Tinker on.

[TightEnd]

I haven't been to a game since i last posted

Had to call off Copenhagen at the last minute due to a family hospitalisation and for the same reason missed a home loss to WBA and didn't buy a ticket in time for yesterday with other things on my mind.

Form is worrying. Patterns of play (from hearsay) seem non-existent and hopes of a top ten finish are being replaced by looking over our shoulder.

Some of it is clear to see. We miss Kante dreadfully and he still refuses to go three in midfield away from home. Teams are defending deeper against us and we are nowhere near as threatening with the ball and time to play (quite a few games see us with over 50% possession now) rather than quick breaks and the counter.

over and above that the form ahead of the champions league games is particularly dreadful. P4 D1 L3. I have mentioned before that some of the CL stuff around the club has been strange. Almost a pre-occupation and over-concentration on those games and results in them ( and fans obsessed by the competition, and almost ecstatic that were are topping a very weak group ), really to the detriment of league performances

Anyway, Bruges at home on tuesday. Hopefully wrap up qualification against a side with no points so far and begin to try to turn that league form round. not going to be easy, the blueprint to playing us is firmly established and Middlesborough next weekend are the sort of team very capable of doing a job on us

   

[TightEnd]

so, in amongst the poor league perfromances, we won a very weak Champions league group a game early

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

and played well for spells too

Click to see full-size image.

The top two wage spenders in each Champions League group are through or on course to go through. Apart from Tottenham.

Click to see full-size image.

and we have something to look forward to. Any of monaco,leverkusen, a madrid team, PSG, benfica, sevilla in the last 16 in the new year.

now to pick up some league points 

[The Camel]

 ‏@BigSportGB 22h22 hours ago

Weirdest stat of the season:

Mahrez has completed just 1 pass to Vardy in the PL since September 17th.

1 pass in 356 minutes of football…




WTF?

[TightEnd]

‏@BigSportGB 22h22 hours ago

Weirdest stat of the season:

Mahrez has completed just 1 pass to Vardy in the PL since September 17th.

1 pass in 356 minutes of football…




WTF?

He doesn't pass much to anyone! in addition with teams playing deeper against us, they have been fewer runs in behind from Vardy to look to find him too. Still, a remarkable statistic

that said when he was taken off last night, it immediately freed up the Bruges wide midfielder to be more active going forward. previously he'd been on double up duty to help his full back

[The Camel]

‏@BigSportGB 22h22 hours ago

Weirdest stat of the season:

Mahrez has completed just 1 pass to Vardy in the PL since September 17th.

1 pass in 356 minutes of football…




WTF?

He doesn't pass much to anyone! in addition with teams playing deeper against us, they have been fewer runs in behind from Vardy to look to find him too. Still, a remarkable statistic

that said when he was taken off last night, it immediately freed up the Bruges wide midfielder to be more active going forward. previously he'd been on double up duty to help his full back

How much do you think Mahrez would have been sold for in the summer?

And how much will you get for him when he's inevitably sold next summer?

I think those two figures will be quite a lot different.

[TightEnd]

We would have got £30-40m

would far rather he had gone than Kante, who really held our back seven together without the ball

you'd think his value has fallen a bit this year but he's extended his contract with it is said a hefty release clause if we don't make the CL again (lol, need to win it then) so i expect the value when all is said and done to be similar given he's still only 25 years old

[The Camel]

We would have got £30-40m

would far rather he had gone than Kante, who really held our back seven together without the ball

you'd think his value has fallen a bit this year but he's extended his contract with it is said a hefty release clause if we don't make the CL again (lol, need to win it then) so i expect the value when all is said and done to be similar given he's still only 25 years old

Didn't realise he'd extended.

Just thought Vardy and Mahrez combined would have fetched over 60m in the summer.

Be doing well if they are worth much more than half of that now.

[TightEnd]

Vardy is 30 next year and "system dependent" (you need to play to his strengths, and not many teams do, especially bigger teams) . His value has fallen much more than Mahrez's, in my opinion, who will create and assist (and quite possibly kick on when surrounded by better players, as he'll have more space) and is five years younger

understand totally lcfc not wanting to sell either last year. extended both to ensure that if we only get one more year (this season) from both we'll at least get some value from both.

[exstream]

Ranieri or relegation

[TightEnd]

Ranieri or relegation

is there meant to be a question mark after this? if so, i will take Ranieri please

if there is not meant to be a question mark, then you've done something new for me after 2.1m posts on blonde, a three word post that i don't understand at all.

still, almost as nonsensical as the man who rang 606 last night and said he would replace Ranieri with Pearson.

[buzzharvey22]

Can Ranieri even put his head in the sand?

[celtic]

Is the booing justified?

[nirvana]

Is the booing justified?

Yes, I think there should probably be more

[TightEnd]

Is the booing justified?

football fans are fickle, and have short memories

i wasn't booing, but league performances aren't good and he has a couple of big issues to resolve

we haven't adapted at all to teams trying to stop us, rather than last season where very few seemed to (Klopp at Anfield was a notable exception). Week after week we see teams double up on Mahrez and defend fifteen yards deeper against us than last season. It's working too, as service to Vardy is minimal and he has no space in behind for the channel balls that he caused havoc with last year

We persist in playing 2 in midfield against 3 opponents when we can't counter as we did last season because a) we aren't winning the ball to transition quickly into attack and b) there's no space in behind anyway . Drinkwater is currently suspended, and we're expecting King and Amartey to do what drinkwater and kante did last season. Which is optimistic

A lot of hope is being put on the january transfer window, and bringing in  reinforcements at central midfield and centre back but whether the likes of Sporting's Adrien Silva, who wanted to come with Slimani in August, is still up for it i don't know

and we miss 5 players for AFCON month in January

So no, no booing from me but some frustration is certainly about.

[exstream]

So you need a manager that can adapt? Or be relegated