Leicester are not Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd, Spurs, Liverpool or Man City. They are not either the size of West Ham, Everton, Aston Villa and Newcastle. You can also bring Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds to the table, they are also clubs seen as a size a few tiers above. Leicester are to be seen as a club who should be in and around the Premier League, but the competition might be there for twenty other clubs as well, being the size of Leicester or in reach.
Forest is the surprise this season, they have been there before, a number of years ago, as they managed to climb into this position under the famous Brian Clough. Studying his work and how he build his successful teams it is the pattern to follow, as we also did see under Claudio Ranieri during the 5000/1 season, sadly Leicester could not build on those theories to stay a top team, not forgetting the job done by Brendan Rodgers, but still not in the reach of a Premier League title.
Over time you need to build a winning culture and you need to have special leaders inside your camp, as you build your group. The fact that you have players in there who knows the standards, the quality and can address correctives when they see difficulties or players not really being in line with the standard in any way, either not being loyal to the time table or not being up to it from a football point of view.
Leicester are seen as a successful team if they are in reach of a top 10 position in the top tier, but as we have seen in present time and also in periods in the past, they can be a level above and even winning the title. Some looked at the title season as miracle, but it’s not, it’s been achieved by a number of clubs the size of Leicester, so why not try to live with the pattern you need to have, to be up there.
Charting Woyo's career progress 📊
— Leicester City (@LCFC) January 16, 2025
The team that was promoted last season, needed possibly two to three really good additions, but as we have seenb the players who have come into the team are two that was loaned out. Victor Kristiansen and Bouba Soumare have cemented their positions in the team, but still players who need more time to become the leaders and not yet grown to a level that see Leicester win football matches. They are not at this point taking a leading role to get the points on board.
The Premier League level is far higher than the Championship. Looking at what mostly happens with the clubs being promoted. There of course exceptions, such as Forest and Aston Villa in recent years, doing major changes season by season, but not with a clever plan. The act of the recruitment team, the understanding of what you can get from a youth academy graduate and how you in real manage your group is the essential. The way you are able to handle your injury challenges is another important part.
The addition of Woyo Coulibaly is an interesting one as it makes a very clear signal towards the academy and the development squad, it also gives a view of how much money you can and will use on a player that you see having a certain potential, but of course far from certain he will take the Premier League level. The risk taken in a transfer is one to address all the time.
We have seen Leicester not really understanding the word risk in previuos years, when money were available, looking back at the signings of Ade Akinbiyi and Islam Slimani, none having enough experience at this high level and in real struggling from their first kick. To see money thrown in the bin of that size, makes it crucial for the club to take control of all of the action and not throw out so much money on a player you do not really know will deliever what you are looking for.
The key to everything is balance between quality and quantity, and of course how you build your squad. Man City and Liverpool do have a certain hierarchy in place, but still they can change a bit more as they do have players at a higher performance level, but still they do like a steady first eleven, not to forget why a steady eleven do give you certain positives.
Leicester do have limitations, as they need to hit bulls eye with most signings. Leicester at the moment do have too many players not really in the frame they should.
Ruud van Nistelrooy do have a struggle on his hands, but still there should be hope for a survival, but if he continues his tinkering then he will not reach that goal. Tinkering is something you will do if you possibly do not know your best eleven, has no trust in certain players or just give up before you have tried.
Looking back, some managers when introducing new players, do give them a number chances to establish themselves as steady peformers. You need to bring in the correct player, as we in the end did see with Ben Chilwell, Harvey Barnes and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, but along the way, they stumbled and had a number of stinkers that cost Leicester points. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall even experienced a relegation. Dewsbury-Hall is yet to convince anyone he is a top quality midfielder at Premier League level, hopefully he will go all the way as his top level is grand, his lower level is not. Barnes and Chilwell were both picked to play for England, Dewsbury-Hall has not yet reached that level, so picking the wrong horse, will not give you a result.
Leicester need more young players who can challenge. To have too many old legs will not be a positive. You need a few, maybe 2 or 3, but in the end the squad needs to be, as we earlier described, in balance with every part of what a successful team is all about.
Bobby de Cordova-Reid, Jordan Ayew, Conor Coady, Caleb Okoli, Oliver Skipp, Patson Daka are at the moment at a place they do dislike, not playing regularly from start and possibly be thinking of a move to play regular first team football. If you bring them into the team, Facundo Bounanotte, Bilal El Khannouss, Jamie Vardy, Harry Winks, Wout Faes and Jannik Vestergaard would see themselves in the same picture, as earlier said, you cannot have this rotation within the squad you will over time just make your team weaker and weaker without any form of structure, control or pattern between players.
When playing together in a team you learn your team mates movement and understanding of the game, some like to play together, others don’t, if the manager overlook these situations he will be in danger of losing points, but you cannot command this, as we did see in the 5000/1 season, this is a bit telepathic and over time what we did see in that Leicester team was perfect and sensational, why the club and the players did not want this to continue was a riddle. N’Golo Kantè was the only player from the steady eleven who left the club, Wilfred Ndidi came in January 2017 as his replacement. That was the pivotal signing needed, the rest should not have happened as it was no need.
Ruud van Nistelrooy and Brian Barry-Murphy has little or no time to get things correct, and what they did vs. Crystal Palace was not nice to watch, taking off the two players most important for getting points in the bag, taking them off as early as he did, reduced Leicester’s chances to score with massive numbers. If you are good in maths you will understand, if you are not, you will struggle. You need to understand which horses to count on, if you leave them behind or replace them, you will not reach your goal.
Football is very much an analytical game and you need that approach to get results, you can also compare it with chess, building up your strikes in certain patterns to hurt the opponent, doing it with Bounanotte and El Khannouss will give you more attempts as they find pockets and can do things other players cannot do at this club at present, so playing them over the full game is crucial.
Will be interesting to follow Ruud van Nistelrooy and his approach going forward, if he cannot understand his best eleven or is not able to shuffle his squad into the correct shape, he will not survive.
At this point the squad lack quality in certain areas, but to get it done, you need to understand the market and value of a player. As we have seen in the past, that is a major problem, as Leicester managers tends to look at players more and more like bricks, not really taking into consideration their own goals, were they are at the moment and how the manager can help the player to be in balance with his own belief.
You need a certain number one, you need a steady back four, with one or two options to call on if injury strikes, you need a steady midfield were every player knows his role and what is needed to be that man in the engine room, and of course having the offensive creativity that can set the top striker in positions that will see him score goals. Young players must also be given a chance as the players far out on the fringe cannot be the high earners and established players, then just get them out.
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