things are just not working together here and I guess it's either a lack of confidence (or a huge loss thereof), a bad atmosphere within the club, bad luck or even a combination of all. Wilcox and Wright are playing better outside of Leicester, too. Is our club just jinxed in a way?

5) A lack of honesty. If you can't admit that you're making mistakes and repeat the same excuses day in, day out, you don't have to wonder that the fans are either becoming more and more concerned (because they love the club), angry, outraged, depressed or motionless, uninterested and lethargic. There is no passion in the club's executives statements, no truth behind the words.

6) A clueless football coach and club management. How do you explain the poor disciplinary record? Have you told the guys to stop behaving so poorly? Or is that simply an impossibility? How do you explain that the players you've brought in are not performing as well as you expected them to? Could it be that you've made a mistake, see it but can't admit it? Why can't you say something more encouraging or honest after an abysmal performance? Why do you always repeat yourself with the same argumentation, as if you were a liveless puppet? Why do you always change tactics, formations and players from game to game? Why do we always see a different, unsuccessful Leicester side than a consistent, successful one? Why won't you talk about your problems?

[Guest]

Some good points raised. My thoughts are as follows.

We do NOT need a clinical finisher. Not unless we are planning to find someone who can pick the ball up in his own half, take on the opposition, on his own, and finish the job off. Why? Because we are not creating chances. We were limited, yet again, to tame backpasses to the opposition keeper for the umpteenth game running. I don't care if they count as "shots on target". It is a misnomer. A shot to me suggests a ferocious belter of a ball, not one the keeper has time to have a cuppa and a read of his 'paper before picking up the ball.

Teams know we can't score; they all concede considerable amounts of possession, and we pass the ball around before needlessly losing it because no fecker knows what to do with it once he gets within the final third. Most goals we are conceding now are on the break, after we've committed men forward. I bet they're all laughing at us. I would be if it didn't hurt so much.

We are desperate. We have no imagination, no creative spark. It seems to me as though CL is changing his team regularly in the vain hope something clicks. He's already admitted he doesn't know what his starting 11 is. He's also admitted he doesn't know where the next win is going to come. What sort of manager is that? In any other industry, you'd be sacked!

I am still unsure as to whether changing manager now would be counter-productive, but comments like those above will not do him any favours.

[Katy]

Some good points raised. My thoughts are as follows.

We do NOT need a clinical finisher. Not unless we are planning to find someone who can pick the ball up in his own half, take on the opposition, on his own, and finish the job off. Why? Because we are not creating chances. We were limited, yet again, to tame backpasses to the opposition keeper for the umpteenth game running. I don't care if they count as "shots on target". It is a misnomer. A shot to me suggests a ferocious belter of a ball, not one the keeper has time to have a cuppa and a read of his 'paper before picking up the ball.

Teams know we can't score; they all concede considerable amounts of possession, and we pass the ball around before needlessly losing it because no fecker knows what to do with it once he gets within the final third. Most goals we are conceding now are on the break, after we've committed men forward. I bet they're all laughing at us. I would be if it didn't hurt so much.

We are desperate. We have no imagination, no creative spark. It seems to me as though CL is changing his team regularly in the vain hope something clicks. He's already admitted he doesn't know what his starting 11 is. He's also admitted he doesn't know where the next win is going to come. What sort of manager is that? In any other industry, you'd be sacked!

I am still unsure as to whether changing manager now would be counter-productive, but comments like those above will not do him any favours.

*sigh* Its all too awful at the moment, we're in for a long hard run in and something needs to be done soon because I dont want us to have to beat Southampton away in order to stay up!

[supedaj]

can someone fwd these onto Tim Davies email address pleeeeeaaase? some very valid points and would be good if these were raised with CL asap

[Suffolk_fox]

Not creating chances???

I saw many good chances go to waste on NY Eve!