A few Observations

[Captain...]

Surely when a football club take a player on loan with a view to a permanent signing, they agree on the transfer price with the parent club?

If this isn't done, & the player turns out to be a great player during the loan period, then the parent club are going to bang the price up as opposed to their original expected price for the player? I would also want a guarantee that we would get first option to buy the player, over any other club coming in with a bid.

Would anyone in their right mind take a 2 yr old racehorse on trial & the buying/selling price would depend on how successful it was over 1 season?

Maybe I am wrong, but having run my own business for 24 years, it's not the way I would go about securing a deal. I would want to know the price before I took the player on loan.

In the case of Yakubu for sure we will have agreed on a price in the summer or at least discussed it there or there abouts, probably depending on promotion, but with PVA I am pretty sure we have had no such discussion with Chelsea. We are giving him experience for them, my reading of it is that we don't stand a chance of signing him.

I am not sure what the case will be with Bruma, are they looking to get rid of him or just send him out for some first team action?

[Captain...]

Some people are never happy are they? The Jury is still out in Yakubu??? Jesus the guy is a premiership class striker, yes he may not run around like a headless chicken but sven knew that when he went for him,

I am not questioning whether Yakubu is premiership class or not, what I am not sure about is if we can afford to have someone in the team like Yakubu in the premiership. Things are going to be a lot tougher in the premiership and having a striker like Yakubu who doesn't bust a gut and put other teams under pressure when they have the ball in defence could be detrimental to our survival chances. Playing the likes of barnsley at home is going to be very different to Bolton or Blackburn, to survive in the prem we are going to need to perform from front to back and we can't afford passengers. When I say the jury is out on Yakubu I am referring to whether I think we should sign him if we get promoted, not as to whether he should be in the team at the moment.

[The Year Of The Fox]

I think Yakubu's lack of closing down suits us. Opposition centre-backs know they can't carry the ball because that will leave Yakubu one-on-one on the counter attack and we get the ball forward so quickly that we are most dangerous when we win the ball in our own half.Swansea had two quick wingers and we let them have the ball for long periods. You can usually tell our tactics from what Wellens does. If he is biting into tackles and closing men down at every opportunity then you know we've been told to press. If he's backing off and just organising the rest of our players then the orders are probably to let the opposition have the ball, keep our energy, let the defence win it and then counter quickly.

I think to say we have no steel in central midfield is wrong. Abe had an off day yesterday but he normally provides this and Wellens can control the middle of the park against most teams.

Another telling sign was Eriksson's post-match interview on Radio Leicester, where he had to keep reminding himself that we'd won 4-1 because he was so frustrated with the way we played towards the end of the first half! He knows we won't always win 4-1, especially when we play like we did yesterday, but the goal threat is there even when we're below-par so it bodes well.

I take your point, though I don't know whether you were at the game yesterday?

To me, for long periods of time, Barnsley kept the ball very well. There was a period about 40 mins into the game that they kept it for about 2 mins without us getting a touch. Their posession at that period wasn't centred around their back four, it was all posession in our half. Better teams with more clincial finishers would've had two or three in the first half I think. (and it showed having one goal disallowed and scoring another just before the break)

These situations come from any one of the Leicester players not closing down- yesterday is was Yakubu. Wellens/King/Gallagher or whoever had to close down their centre back with the ball leaving gaps in the midfield. It was frustrating to say the least.

[jamesmilner]

I think Yakubu's lack of closing down suits us. Opposition centre-backs know they can't carry the ball because that will leave Yakubu one-on-one on the counter attack and we get the ball forward so quickly that we are most dangerous when we win the ball in our own half.

Swansea had two quick wingers and we let them have the ball for long periods. You can usually tell our tactics from what Wellens does. If he is biting into tackles and closing men down at every opportunity then you know we've been told to press. If he's backing off and just organising the rest of our players then the orders are probably to let the opposition have the ball, keep our energy, let the defence win it and then counter quickly.

I think to say we have no steel in central midfield is wrong. Abe had an off day yesterday but he normally provides this and Wellens can control the middle of the park against most teams.

Another telling sign was Eriksson's post-match interview on Radio Leicester, where he had to keep reminding himself that we'd won 4-1 because he was so frustrated with the way we played towards the end of the first half! He knows we won't always win 4-1, especially when we play like we did yesterday, but the goal threat is there even when we're below-par so it bodes well.

how can someone being lazy up front not closing down suit us or anyone ? yakubu was lazy for his 2nd game. its ok not to close down if the centrebacks cant knock a ball , but if they can it kills you . you are 100% wrong .

sven on the radio ! he knows football can change in an instant , if theyd have made it 2-2 just before halftime the whole game could have been different after .they were ontop playing some nice football . we sat back and watched them do it as well .the two half time team talks would have been different too .we dont react too good when conceding a goal .goal threats can dry up quickly when you concede yourself.sven wont talk how great we are he lets others do that . we are not great yet by a long shot .and sven knows it.