What the Filbert does Claudio do?

[PFKAKTF FOX]

Absolutely spot on Durham, the main players from last season have lost their mojo, hunger and desire. Players like Mahrez and Vardy look like they need a new challenge, we are stale and need freshening up and revitalising. Time for change is now.

 

[PFKAKTF FOX]

I'm all for Gray starting because he's shown glimpses of promise during his substitute appearances. But in my opinion Musa has done nothing in his recent appearances to warrant a start.

Musa scored 2 in 2 and looked to be finding his feet then gets dropped, it seems to me much like Okazaki, there are players who are more droppable than others perhaps because they don't kick up a stink like some of the bigger egos in the squad.

 

[TornadoShaunUK]

I agree with that. Musa has looked pretty good most of the time.

Ranieri has made mistakes this year by chopping and changing too much as well, though I guess it's difficult with the extra Champions League games to consider.

 

[camberwell fox]

Bar, bringing in Okazaki for Vardy or Slimani I would stick with the players he keeps picking.

They are collectively plenty good enough for a mid table finish and the last 8 of the CL (unless we draw a super club).

 

[FIF]

Musa scored 2 in 2 and looked to be finding his feet then gets dropped, it seems to me much like Okazaki, there are players who are more droppable than others perhaps because they don't kick up a stink like some of the bigger egos in the squad.

From what I've seen THIS season. Musa is a straight up improvement on Vardy. He puts more effort in, can run faster and can't score any less.

 

[Brown Nose]

I took great pride in reading about our player and team statistics last season. We battered certain categories.

I find that Squawka is the best site to see how we rate independently: http://www.squawka.com/home/

I've just reviewed us on there this season. As a team, we're rock bottom of the league and you have to scroll down a long way to find the City players in the individual records. Slimani is our highest performer (191st) and Albrighton our lowest at (447th out of 451).

In order of performances this season, our players rate as follows: Slimani (best), then Drinkwater and Morgan. Mahrez comes in way down in 297th and Vardy is 323rd! Last season Mahrez was 14th and Vardy 17th.

It also shows things like we have the worst record in the league on things like tackling - winning just 34% this season.

It's an all round story of gutless, heartless losers.

The new players are clearly not to blame. This is a story of the old guard from last season (players and management) totally losing their passion and desire.

 

[Volpone]

I took great pride in reading about our player and team statistics last season. We battered certain categories.

I find that Squawka is the best site to see how we rate independently: http://www.squawka.com/home/

I've just reviewed us on there this season. As a team, we're rock bottom of the league and you have to scroll down a long way to find the City players in the individual records. Slimani is our highest performer (191st) and Albrighton our lowest at (447th out of 451).

In order of performances this season, our players rate as follows: Slimani (best), then Drinkwater and Morgan. Mahrez comes in way down in 297th and Vardy is 323rd! Last season Mahrez was 14th and Vardy 17th.

It also shows things like we have the worst record in the league on things like tackling - winning just 34% this season.

It's an all round story of gutless, heartless losers.

The new players are clearly not to blame. This is a story of the old guard from last season (players and management) totally losing their passion and desire.

Let's hope Ranieri sees this and posts it all around the training ground and dressing rooms.

 

[yackandandah]

I've said elsewhere, Ranieri sticks with it. It's a confidence thing, it needs building back up. Besides, there's not a lot of scope for tinkering. Sure, change shape but you still have the issue of who plays where - and we're not blessed with options.

In a (very narrow) sense, last season did us no favours (let's be clear though, we earned/deserved it and I wouldn't trade it away for anything). The stars aligned and we were huge.... but it was very much ahead of schedule. The building process, for solid reasons, didn't aim for it nor project it.

Maybe it's rebound, maybe it's egos. No idea on either but Ranieri needs to get us focused and playing like a team again. I can accept losses better if we've played well but we're not even playing well. We can play much better than we are. We know that, we've seen it. The manager's job is to get us back there and we won't get back there by panicking. He needs to get the confidence back.

 

[Redditch Fox]

Absolutely spot on Durham, the main players from last season have lost their mojo, hunger and desire. Players like Mahrez and Vardy look like they need a new challenge, we are stale and need freshening up and revitalising. Time for change is now.

It looks unlikely that wholesale changes can be made in January. Maybe we just have to freshen things up and hope that we can escape relegation. Big clear out looks inevitable at the end of the season. The weird outcome of winning the league seems to be that it has disrupted long term development - or is it just that age has caught up with the defence and what we thought were our standout players up front were one season wonders? Having limited mid field resources doesn't help much either - e.g. King is a fringe players at this level - too much is being expected of him and whilst Amartey looks promising to me he is too inexperienced to function well with the limited players around him.

 

[yackandandah]

The 'big clear out' may take the form of older players moving on as much as getting rid of 'not up to it' squad players. We've maybe bought for the future without regard to the present (Slimani aside) and it shows. The Jan purchases need to be able to come in and do the job from day 1 - even if for only 18 months. Maybe we've looked too far ahead.

 

[Jeff]

The 'big clear out' may take the form of older players moving on

Not as easy as it sounds. Most of the older players have got big new contracts, they won't want to take a pay cut to move to another club, and no one else will pay them what they're on now based on current form.

 

[David Gwilliam]

Kante was exceptional - the best Leicester midfielder I have ever seen. It is no good expecting Drinkwater and one other to cope. I would not drop King or (for the moment Amartey) but play three in midfield.

In the January window we need to buy players who are "battle hardened" but still hungry for success as Nigel did with Huth. They should have experience of the Premier League we do not have time to let them settle in. We may have to pay "over the odds" to get these.

I do not agree with those who would pick Grey for all his potential A relegation dogfight needs men not boys.

We have two big advantages. Firstly we have talented players who are playing badly; this is better than having players who are just not good enough. Secondly we have owners who are desperate to stay in the Prem and have the cash to spend. .

 

[Jeff]

we have owners who are desperate to stay in the Prem and have the cash to spend. .

So does every other club in this league.

 

[bocadillo]

Kante was exceptional - the best Leicester midfielder I have ever seen. It is no good expecting Drinkwater and one other to cope. I would not drop King or (for the moment Amartey) but play three in midfield.

In the January window we need to buy players who are "battle hardened" but still hungry for success as Nigel did with Huth. They should have experience of the Premier League we do not have time to let them settle in. We may have to pay "over the odds" to get these.

I do not agree with those who would pick Grey for all his potential A relegation dogfight needs men not boys.

We have two big advantages. Firstly we have talented players who are playing badly; this is better than having players who are just not good enough. Secondly we have owners who are desperate to stay in the Prem and have the cash to spend. .

Amen

 

[FIF]

So does every other club in this league.

An oft overlooked fact.

It will be neraly impossible for Leicester to get any battle hardened prem players in the jan window. Our only hope is that very good players who want to play in the prem can come in and make an immediate impact.

I still believe that Mendy, Slimani and Musa will all prove to be great buys in the second half of the season but CR must trust in them now.

And I would be happy to see Gray getting more match time. I beleive he will prove to be better than Mahrez.

 

[bocadillo]

So does every other club in this league.

The challenge is then to spend it wisely, and more wisely than we did in the summer; and NOT just to field players who are already on our books but not yet ready for the fray.

 

[Volpone]

I took great pride in reading about our player and team statistics last season. We battered certain categories.

I find that Squawka is the best site to see how we rate independently: http://www.squawka.com/home/

I've just reviewed us on there this season. As a team, we're rock bottom of the league and you have to scroll down a long way to find the City players in the individual records. Slimani is our highest performer (191st) and Albrighton our lowest at (447th out of 451).

In order of performances this season, our players rate as follows: Slimani (best), then Drinkwater and Morgan. Mahrez comes in way down in 297th and Vardy is 323rd! Last season Mahrez was 14th and Vardy 17th.

It also shows things like we have the worst record in the league on things like tackling - winning just 34% this season.

It's an all round story of gutless, heartless losers.

The new players are clearly not to blame. This is a story of the old guard from last season (players and management) totally losing their passion and desire.

Reading your post again has made me even more angry. These players are taking the piss. I hope Top and his dad are aware of these stats. They are a disgrace.

I would drop most of them and pick players who are prepared to fight.

When fit....

Schmeichel

Amartey, Hernandez, Benayouane, Schlupp

Gray, Drinkwater, Mendy, Musa

Slimani, Okazaki

 

[homer]

The very worst thing we could do is just carry on playing the same group of players in the same set up, in the hope that they will 'find their form'

Ooh, you can't drop Mahrez, he's the best player we've ever seen
Ooh, you can't drop Vardy, he justneeds one to go in and he'll score ten
Ooh you can't drop Fuchs, he the the best left back we've had in years

It's bollocks
They are playing like steaming stumps

Drop them, and drop them now

 

[SJN-Fox]

There's no single answer to this and dropping some of the regulars may provide a solution but those regulars are/were playing well in the UCL matches. For me, the main cause for concern is the midfield. They aren't providing the strikers with the service that they need so their goals have dried up. Neither are they breaking down the opposition attacks in the way they were last season so the defence are having to do far more work than they did last season.

Defending from corners is a mess because they can no longer push shove and maul their way out of trouble so they aren't as effective. On top of all this, our opponents have cottoned on to,how we play. They know that if they stifle Mahrez by putting two or three players on him that it breaks our creativity down.

Basically there's no plan B and without that we're no longer a potent force. Hopefully Mendy coming back and some astute business in January will address some of these problems although I worry that any players worth having will now think twice given our league position.

We need to be heading towards the top half of the table by the time the window opens and to be honest, I'm not sure that will happen given the teams we play between now and then.

 

[FryattFox]

Conte was brave enough to drop Ivanovic and Fabregas, and change formations, and look at their reward.

I don't even care if we mix things up and it goes badly - it can't get worse.

And surely Gray and Musa, etc, have a point to prove.