Sven's signings

[J.Lisemore]

[Leicester_Loyal]

Yep, looks like we'll miss him too unless we actually get a decent replacement in (Not a premiership reject whos past it).

I'm not a big fan of him but he was our most prolific goalscorer by far.

Yeah, but thats because no-one in our team can score goals.

[volpeazzurro]

Well here's my tenpenneth for what it's worth...

DEFENCE: Stats don't lie. Last season with 45 goals against, we had statistically the 4th best defence in the league under Pearson. In other words we wern't that far away, so whar happened here then? First we had Sousa who thought we could turn our centre backs into Rio Ferdinands or other certain 'continental comfortable on the ball going forward players'.They couldn't do it and lost confidence. It wasn't their fault, you can't expect champagne football from beer money players! Instead of taking stock and realising that we just needed a little tweeking, messr's Sousa and Ericsson decide between them that we need a completely new defence. Naughton looks a fantastic player for me and has a good career ahead of him. Davies, my WBA season ticket holder friend reminds me, commanded a £12m fee for a reason i.e. he's very good BUT also very injury prone (hence only a few games for Villa). Just as he gets fit and started to put in very good performances, he'd break down (always has done). Hobbs with Morrison for cover for me are good enough (and they are our players and appear to want to be there). Cunningham is at best ok and a half decent prospect but... Berner, who for me was previously one of our players of the season last year is already far better. We play for now, not the future and need stability in defence

FORWARDS: In Fryatt and Waghorn we already have two good forwards! Don't expect Fryatt to have blistering pace or have the height to worry big centre backs, but he is intelligent, see's the gaps. Our problem for years now is the midfield i.e. the sort of player to thread balls through to him. It's no coincidence that when Pearson played with a more attacking two winger midfield in the first division that Fryatt was able to poach goals. Waghorn is potentially the bustleing strong forward that will break down defences, but he needs games! Howard, though ageing, is still a handful who can come on and change things a bit. Bednar is a joke! Has poor control, for a big bloke doesn't put himself about (against Milwall he won one header despite their two main centrebacks Shittu and Robinson not playing) and is always whinning GET RID! Vassell, who has never been a prolific goalscorer, despite his age and lack of games, it was hoped could make things happen with his pace and trickery, yet we don't field a goalscorer to compliment him!

PRETTY BOYS: These are the type of players that are almost statuesque in their play. They look great initially with good looking tecnique but then you eventually realise that for the most part, they only contribute a good looking short pass now and again. Enter Mr Gallagher and Mr Oakley! Now I know the former has scored afew panalties and a couple of free kicks but we need more than that from him. Three managers now have realised he isn't a centre forward (plus his last club), but neither is he a winger or a midfielder that can either break up the play with a tackle or thread a defence splitting pass through, get rid of both. Wellens, King and Abe, I like and rate all three, but can we afford to play all three together at the expense of a midfielder with vision, or a couple of wingers etc? King scores a lot of goals and boy have we needed them, but he does go missing for long periods.

WHO DO WE BUY: don't know as long as it's not Bednar or Vaughan, who although doing ok for Palace, is injury prone and no better than what we've got. My fix would be to play Berner, buy a midfielder who can pass more than just sideways (honestly, they were crap against Milwall, also went to Ipswich, waste of money). Use either Abe or Wellens to protect thedefence, and persist with Fryatt and Waghorn and bring on big Steve if we need to change it a bit.

Rant over and no doubt not popular, but we have had a pletherer of managers who just want to put their stamp on the team without really looking at what they've already got.

Happy New Year!

[arch stanton]

So they've mostly (all but one) been loanees, but how impressed have you been with them? Myself there's only one, Naughton, who has continually impressed me. Cunningham has be mostly good, without being what I'd call "impressive"; Davies is no great leap ahead of Hobbs really, so I'd rather we were using him more and improving him; Vassell isn't and never has been, the goal scoring dynamo we need... he's not even been that great a provider; Kirkland is a walking hospital case who seems little better than Weale (probably due to a lack of regular football, but the fact remains); and Bednar... don't even get me started. The Baggies must be laughing at us.

Which leaves me weary of how Sven will use money in January. We have seen in the cases Kirkland, Vassell and Bednar that "Big Names" (I'm being generous here) don't necessarily create big performances.

With more money than any Leicester manager has ever had before... is he gonna squander it?

i have to admit i'm more than a tad concerned as well. I'm still asking myself why the hell he keeps ignoring DYER who in my honest opinion is along with KING & WELLENS our best bet for positive football with pace. The last time a city manager had money by the bucket load to blow was a certain MR TAYLOR & look what a pigs ear he made of our team then. I struggle to understand how sven hasn't at least tried Bruno to steady the ship before looking elsewhere. I hope the new owners also realise bringing in so called big names only guarrantees a massive drain on finances AND a false expectancy of success.

[Haydos]

Naughton's name seems the only one who is banded around in the must buy category on a regular basis but he worries me defensively a lot like Glenn Johnson. His slip lead to Gradel's goal at the weekend and ball watching allowed Morrison in at the far post a couple of days ago.

Don't get me wrong, I am generally a fan of his. I like his attitude towards football and his no-nonsense attacking play, It gives us width, pace and urgency on the counter. But when the ball is played into our area he seems to have a tendency to switch off and get drawn towards the ball leaving himself out of position to deal with any threats from behind him.

I think this needs to be addressed by the coaches as well as our centre backs' communication and I don't see how they can avoid this when watching re-runs of the games.

[cc_star]

Sven's tried to sort the defence out - bought in 4 players, we're still shipping goals

Sven's signed a couple of forwards to try & put the bucketful of chances away we create... we still can't take chances.

He will obviously repeat these actions in January... what if he fails with them both again?

He blatantly doesn't get what a scrap this division is, just plain & simple doesn't get it the owners will back him no doubt, but with his ineptitude towards motivation (we don't start playing until we're two goals down) tactics (why can't he change formation in an effort to keep things tight) I don't think any number of signings will make a difference.

Also the players we're linked with/ have no idea what's required in this division. Good luck getting Mr Renta-Celeb footballer to pitch in on a freezing cold Tuesday night away game in February

People will be joining us on massive wages if they don't work out we'll be unable to move them on and along with Sven's impossibly high wages I worry for the future... nothing a good win at Hull wouldn't put right though

[Bob Weasel Fox]

i think January will see the start of a wonderful SVENtastic Leicester City period of growth, improvement and prosperity :sge: or will it?

[Thracian]

All the players he has signed are good players. They may not all be working out (Bednar and Kirkland) but they have proven quality and pedigree.

Whether it be lack of fitness, bad form, them not fitting in or us not getting the best from them, they aren't bad players and almost any other team in the championship would have them in their squads if they could.

Another point I'd make is that both players haven't been here long. It wasn't so long ago that Abe had been written off after only a few appearances and now he's a favourite of many. Some people take time to fit in and some fit straight away. So it seems somewhat harsh to judge them as failures so soon, not surprising as some managers are called to be sacked after one game.

Let's judge the managers signings when he has had a transfer window. Personally I'd judge after the summer one as January isn't easy to get what you want.

As for people saying stick with Hobbs, great in theory but the lad has been shocking this year and if we hadn't made the change things could have been worse than they are.

I don't remember anyone writing-off Abe - just suggesting he was allowed to acclimatise and get properly fit first, rather than putting him into the side before he was ready and capable of doing well.

I'd say exactly the same should have applied to Bednar, Kirkland and Vassell.

But no. We're always in a rush and it's probably cost us points as a consequence. But I know, the professionals know better! I just wish they'd show it.

[Corky]

Of the loanees, Naughton is the one I would like to sign permanently. Cunningham after that, the others I'm not sure about, Bednar hasn't impressed me and Davies, who started well, seems to have slipped back in terms of performance.

We need a right winger (or give Moussa more opportunities), a new centre-back and a striker. Hopefully Sven can clear out some of the squad players to help bring in new signings.

[ibbosuk]

i think January will see the start of a wonderful SVENtastic Leicester City period of growth, improvement and prosperity :sge: or will it?

ARE WE ALL GETTING CARRIED AWAY ???

January is notoriously hard to bring in players, have you ever thought that the January transfer window might be very slow for Leicester and not much transfer activity ?

Sven is not going to spend for the sake of it, perhap's in his own mind he has decided the season is over ?

and he intends to keep his powder dry and do most of his business at the end of the season?

http://www.lcfc.com Posted on: Thu 30 Dec 2010

Eriksson: “We Know We Have To Change”

:sge:SPEND SAYS: " "January is a difficult period to conduct transfers and I do not expect a complete revolution. We are still aiming for the play-offs and I think we can make some improvements in the coming month or so without being too busy." "

[buzzy]

These signings were all the actions of a desperate man, he had less than a week to get together a decent back four in the loan window . He has had time to scout and scour the depths of the footballing world over the last few months, I have the greatest expectations that he will sort us out and we can look forward to next season.

This season is a write off and its all down to one man - Paulo Sousa. For his complete overhaul of a tactic that worked wonders the year before and his morbid bunch of signings.

how can you say it was all down to sousa with have only picked up 18 pts since sven took over so that tells me its over 24 games not 10 or what ever it was since paulo was sacked. its just been a damp squid of a season so far

[CupidStunt]

With more money than any Leicester manager has ever had before... is he gonna squander it?

Unless you know something we dont, i think your forgetting the amount of money A certain Peter the twat Taylor was given and threw it down the swanny, he got a cool 20 milion iirc

In Sven we trust

[Bob Weasel Fox]

Spot on cupidstunt. In SVEN :sge: we trust

[deep blue]

The views of volpeazzurro and cc_star are spot on.

Sven could do worse than try Waghorn & Fryatt as a striker pairing; we have no-one else (including Sven's signees) who looks more likely to score from open play. Unfortunately, both seem to be on their way out (and how can Waggy be not good enough for us when he's wanted by QPR, if the rumours are correct). Also amazed that Berner hasn't been given a go; can see him helping to stabilize the defence.

The second point is that the "now" is much more important at the moment than the future. It doesn't matter what Prem "stars" Sven brings in - they are unlikely to improve the squad if Sven can't adapt to the Championship, get the team more motivated, prepared to scrap as a team. Better if the core are Championship-savvy performers. If we were to get promoted then the squad would be improved as necessary in the summer.

Blackpool got promoted, and are doing exceptionally well now, with a squad that we would probably think of as average Championship players. But they have team spirit and fight.

[somebum]

Whatever 'deals' Sven makes will be for himself, through agents, as he gets a percentage of all fees.