Levi Porter

[who-izzet]

I was wondering if anyone knows any real stats on Levi Porter.

How many games he played for the reserves last season, goals? what position he played in. It says on the official website he is a left winger but someone was telling me he plays in the middle. Is this true? Has anyone seen him play?

[Jimmy]

i always thought he was a right winger

[Thracian]

He played midfield for much of last season with Max Gradel on the right wing.

The first time I saw him play there he looked lost. Thereafter he blossomed and for much of the last half of the season was the controlling influence.

He is a busy, skillful little player who is excellent at providing a final pass. He has plenty of stamina, always looks as if he thoroughly enjoys playing and is not averse to having a crack at goal.

If he had a weakness it was that he is not renowned as a tackler although he did appear to be working on and improving this aspect on his game. I thought his positional play and awareness of opposition runners also improved.

Overall his major strengths are his ball control, ability to weight killer passes and his stamina.

[daveyboy]

enough quality to have some first team appearances next season? or still developing?

[Bert]

I thought he was a left winger?

[Isopen]

I thought he was a left winger?

He was on the left wing for the Westerby Cup game, can't say he looked ready for the first team on that performance.

[Jonbluefox9]

I'd never seen him play in the middle of the park until last season but he looked quite good there towards the end. Personally I don't think he'd be up to playing Championship football yet, especially in the middle because I think he'd get bossed by opponents. That's not because he's small, I just don't think he can stamp his authority on a game at this level. I know that the club see him as a skillful little player but I think he's one of a few younger players at our club who would benefit from going on loan to a lower league club for a while. It would help bridge the gap between the Academy matches, which he was easing through at the end of last season, and first team football for us.

[Thracian]

You may be right but I've lost count of the little players who someone said weren't big enough or tough enough for top grade football who ended up as internationals. Wesolowski's small too, remember.

And I keep asking myself the questions:- what is it that our midfielders do that Porter can't. And what can Porter do that they can't. I come up with the answers respectively...."nothing" and "one particular thing". Porter creates things.

[potter3]

I'd never seen him play in the middle of the park until last season but he looked quite good there towards the end. Personally I don't think he'd be up to playing Championship football yet, especially in the middle because I think he'd get bossed by opponents. That's not because he's small, I just don't think he can stamp his authority on a game at this level. I know that the club see him as a skillful little player but I think he's one of a few younger players at our club who would benefit from going on loan to a lower league club for a while. It would help bridge the gap between the Academy matches, which he was easing through at the end of last season, and first team football for us.

Then again, can Hughes Williams? Not sure about Wesolowski only seen him play once.

[MC Prussian]

As long as you don't let the fellas play, you'll never be able to tell...

[The Bigman]

Levi is not really 1st team material. More likely to be on the Saff with a can of HSL in his hand. He is not taking his football seriously, getting in to beer and woman so young.

[Thracian]

He looked as if he were taking his football pretty seriously to me on every one of the 15-20-times I saw him play last season and if the suggestion is that his lifestyle is affecting his performance then he should keep it up because the last six months were the best I've seen him play and he always had stacks of energy.

As for women - if I were his manager/coach/mentor/parents I'd be much more worried about his not being interested in such delights at his age than if he was.

He seems popular, chirpy and well focused to me. Where would ever have been had we decided we didn't like the lifestyle of Steve Walsh, Frank Worthington or umpteen others?

[Jonbluefox9]

You may be right but I've lost count of the little players who someone said weren't big enough or tough enough for top grade football who ended up as internationals. Wesolowski's small too, remember.

And I keep asking myself the questions:- what is it that our midfielders do that Porter can't. And what can Porter do that they can't. I come up with the answers respectively...."nothing" and "one particular thing". Porter creates things.

If you read what I put, I actually said that it's nothing to do with his size, I just don't think he's got enough about him. Wesolowski's different because he's not afraid to get stuck in. Even after breaking his leg, he wasn't pulling out of challenges. Porter's not the same kind of player as Wesolowski but I don't think he's good enough to play as an attcking central midfielder in our first team either. The small players who go on to big things have enough skill, pace or bite to compensate for their lack of height. Shaun Wright-Phillips has great pace, Billy Bremner used to get in people's faces all game long but Porter is nippy not lightning fast, not particularly a player who will leave his mark on an opponent so that leaves skill. Has he got enough to scare opponents? Given time on the ball he looks very skillful but you very rarely see a game in the Championship where the opposition stand off you and give you time.

What our current midfielders have which he doesn't is experience at first team level. It's ok to say our current midfielders are at the same level as Porter and Porter creates things but I'm sure if you put Gareth Williams or Stephen Hughes into a reserve match they would create as much as Porter did last season. And people will say "you won't know until you try him" but by loaning him out you will get a better idea of how good he is when playing competitive football and physical opponents. I can't see what we'd lose by sending him out on loan for a few months.

[Vo Rogue]

Our current midfielders do have first team experience, but for most of the season they played something terrible,like they couldn't give a s**t. So that in itself is not a condition for selection automatically. What Levi has in his favor,and Thrac has touched on, is that his game stepped up dramatically season just gone and can continue to do so.It seems he,like Stearman and Weso, sense there is opportunity here to do well. They all have a sense of hunger to do well.I think these 3 provide each other with that encouragement as all are mates, even off to Oz on hols this break to travel around. Porter ,with confidence in him, will get better whereas some of our other midfielders may never improve.

[Thracian]

If you read what I put, I actually said that it's nothing to do with his size, I just don't think he's got enough about him. Wesolowski's different because he's not afraid to get stuck in. Even after breaking his leg, he wasn't pulling out of challenges. Porter's not the same kind of player as Wesolowski but I don't think he's good enough to play as an attcking central midfielder in our first team either. The small players who go on to big things have enough skill, pace or bite to compensate for their lack of height. Shaun Wright-Phillips has great pace, Billy Bremner used to get in people's faces all game long but Porter is nippy not lightning fast, not particularly a player who will leave his mark on an opponent so that leaves skill. Has he got enough to scare opponents? Given time on the ball he looks very skillful but you very rarely see a game in the Championship where the opposition stand off you and give you time.

What our current midfielders have which he doesn't is experience at first team level. It's ok to say our current midfielders are at the same level as Porter and Porter creates things but I'm sure if you put Gareth Williams or Stephen Hughes into a reserve match they would create as much as Porter did last season. And people will say "you won't know until you try him" but by loaning him out you will get a better idea of how good he is when playing competitive football and physical opponents. I can't see what we'd lose by sending him out on loan for a few months.

I could argue with most of that but you do demonstrate the problem our young players have of convincing anyone that it is time they got involved with the first team squad.

I don't remember Alan Ball or Mark Draper having great pace or bite as small midfielders. As you point out, Porter is not a Wesolowski or a scary tackler. But he is probably the club's most energetic creative player and how we scream out for someone who can make telling passes accurately.

[Vo Rogue]

Porter should and will be given a run preseason at left mid as now no Welsh or Tiatto next season open up a chance. All he needs to do is take it as Weso did in 1 game preseason last year. Its totally up to him in July.

[Jonbluefox9]

Our current midfielders do have first team experience, but for most of the season they played something terrible,like they couldn't give a s**t. So that in itself is not a condition for selection automatically. What Levi has in his favor,and Thrac has touched on, is that his game stepped up dramatically season just gone and can continue to do so.It seems he,like Stearman and Weso, sense there is opportunity here to do well. They all have a sense of hunger to do well.I think these 3 provide each other with that encouragement as all are mates, even off to Oz on hols this break to travel around. Porter ,with confidence in him, will get better whereas some of our other midfielders may never improve.

I think Gareth Williams performed better as the season ended due to being given a run in the team for the first time since the opening games of the season, people moan that Hughes didn't score enough goals but he managed three in the league despite having a long running injury and playing out wide instead of down the middle (his goals came at the stage of the season when we needed them), Wesolowski showed in his few games back from injury that he can do a job in midfield too. If anywhere, Porter would get a game out wide but I still wouldn't be sure of him there for the first team. Remember, most of our players played shit for most of the season, that's why we were in a relegation battle but performances from players like Williams and Kisnorbo improved when given runs in favoured positions. That's why results began to improve as the season came to a close.

[Fez of Mahrez]

In terms of league position over the last two seasons this is one of the worst Leicester sides of all time. If he's good enough, he will get a game.

[Jonbluefox9]

I didn't see any first team midfielder in the Reserves do anything special at all nor guest players like that Finnish International Haapala when Porter gave him a 90-minute lesson in how to play. The only first team player to genuinely impress was O'Grady and Hammond also gave of his best with less effect.

Alan Ball, Peter Reid, Mark Draper weren't either big or lightning fast but they were effective and closer to home Tiatto probably "scares" opponents but was no bloody use to us. Porter is not a Tiatto or a Wesolowski but he really is the only full time creator the club has got (Williams being effectively part time).

Vo Rogue mentions the comeraderie between Levi, Stearman and Weso - a friendship which seems to encompass others like Sheehan, Dodds and others and it was interesting to me, despite the lower level, that the only success our club got last season involved Reserve/Academy players in both the Westerby Cup and the Premier Academy League where they were runners-up.

What we lose by sending them away is the six further months we've got to put up with essentially non-creative and non-scoring alternatives who have already demonstrated their limitations and, in case anyone has forgotten, threatened to get us relegated at one stage.

Having said the above it is a theoretical debate. While my preference would have been to introduce people like Porter, Dodds, Chambers, Sheehan gradually in the closing weeks of last season (the unfit Sheehan excepted) and again during the close season and start of season matches I don't believe that will happen for a minute.

I think your suggestion is more likely - that the players will go out on loan and eventually decide they have a better chance of making progress elsewhere.

I don't remember Hughes or Williams playing many if any reserve team games last season?! They are the two creative midfielders that we were using most of last season. My point is if you put either of those two in a reserve match they will create as much as Porter if not more. Trying to compare how creative one player is at reserve team level with another player at Championship level is not really going to show us anything because at reserve team level your playing on a different stage, less pressure, different quality of opposition, different level of physical play. Put Porter in League One or Two games and see how much he creates would be a much more useful way of seeing if he's more creative than what we've already got. He would be playing against players who are desperate to win for improved league positions, in front of crowds who will let you know if you're not playing well and boost your confidence when you do something well and against players who will do what they have to do to stop you from doing what you want.

We've loaned players out before, Matty Piper went to Mansfield and came back to perform for us in the Premiership and more recently CO'G who came back and has been given a chance. If we loaned Porter out and he decides that he has a better chance of progressing elsewhere then what does that say about his belief in himself? If he's not willing to fight to get in the team and impress RK then he should look at players like CO'G who has worked to get noticed and it's showing now. There are enough examples around the club to show that if you work hard you get given a chance eventually and it's those players with the right attitude that get rewarded (Stearman, Wesolowski, O'Grady).

[dandannieldanok]

Talking about young youth players, has anyone seen ashley chambers play for the reserves since his cameo appearance in the cup, i'd like to know how he is getting on.

[Thracian]

I don't remember Hughes or Williams playing many if any reserve team games last season?! They are the two creative midfielders that we were using most of last season. My point is if you put either of those two in a reserve match they will create as much as Porter if not more. Trying to compare how creative one player is at reserve team level with another player at Championship level is not really going to show us anything because at reserve team level your playing on a different stage, less pressure, different quality of opposition, different level of physical play. Put Porter in League One or Two games and see how much he creates would be a much more useful way of seeing if he's more creative than what we've already got. He would be playing against players who are desperate to win for improved league positions, in front of crowds who will let you know if you're not playing well and boost your confidence when you do something well and against players who will do what they have to do to stop you from doing what you want.

We've loaned players out before, Matty Piper went to Mansfield and came back to perform for us in the Premiership and more recently CO'G who came back and has been given a chance. If we loaned Porter out and he decides that he has a better chance of progressing elsewhere then what does that say about his belief in himself? If he's not willing to fight to get in the team and impress RK then he should look at players like CO'G who has worked to get noticed and it's showing now. There are enough examples around the club to show that if you work hard you get given a chance eventually and it's those players with the right attitude that get rewarded (Stearman, Wesolowski, O'Grady).

You're right. Hughes and Williams didn't play for the Reserves so how they might play is supposition. I just pointed out how other first teamers performed.

At first team level, Hughes together with Maybury and Sylla (when used) were all disappointing and we need something better or a fully fit, fully functioning Hughes if he is the wonderful footballer people suggest he can be.

Whether Porter will improve our midfield or challenge from the bench no-one knows but I honestly don't see how he will "fight for his place" if he's exiled out on loan. Did Stearman and Weso go on loan?

O'Grady strengthens your argument for sure but even he has never had the chance to establish himself as a first choice because, being out on loan, the striker spots were occupied by someone else in his absence.

Because our system never changed, in-form O'Grady therefore had to warm the bench and play cameos while poor performers who hadn't been out on loan (being too expensive for a start) were selected as a matter of course.

To some extent I'm playing devil's advocate here. I'm not so much against players going out on a purposeful loan as I am against people with expensive wage packets getting picked when they don't deserve it and when they don't contribute what they should.

Fighting for your place is fine if the dice aren't loaded against you.

[Vo Rogue]

As luck would have it for Porter our squad is too small to loan people out. And our budget is too tight to buy anyone of significant midfield ability. So he stays here and fights for his place.

[Thracian]

I saw Chambers play in the FA Youth Cup after a knee injury and on the odd occasion since.

He clearly wasn't fully fit but at times threatened to take the opposition apart and hit the woodwork at least once and brought a couple of brilliant saves from the opposition keeper.

He played a few Academy matches towards the end of the season and was a fairly regular scorer as I recall although I got the feeling the club were keeping him low profile (perhaps at the request of his schoolteachers).

Anyway to my mind he's the jewel in our Academy crown. A lad of genuine pace, calm disposition and a clinical finisher.

I suppose I've watched him eight or 10 times and he has always either scored, hit the woodwork or made goals and often all three.

He was also quite effective at international level, I gather, being sufficiently well thought of to be given responsibility for penalty taking.

The thing with Chambers though is that he is another who might find it hard to win the fans around because he doesn't come over as a naturally a combative player - more a silent assassin.

Outside the box he certainly makes good runs, takes up good positions - both wide and central - and hits a sweet early pass but he is not one to go through a brick wall trying to win a header where it doesn't matter (at least not when I've watched).

The player he most reminds me of (in style) is former Leicester and Leeds England striker Allen "Sniffer" Clarke.

Almost unseen for much of the time but a deadly finisher.

Is he better than Louis Dodds? He's younger, appears to be faster but that would be a difficult question to answer. Dodds has an incredibly consistent strike rate and bends a decent free kick. He's another who can appear to be only quietly involved or on the periphery but suddenly he scores or makes a goal.

Both impress me as natural strikers because they are happy to do no more than necesssary to put the ball in the net. Unlike, say, Hammond, neither seem to make the mistake of trying to blast the ball in when a tap in will do.

[Jonbluefox9]

You're right. Hughes and Williams didn't play for the Reserves so how they might play is supposition. I just pointed out how other first teamers performed.

At first team level, Hughes together with Maybury and Sylla (when used) were all disappointing and we need something better or a fully fit, fully functioning Hughes if he is the wonderful footballer people suggest he can be.

Whether Porter will improve our midfield or challenge from the bench no-one knows but I honestly don't see how he will "fight for his place" if he's exiled out on loan. Did Stearman and Weso go on loan?

O'Grady strengthens your argument for sure but even he has never had the chance to establish himself as a first choice because, being out on loan, the striker spots were occupied by someone else in his absence.

Because our system never changed, in-form O'Grady therefore had to warm the bench and play cameos while poor performers who hadn't been out on loan (being too expensive for a start) were selected as a matter of course.

To some extent I'm playing devil's advocate here. I'm not so much against players going out on a purposeful loan as I am against people with expensive wage packets getting picked when they don't deserve it and when they don't contribute what they should.

Fighting for your place is fine if the dice aren't loaded against you.

Stearman and Wesolowski didn't go on loan because when fit they were/are both good enough for the first team already. They are prime examples that if you're good enough, you'll get a chance at Leicester City, and if you perform you'll become a regular. If Porter doesn't get a chance here that could well be a sign that he's not good enough.

[Thracian]

If I had just coached a hand-picked lad for six years or so from age 13-19 or whatever and had to tell him he wasn't good enough for the first team I would be so depressed about where I'd gone wrong I would have to resign. But then if I presided over a team which took such ineffective free-kicks and corners as Leicester I'd have felt the same. And I'm not being facetious.

Before anyone asks, I am not saying that Kelly should feel the same.