Midfield

[Finn Claw]

Right I’m going to try and create a better midfield whilst sticking to Kelly's system, he obviously wants deep lying defensive central midfielders

The choices I think Are Weso, Tiatto, Hughes, Johnson or Stearman (who i agree should go to RB for his attacking intent more than anything. My preference (if we paly this system) would be Tiatto and Weso or Tiatto and Stearman.

I think Williams is too unreliable to go in the middle. However you could move him out wide, (without wanting to compare him to Zidane, he was a creative central midfielder who always did well on the left for France. On the wings you have, Welsh, Porter, Lowe, Sylla.

I think i'd opt for

Williams - Weso - Tiatto - Porter (or Sylla on current reports!)

the dreaded diamond anyone

[Thracian]

Right I’m going to try and create a better midfield whilst sticking to Kelly's system, he obviously wants deep lying defensive central midfielders

The choices I think Are Weso, Tiatto, Hughes, Johnson or Stearman (who i agree should go to RB for his attacking intent more than anything. My preference (if we paly this system) would be Tiatto and Weso or Tiatto and Stearman.

I think Williams is too unreliable to go in the middle. However you could move him out wide, (without wanting to compare him to Zidane, he was a creative central midfielder who always did well on the left for France. On the wings you have, Welsh, Porter, Lowe, Sylla.

I think i'd opt for

Williams - Weso - Tiatto - Porter (or Sylla on current reports!)

the dreaded diamond anyone

I've got an idea RK stuck to picking from "fit" players.

[l444ry]

Well he won't win anything playing in the current manner and it's not worked really either. We've never been above halfway and have constantly drawn too many games, last season and this.

The strikers rarely get a handful of decent passes in a month let alone a game. Macclesfield was the last match I remember when there was some attempt at sustained close passing and moving.

Kelly certainly ought to know our strengths and weaknesses best (depends anyway on the way you want to play) but football is littered with far more managerial failures than successes so the idea they always no best is highly questionable.

And in any case there are problems facing every manager that are nothing to do with their preferred choices but more to do with the seniority of people, the amount those people are being paid, pressure from agents, the need to put underperforming players in the shop window, aspects of diplomacy and harmony, injuries etc.

We have probably never played our best team in over 15 months now but this is not really about what Kelly thinks is our best team it is about how he wants to play.

I thought there were signs beginning to show of an attacking commitment but no and I'm afraid that if he wants to play as you've described we're in for more and more of the same broadly negative supposedly hard-to-beat football which has never threatened to take us to any great heights. And that's what concerns me.

Not whether Kelly is capable of grinding out enough points to keep us in the division. He seems to have established that. The question now is can he develop our team so that it can win things?. He's a long way off that and he won't do it in the manner you've described. It's far too easy to counter.

Teams like Hull, Colchester and Burnley have regularly demonstrated that.

Appreciate your points Thracian. However, when I suggest that Kelly knows his squad better than us, it is in the sense that he probably doesn't trust in the players ability to play the fluent, passing football we'd all like to see in a perfect world. If that assumption is correct then I'd have to agree with him. This league is a highly competitive, kick, bollock and bite league and if any team wants to play their way out of it they'd better be a good side. This we patently are not. Our first team squad are average and the kid's you so laudibly support not ready for this type of competition yet. Therefore, until Rob Kelly receives the funds to strengthen the squad with players not in the bargain bucket we are destined for this type of football for the forseeable future.

[Thracian]

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Appreciate your points Thracian. However, when I suggest that Kelly knows his squad better than us, it is in the sense that he probably doesn't trust in the players ability to play the fluent, passing football we'd all like to see in a perfect world. If that assumption is correct then I'd have to agree with him. This league is a highly competitive, kick, bollock and bite league and if any team wants to play their way out of it they'd better be a good side. This we patently are not. Our first team squad are average and the kid's you so laudibly support not ready for this type of competition yet. Therefore, until Rob Kelly receives the funds to strengthen the squad with players not in the bargain bucket we are destined for this type of football for the forseeable future.

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And for how many years have we been relying on supposedly hard-to-beat football to get us anywhere?. How long does the trial last?

Both teenagers and people in their 40's like Sheringham manage to make their mark in top grade football but do you why?

The one vital factor is not being able to kick, or bite people in the tackle, or to run for ever at 100mph. It is the ability to do something well. Where in our team do we have players who do something well?

This season Logan, McCarthy, Kisnorbo, Hume, Porter are the only five players who I'd be generous enough to include in such a list - and that really would be by trying to be kind.

Others have had their moments but that is all and one or two have offered nothing whatsoever really.

I am sick of hearing how hard and competitive the Championship is but even assuming what you say is right why am I not seeing the people you and Kelly seem to have so much faith in doing the business or even joining the little list I made. Put simply they are not so they have no case.

How many good games has the wonderfully tough and experienced Johnson played this season? Yes I know Sylla was a MoM candidate yesterday but how many good games has he had out of 30-odd in two seasons?

And what about Tiatto over 15 months or Low or even Hughes this season?. Where is the evidence to justify the notion that these people are better than younger players.

In what way have they coped so well with the supposedly tough Championship?.

What we need is players who can hurt people - not physically but with their skills. People who are specialists in their particular positions not jacks of all trades who do nothing well.

But equally important is we need groups of players who play the game in a complimentary manner playing together. Not a mixture of one style and the other. It is a source of lasting disbelief to me that the Academy and Reserves play in one manner but the first team doesn't reflect that style at all.

I know it's a different level but look at Paul Scholes. He's a lousy tackler. He's not tough in the accepted sense of the word. But the issue doesn't really arrive because he passes the ball so quickly, so accurately, so incisively and no-one really gets anywhere near him to wipe him out. He's not tall, he's not fast. He's just good, like Sheringham really but in a different department.

No we haven't got a Scholes or a Sheringham but we have got players who hurt people week in and week out. They might lack the final polish but they're fit and energetic enough. But it is what they can do that counts.

Louis Dodds: Scores goals/makes goals.

Andy King: Makes goals/scores goals/breaks through from midfield.

Max Gradel: Scores goals, makes goals, beats people.

Eric Odhiambo: Scores goals, quick one-two's, beats people as he'd plainly show given 30-odd twenty-minute chances instead of one.

Compare that with:

Andy Johnson: Strengths - none.

Josh Low: Strengths - none.

Momo Sylla: Strengths - none. Signs of a reasonable cross.

Stephen Hughes: Strengths - dogged harrier.

Danny Tiatto: Strengths - free kicks, harrying.

[l444ry]

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=============================

And for how many years have we been relying on supposedly hard-to-beat football to get us anywhere?. How long does the trial last?

Both teenagers and people in their 40's like Sheringham manage to make their mark in top grade football but do you why?

The one vital factor is not being able to kick, or bite people in the tackle, or to run for ever at 100mph. It is the ability to do something well. Where in our team do we have players who do something well?

This season Logan, McCarthy, Kisnorbo, Hume, Porter are the only five players who I'd be generous enough to include in such a list - and that really would be by trying to be kind.

Others have had their moments but that is all and one or two have offered nothing whatsoever really.

I am sick of hearing how hard and competitive the Championship is but even assuming what you say is right why am I not seeing the people you and Kelly seem to have so much faith in doing the business or even joining the little list I made. Put simply they are not so they have no case.

How many good games has the wonderfully tough and experienced Johnson played this season? Yes I know Sylla was a MoM candidate yesterday but how many good games has he had out of 30-odd in two seasons?

And what about Tiatto over 15 months or Low or even Hughes this season?. Where is the evidence to justify the notion that these people are better than younger players.

In what way have they coped so well with the supposedly tough Championship?.

What we need is players who can hurt people - not physically but with their skills. People who are specialists in their particular positions not jacks of all trades who do nothing well.

But equally important is we need groups of players who play the game in a complimentary manner playing together. Not a mixture of one style and the other. It is a source of lasting disbelief to me that the Academy and Reserves play in one manner but the first team doesn't reflect that style at all.

I know it's a different level but look at Paul Scholes. He's a lousy tackler. He's not tough in the accepted sense of the word. But the issue doesn't really arrive because he passes the ball so quickly, so accurately, so incisively and no-one really gets anywhere near him to wipe him out. He's not tall, he's not fast. He's just good, like Sheringham really but in a different department.

No we haven't got a Scholes or a Sheringham but we have got players who hurt people week in and week out. They might lack the final polish but they're fit and energetic enough. But it is what they can do that counts.

Louis Dodds: Scores goals/makes goals.

Andy King: Makes goals/scores goals/breaks through from midfield.

Max Gradel: Scores goals, makes goals, beats people.

Eric Odhiambo: Scores goals, quick one-two's, beats people as he'd plainly show given 30-odd twenty-minute chances instead of one.

Compare that with:

Andy Johnson: Strengths - none.

Josh Low: Strengths - none.

Momo Sylla: Strengths - none. Signs of a reasonable cross.

Stephen Hughes: Strengths - dogged harrier.

Danny Tiatto: Strengths - free kicks, harrying.

Don't confuse my observations regarding what is clearly obvious to any sensible football person - that this league requires experience, battling and mental qualities first, then skill - with support for the current situation. All I would say is that your touting of our younger players selection would probably end up with City being guaranteed relegation. Go and run your local park or semi-pro side and practice what you preach. Then magnify it ten-fold for Leicester's level and you might start to change your mind when your eyes are opened.

[lcfc_jme]

Williams and Weso have to come in when both are eligible to play, but we'll never have them fully fit together and RK won't pick them both together ahead of his other options But for all that is right in the world we should never pick Andy Johnson again, neither should we resort to playing Josh Low either. I'm by no means a fan of Momo Silly, but I would much rather see him play than Low and I'd rather see either Stearman or Tiatto play in the middle as opposed to Johnson.

[Guest]

Firstly I just have to say don't read this if you don't want to. I don't usually write essays but allow me this one.

You make some very good points, Fezzler. We aren't far off being a team capable of being top 6, yet at times we look woefully short. Frustrated? Not half.

[reynard]

fascinating thread.

the midfield is without doubt a major concern and it is right to identify the need for a speedy galscoring midfielder. unfortunately they do not come cheap and how many are available. even supporters of premiership sides are heard on phone in asking for exactly the same type of player.

unfortunately not only do we not possess such a player nor do we possess a true ball winning midfielder who can remain fit nor a decent winger (and with respect to Thracian i include porter in this category)

the way to get out of this league is to score goals and in this I agree with kelly. our strikers are all of a sort and in some cases not good enough and in the case of Fryatt sorely lacking in pace.

at present we have no alternative to trying to play through midfield to feet which with our midfield is close to impossible. therefore we need a different type of striker (a big bugger who can head the ball and hold it up).

with our resources this is as much a priority imo as a midfielder.

[Guest]

Lacking in pace hasn't stopped the likes of Sheringham. Speed of thought can be deadlier a weapon than speed of foot; look at Elvis.

[moseeds]

The truth is Leicester will never play any kind of attacking football until the fans demand it. The reality is city fans are happy to watch "A Never Say Die Attitude" which for all intents and purposes has always been a nicer way of saying "Crap Football".

There's no point trying to convince some people how rubbish the current 1st team players are compared to players in the same position from the academy/reserves. The worst that could happen is the academy player is as good as his 1st team counterpart. Like Thracian has stated the experiment to play with more "experienced, stronger and dogged" players has failed for almost 3 years running.

It's obvious the fans are happy for this type of football to be played season after season. Why should Kelly - or any new manager - think otherwise? There aren't many teams in the entire football league that plays with 7 or 8 defenders in the same starting 11. The ones that do don't attract many fans. Do you think there is a link there?

City aren't going anywhere soon until the outlook from the management is all about winning - not by defending for 3/4 of the 90 minutes but from minute 1.

[MBK]

Appreciate your points Thracian. However, when I suggest that Kelly knows his squad better than us, it is in the sense that he probably doesn't trust in the players ability to play the fluent, passing football we'd all like to see in a perfect world. If that assumption is correct then I'd have to agree with him. This league is a highly competitive, kick, bollock and bite league and if any team wants to play their way out of it they'd better be a good side. This we patently are not. Our first team squad are average and the kid's you so laudibly support not ready for this type of competition yet. Therefore, until Rob Kelly receives the funds to strengthen the squad with players not in the bargain bucket we are destined for this type of football for the forseeable future.

Yeah?? wrong number. This league relies on the so called kids and a good attractive playing side. Come on Weso and Kisnorbo. We will win. Get Hendo back Logan needs to asses his performance and learn. Otherwise he will never undergo a proper learning curve and become a good goalkeeper

[l444ry]

Yeah?? wrong number. This league relies on the so called kids and a good attractive playing side. Come on Weso and Kisnorbo. We will win. Get Hendo back Logan needs to asses his performance and learn. Otherwise he will never undergo a proper learning curve and become a good goalkeeper

Are you sure that from Malta you are in a position to know what is really happening? And your last point doesn't make sense to be honest!!!

[davieG]

The truth is Leicester will never play any kind of attacking football until the fans demand it. The reality is city fans are happy to watch "A Never Say Die Attitude" which for all intents and purposes has always been a nicer way of saying "Crap Football".

There's no point trying to convince some people how rubbish the current 1st team players are compared to players in the same position from the academy/reserves. The worst that could happen is the academy player is as good as his 1st team counterpart. Like Thracian has stated the experiment to play with more "experienced, stronger and dogged" players has failed for almost 3 years running.

It's obvious the fans are happy for this type of football to be played season after season. Why should Kelly - or any new manager - think otherwise? There aren't many teams in the entire football league that plays with 7 or 8 defenders in the same starting 11. The ones that do don't attract many fans. Do you think there is a link there?

City aren't going anywhere soon until the outlook from the management is all about winning - not by defending for 3/4 of the 90 minutes but from minute 1.

Or as someone said in a teletext letter Arsenal enter the pitch having 6 players looking to play football, where as Man Utd have 6 players looking to score a goal, not that we in anyway look like either.

[Cobbo]

Midfield of Tiatto (when on form), Williams, Weso and, erm, Stearman? looks alright to me.

But Williams and Weso have so many problems with injuries that we'll rarely get that out.

My t'other half loves Johnson to bits though and will be annoyed at me leaving him out.

[Katy]

Midfield of Tiatto (when on form), Williams, Weso and, erm, Stearman? looks alright to me.

But Williams and Weso have so many problems with injuries that we'll rarely get that out.

My t'other half loves Johnson to bits though and will be annoyed at me leaving him out.

Who is this other half of which you speak? The one I know cannot stand the sight of him.

[dandannieldanok]

Midfield of Tiatto (when on form), Williams, Weso and, erm, Stearman? looks alright to me.

But Williams and Weso have so many problems with injuries that we'll rarely get that out.

My t'other half loves Johnson to bits though and will be annoyed at me leaving him out.

Rather have Sylla than Stearman but that midfield looks alright.

[Cobbo]

Who is this other half of which you speak? The one I know cannot stand the sight of him.

Poor old AJ takes so much unwarranted abuse from thee.

[Katy]

Poor old AJ takes so much unwarranted abuse from thee.

He's an arse

[Fez of Mahrez]

The whole point with Wesolowski and Williams is that you can't rely on them to be fit. How many games have they played between them so far this season? People say they would solve the central midfield problem but Kelly has had to make do without them. You can't pin the blame on his defensive midfield selections on not selecting Weso and Williams because they haven't been available. It's up to Kelly to find a midfield that will create chances for our strikers with the options we have in the current first team and Johnson is only hindering our goal threat while failing to control any game all season.

[Manwell Pablo]

The whole point with Wesolowski and Williams is that you can't rely on them to be fit. How many games have they played between them so far this season? People say they would solve the central midfield problem but Kelly has had to make do without them. You can't pin the blame on his defensive midfield selections on not selecting Weso and Williams because they haven't been available. It's up to Kelly to find a midfield that will create chances for our strikers with the options we have in the current first team and Johnson is only hindering our goal threat while failing to control any game all season.

Well I actually think the problem is you can't trust Rob Kelly to keep them fit. Espically in RE to Williams, soon as he's able to walk his expected to put 90 minutes in twice a week.

The midfield as a whole is under staffed which is why we keep playing defenders in the middile of the park.

[Fez of Mahrez]

Well I actually think the problem is you can't trust Rob Kelly to keep them fit. Espically in RE to Williams, soon as he's able to walk his expected to put 90 minutes in twice a week.

The midfield as a whole is under staffed which is why we keep playing defenders in the middile of the park.

The fans have to take part of the blame for that though. The vast majority are itching to see these two play and moan and groan when they aren't selected even if they're not match fit - and would probably boo Kelly for substituting one of them in their comeback.

[davieG]

Well I actually think the problem is you can't trust Rob Kelly to keep them fit. Espically in RE to Williams, soon as he's able to walk his expected to put 90 minutes in twice a week.

The midfield as a whole is under staffed which is why we keep playing defenders in the middile of the park.

Didn't Weso, on his return from injury play 120 minutes followed 4 days later with another 30 before going off, admittedly after be kicked?

[davieG]

The fans have to take part of the blame for that though. The vast majority are itching to see these two play and moan and groan when they aren't selected even if they're not match fit - and would probably boo Kelly for substituting one of them in their comeback.

That hasn't stopped him playing a barrel load of shite against the fans wishes, so no I don't accept that at all.

[Fez of Mahrez]

Didn't Weso, on his return from injury play 120 minutes followed 4 days later with another 30 before going off, admittedly after be kicked?

45.

It was a very difficult set of circumstances. Hopefully we won't get that desperate for numbers again.

[Fez of Mahrez]

That hasn't stopped him playing a barrel load of shite against the fans wishes, so no I don't accept that at all.

What's that got to do with it? If Weso or Williams were fit, he'd play them. If the fans don't rate anyone else, that's a different matter entirely.