Ex Lion Tamer

Not sure about previous seasons but i can believe that this summer he just found the idea of a transfer exciting and now he's had to stay he has lost some motivation

Saw this on Twitter. Looking at the replies, can it really be true that Chivers, Bridge and Benali are the only options? You'd think the city would have produced a lot more

So playing a posession game isn't the problem, it's doing it well

What Leicester do?

How do you propose that we break down teams that sit back and defend against us?

I agree that passing can football can be boring. I got pretty tired of watching Barcelona although at times they could be thrilling too. Do you really not understand the point of having goalkeepers and defenders passing though? It's to draw the opposition forward and out of their shape to leave spaces to attack. Breaking teams down who've come to defend is something we've been woeful at for several seasons, and while it can look silly when it doesn't come off, it's a tactic we need to learn

Mourinho had a lot of success with counter attacking football but tactics evolved to nullify it, which is why he's a lot less successful as a manager these days

Passing football isn't a guarantee of success. But it's a way of playing that can be successful. Our failure to be top of the league doesn't mean passing football doesn't work. It means we're not well drilled enough, or we're not doing it quite right, or the players aren't good enough. No one ever said 70% possession stats would mean we win. That's a straw man that has been invented on this forum. However it can enhance your changes if you do it right and your strikers stick the ball in the net when they get the chance. It's the blanket dismissal of passing football that I find strange, especially given it has been around for decades

Does it work for Man City? Did it work for Liverpool in the 80s?

Fans not liking passing football and thinking it doesn't work is one of the more surprising things I've seen on this forum

The passing game is the one thing that Bazunu is good at! And he hasn't had that many shots to save in recent games, he just lets in too many of the ones that do come to him

And yet you think we have a team that should be getting automatic promotion. How do we mount a promotion push with a poor goalkeeper, wingers who don't have a final ball, a centre back prone to bad errors (Bednarek), and so on and so on. How is it Russell Martin's fault that he's been given these players to work with?

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/8/480

I think we were only prepared to spend the money on Piroe if Che left. That didn't happen, so we went for the cheaper, riskier option

Is our team really promotion worthy though? If you compare like for like then it's significantly worse than the one that we got promoted with before. I'm on the fence about Martin but I'm not sure fans are being realistic about the squad we have either. It's got lots of potential in it, but it's quite far off where it needs to be. Really it's a playoff team. Then you come to the fact that their keeper played a blinder and we could easily have won 4-1, and I'm not sure it makes sense to lay it all at the manager's door

Also why did Rasiak only start on the bench for both playoff games? We he carrying an injury or just past it?

Career history suggests he was quite the journeyman

Automatic promotion isn't totally out of the question but the playoffs are starting to look like a more realistic aspiration. So how do we look against the team that lost to Derby in the playoffs? Possibly pretty similar? My memory of that team is pretty sketchy, so I'd be interested in being corrected on this: Davis - Bazunu (not sure Davis was great at this point in time though) Makin - KWP Baird - THB Cranie - Bednarek (I can't honestly remember if Cranie was any good) Skacel - Manning Viafara - Smallbone Pele - Downes Guthrie - S Armstrong (I completely forgot about Guthrie, had to look him up) Surman - Sulemana Best - A. Armstrong Saganowski - Stewart

Is Ipswich's squad really as good as we had then though?

I can see Ipswich tailing off - they're full of confidence after their promotion and have a settled side but it doesn't always last

A few cynics on this thread but Charly has said repeatedly that he's happy here and values a settled environment more than just chasing money. I think he's a good lad. Sure we've given him a pay rise but that reflects the fact that he's keen to stay.

I think the point is that not only is our first 11 not so good as then, but we're also not benefiting from the team playing together for two years. So although I'm as guilty as anyone of expecting promotion this season, perhaps that's not realistic when a number of our top players still young and not near their best abilities. Although we can probably expect some improvement as the season progresses. The other possibility is we do have a promotion level team and the previous one was just even better. And actually Adkins wasn't a great manager and should have had us winning the league. Overall though, I do think a lot of it comes down to the fact we're not clinical in front of goal. Hopefully Stewart will help.

The answer is definitely no right now, but if you take potential into account, then I think it might be actually. The big difference is lack of ruthless goalscorers Davis - Bazunu (but Baz has the potential to be as good in a few seasons) Hooiveld - Bednarek José Fonte - THB (But THB has potential to be as good or better) Fox - Manning Richardson - KWP Lallana - Alcaraz (But Alcaraz has the potential to be as good) Cork = Downes (maybe Downes is better, I couldn't decide) Schneiderlin - Smallbone Sharp - Sulemana (But Sully has the potential to be much better) Guly - S Armstrong Lambert - A. Armstrong

Which players were top internationals at that time?