Post Match Leicester City 3:0 Ipswich Town

[Micky]

Knocky. I think Morgan may get found out.

(Based on nothing what so ever)

What did he do? Buggery? Racism in the family stand?

 

[Brown Nose]

Knocky. I think Morgan may get found out.

(Based on nothing what so ever)

I too think Morgan probably isn't cut out for the Premier League. However, based on their appearances for us, who would have thought that Gareth McAuley could sustain a career at that level or that Alex Bruce would be decent player there? It's about how a player adapts and maximises his attributes and disguises his weaknesses.

On the evidence of what I've seen of them, I'd be worried about just about all of our players at the higher level. But some will flourish, perhaps those we least expect to.

Several of our players look good in winning teams, Drinkwater being an excellent example. However, when we're losing, which will happen a lot more next season irrespective of how well/badly we do, will Drinkwater disappear in miserable form like he did this time last year?

I doubt whether Knockaert will do well. He's technically talented but nowhere near effective enough on a consistent basis to merit one of two or three attacking places we could afford in our team. He simply doesn't score/assist/create enough. But using my own logic, he could turn out to be much better at the higher level.

Frankly, who the feck knows. I'd just get the lot of them exceptionally fit, make us much, much better at defending and attacking set pieces, gather as many options as possible and then just hope three other teams are worse than us.

 

[camberwell fox]

I think Kasper will step up.

Was and Wes might be good enough. Morgan and Moore yes.

Konchesky has no pace but has experience. De Laet possibly.

A midfield of four of Knocky, James, Drinky and Mahrez/Dyer maybe.

Nugent and Vardy, why not?

Small tweaking required no wholesale changes.

Generally the first half of a season (so long as you aren't Derby) you have an element of surprise and need to get most of the seasons points on the board as the second half will be more tough. We could survive with few changes and we should give most of this group of players a chance.

The second season is a much greater challange than the first in my opinion.

 

[Blaarev]

Was and Wes might be good enough. Morgan and Moore yes.

So which is it for the captain?

 

[camberwell fox]

So which is it for the captain?

We're in the prem FFS, we need two.

 

[Brown Nose]

I think Kasper will step up.

Was and Wes might be good enough. Morgan and Moore yes.

Konchesky has no pace but has experience. De Laet possibly.

A midfield of four of Knocky, James, Drinky and Mahrez/Dyer maybe.

Nugent and Vardy, why not?

Small tweaking required no wholesale changes.

Generally the first half of a season (so long as you aren't Derby) you have an element of surprise and need to get most of the seasons points on the board as the second half will be more tough. We could survive with few changes and we should give most of this group of players a chance.

The second season is a much greater challange than the first in my opinion.

It's all about money. Don't you think that the owners will want to throw a lot of money at us retaining our place there once we get it? I do. If this happens and NP doesn't spend much of it, he's a dead man walking by the end of October if we're struggling. The owners haven't chucked over £100m at our club to see us come straight back down without a genuine attempt to develop a Premier League squad. One thing they've learnt over the last three years is how fecking difficult it is to get into the Premier League.

I don't think we can or should hope the existing group will be good enough. We add the best quality we can, proven at Premier League wherever possible. We're not going up as a poor club, we're loaded. I'll be amazed if NP/Steve Walsh aren't already looking at 6-8 significant additions to the squad in both transfer fees and wages.

For me, the biggest question next season is whether NP can recruit and integrate a higher quality of player whilst retaining the team ethic we rely so much on. He and Steve Walsh have proved themselves to be pretty good at recruiting potential and developing it. Their success rate at this is over 50%. But there is no time for this in the Premier League. New recruits won't get a season to work it all out like Jamie Vardy and Matty James had last year.

Palace and Cardiff ditched promotion winning managers pretty fast this season. Reading and Southampton did the previous year too, as did QPR the season before. That's more than 50% that don't survive for long at all. If I were NP, I'd stack the odds as much in my favour as possible and that means spending every penny I can get on the best quality I can.

 

[camberwell fox]

It's all about money. Don't you think that the owners will want to throw a lot of money at us retaining our place there once we get it? I do. If this happens and NP doesn't spend much of it, he's a dead man walking by the end of October if we're struggling. The owners haven't chucked over £100m at our club to see us come straight back down without a genuine attempt to develop a Premier League squad. One thing they've learnt over the last three years is how fecking difficult it is to get into the Premier League.

I don't think we can or should hope the existing group will be good enough. We add the best quality we can, proven at Premier League wherever possible. We're not going up as a poor club, we're loaded. I'll be amazed if NP/Steve Walsh aren't already looking at 6-8 significant additions to the squad in both transfer fees and wages.

For me, the biggest question next season is whether NP can recruit and integrate a higher quality of player whilst retaining the team ethic we rely so much on. He and Steve Walsh have proved themselves to be pretty good at recruiting potential and developing it. Their success rate at this is over 50%. But there is no time for this in the Premier League. New recruits won't get a season to work it all out like Jamie Vardy and Matty James had last year.

Palace and Cardiff ditched promotion winning managers pretty fast this season. Reading and Southampton did the previous year too, as did QPR the season before. That's more than 50% that don't survive for long at all. If I were NP, I'd stack the odds as much in my favour as possible and that means spending every penny I can get on the best quality I can.

With all due respect (if it happens) money will not be the major contributory factor in our promotion, it will have been built largely on team spirit and work ethic.

I accept that can only take you so far but the aim for season one should be to survive. Is there much difference between us and the bottom six in the premier? I think not.

Wholesale changes would be a disaster if introduced quickly.

 

[Miles Away]

We will definitely need two full backs, a big time striker, and a central defender.

Would be good to add an experienced and talented midfielder. A big bear of a man hopefully.

 

[Brown Nose]

With all due respect (if it happens) money will not be the major contributory factor in our promotion, it will have been built largely on team spirit and work ethic.

I accept that can only take you so far but the aim for season one should be to survive. Is there much difference between us and the bottom six in the premier? I think not.

Wholesale changes would be a disaster if introduced quickly.

With equal respect, money talks in the Championship. How many other teams in the league could afford the likes of Schmeichel, Konchesky and Nugent? They are on big money for this level. I think our manager is the second best paid too. Although we've cut our budget, our promotion hasn't been achieved without us spending a hefty amount compared to the vast majority of our competitors.

Anyway, that aside, if money talks in the Championship, it talks a hundred times more in the Premier League. To ignore that when we can invest is to maximise our chances that our stay will be a short one. Tell Hull fans that they should have persisted with their hard-working Championship forwards instead of spending big on Long and Jelavic. That move, along with the recuitment of Huddlestone and Livermore from Spurs have pretty much taken an average group and made a team that can take a foot hold in the league. If NP can make additions such as these, we get stronger and more likely to survive. Why would we not do this?

Wholesale changes are only bad if they're poorly done. Hull have made 13 additions this season, Cardiff have made 16 additions and Palace 24!

6-8 is actually a very conservative estimate.

 

[Graz]

We will definitely need two full backs, a big time striker, and a central defender.

Would be good to add an experienced and talented midfielder. A big bear of a man hopefully.

My thoughts exactly.

I think Knocky is the type of player that will do better in the Premier League where you generally have a bit more space.

 

[Lako42]

I can't believe people think the owners would risk spending little money to keep us in the Prem when it has taken so long (and much more money) to get us there in the 1st place.

This is their dream, they can only make money on this investment whilst it remains in the Premier League, they can only successfully market the club in Thailand whilst it remains in the Premier League.

The sooner they establish the cub in the top tier the better for their investment, they won't risk pissing the last 3 years down the drain by spending cheap.

 

[Kingy_85]

So then people, which of our squad will flourish at premiership level?

For me, I think it will be Danny Drinkwater.

Danny Drinkwater 100%.

A couple of experienced key signings to bolster the squad should add nicely to our current team spirit. If things arn't quite working we can always add in January (like Hull have done).

I don't want wholesale changes because it would most likely upset the squads spirit. It may be a case of being patient. Remember we've only signed 4 players this year and it's worked wonders.

 

[Arightfilbert]

What did he do? Buggery? Racism in the family stand?

Jeff told us that he "headed his wife"

 

[Blaarev]

Jeff told us that he "headed his wife"

Ah, but we don't that it was HIS wife though. It could be any wife.

 

[Lako42]

Danny Drinkwater 100%.

A couple of experienced key signings to bolster the squad should add nicely to our current team spirit. If things arn't quite working we can always add in January (like Hull have done).

I don't want wholesale changes because it would most likely upset the squads spirit. It may be a case of being patient. Remember we've only signed 4 players this year and it's worked wonders.

I agree,

I don't want mass change for the sake of it, but there are areas of our squad that will not be good enough for the Prem no matter how much it hurts to admit it.

One of the those areas is the entire left flank. Dyer has been shite for a while now and his fairly skill light style of hitting the ball 10 yards and running like Mr Bolt wont work week in week out in the top flight.

Konchesky certainly isn't good enough to be a 1st choice left back at that level.

Nugent, 100% not good enough to keep us in that league, we will need at least 1 established goal scorer if we do indeed get up.

Ritchie and Wes will struggle to cope against the top quality attacks you come up against in the Prem, with the former possibly being able to prove me wrong, with his pace able to cover up his other short comings.

Knocky is a starnge one, he doesn't seem to be producing much at the moment and I see no reason why he would find it easier next season.

I know it seems utterly negative but it's just the way it is, the Premier League is a different beast and all of the current squad would have to find an extra gear to thrive in my opinion.

On the plus side I can actually see Vardy proving capable even at the higher level. He has already shown an incredible ability to learn and improve and I believe his style will still unsettle the better defenders; pair this with a quality finisher and goals possibly wouldn't be a major issue.

From the small glimpses we have seen so far I would go as far to say that Riyad looks a player very much suited to life in the Premier League.

I fully trust Nigel to do what is needed, the man has a huge ego and he will not want to fail when the real spotlight is finally on him.

 

[Hazzman]

You underestimate Nugent; when coming on against Stoke he was ten times more adapt at playing against Prem defenders than anyone else. Although Hull have proved it's always good to sign a top quality centre forward. Knocky I feel will thrive with more room. Drinkwater I'm not too sure.

Back 4 will need some recruitment I feel.

 

[camberwell fox]

I agree,

I don't want mass change for the sake of it, but there are areas of our squad that will not be good enough for the Prem no matter how much it hurts to admit it.

One of the those areas is the entire left flank. Dyer has been shite for a while now and his fairly skill light style of hitting the ball 10 yards and running like Mr Bolt wont work week in week out in the top flight.

Konchesky certainly isn't good enough to be a 1st choice left back at that level.

Nugent, 100% not good enough to keep us in that league, we will need at least 1 established goal scorer if we do indeed get up.

Ritchie and Wes will struggle to cope against the top quality attacks you come up against in the Prem, with the former possibly being able to prove me wrong, with his pace able to cover up his other short comings.

Knocky is a starnge one, he doesn't seem to be producing much at the moment and I see no reason why he would find it easier next season.

I know it seems utterly negative but it's just the way it is, the Premier League is a different beast and all of the current squad would have to find an extra gear to thrive in my opinion.

On the plus side I can actually see Vardy proving capable even at the higher level. He has already shown an incredible ability to learn and improve and I believe his style will still unsettle the better defenders; pair this with a quality finisher and goals possibly wouldn't be a major issue.

From the small glimpses we have seen so far I would go as far to say that Riyad looks a player very much suited to life in the Premier League.

I fully trust Nigel to do what is needed, the man has a huge ego and he will not want to fail when the real spotlight is finally on him.

I believe we of course need to add but not wholesale. Sometimes the sum of the parts is greater than the individual so we don't want to rip up the book and start again.

We won't need to beat the top six, we will need to beat the bottom six and hold our own against the twelve or so teams who hold the mid table positions.

I don't think we need to be nervous at all, with the right targeted investment we will be fine in season one (should we get there).

 

[Blaarev]

I believe we of course need to add but not wholesale. Sometimes the sum of the parts is greater than the individual so we don't want to rip up the book and start again.

We won't need to beat the top six, we will need to beat the bottom six and hold our own against the twelve or so teams who hold the mid table positions.

I don't think we need to be nervous at all, with the right targeted investment we will be fine in season one (should we get there).

We're Leicester City!

 

[Profondo Rosso]

I think our midfield is the most likely area to make the step up. Drinkwater and James have been streets ahead every other central midfield this season and I think are more likely to make the step up than other players. Knockaert may be allowed more time, so we shall see.

Pearson reminds me a lot of Hughton though in that they both build hard working sides with good team spirits, my heart says that with a few signings we could become a decent lower-half side similar to Norwich, I'd just be happy with 17th the first season though and then building from there.

 

[Arightfilbert]

I think our midfield is the most likely area to make the step up. Drinkwater and James have been streets ahead every other central midfield this season and I think are more likely to make the step up than other players. Knockaert may be allowed more time, so we shall see.

Pearson reminds me a lot of Hughton though in that they both build hard working sides with good team spirits, my heart says that with a few signings we could become a decent lower-half side similar to Norwich, I'd just be happy with 17th the first season though and then building from there.

Call me an optimist, but I will be expecting a top 10 finish