Where do we go from here..?

[hughy]

To be an elite club one must win a title. Not sure what your understanding of elite is but to me elite is not a domestic cup winning team. Its a team that wins league titles.

We need to be winning cups yes, and by Cups I mean FA and at worse League cup, but our goal has to be winning the league. Forgive my ignorance but you cant be classed as an 'elite club' by winning the FA or League cups.. That should be something that we should be winning like Arse does - even when they're having shit seasons.

So to you who are the elite clubs in England? United? Liverpool? Nottingham Forest?

 

[thfc1973]

Isnt it obvious?????? Name any team in the last decade that has won the PL. Duh.

 

[Legacy]

Isnt it obvious?????? Name any team in the last decade that has won the PL. Duh.

So you think Leicester are an elite team?

 

[hughy]

Isnt it obvious?????? Name any team in the last decade that has won the PL. Duh.

I knew I shouldn't have even bothered.

 

[Adam456]

Hasn't this been covered in several other knee-jerk nonsense threads
#lock

 

[crokey]

We are 2nd in the league.

The sum of our players, performances, manager, backroom staff, higher ups, Europe hangovers, injuries, facilities, luck, refereeing decisions, psychology, training and everything else that goes into a footballing season has left us ahead of 18 teams sum of all those things and behind 1 teams sum of all those things.

If you played this season out again the table would be different, we might be 1st, we might be 6th.

That's why we watch football. It's a game, not a simulation. It wasn't our year.

 

[thfc1973]

So, you think that with all the hoo-ha about Leicester coming up, then winning the league in unprecedented fashion with the team they had you now really think that literally them winning the title against all odds makes them an elite club?
Come on... We need to be sensible. We all know its CFC, Utd and City I'm talking about.
Sine when does anyone in a sane world classify Leicester as an elite club? Really? Are you that pedantic that you want to pick arguments for the fun of it??

Maybe you should go to bed if you don't want to have a constructive conversation.

I'm really not interested in picking fights with keyboard warriors who are just trying to score points for laughs and not look at what I'm really trying to get at. Please... just honestly, go to bed if you aren't interested in having a sensible conversation. Some people on this forum really have no life if all they want to do is try to belittle people's opinions and just come up with any old bullshit like a troll.

 

[crokey]

So, you think that with all the hoo-ha about Leicester coming up, then winning the league in unprecedented fashion with the team they had you now really think that literally them winning the title against all odds makes them an elite club?
Come on... We need to be sensible. We all know its CFC, Utd and City I'm talking about.
Sine when does anyone in a sane world classify Leicester as an elite club? Really? Are you that pedantic that you want to pick arguments for the fun of it??

Maybe you should go to bed if you don't want to have a constructive conversation.

I'm really not interested in picking fights with keyboard warriors who are just trying to score points for laughs and not look at what I'm really trying to get at. Please... just honestly, go to bed if you aren't interested in having a sensible conversation. Some people on this forum really have no life if all they want to do is try to belittle people's opinions and just come up with any old bullshit like a troll.

Nobody has belittled anyone so far, but I can do that if you want.

You're just in the huff because we lost, you aren't seeing anything in a realistic or fair way.

 

[thebenjamin]

So, you think that with all the hoo-ha about Leicester coming up, then winning the league in unprecedented fashion with the team they had you now really think that literally them winning the title against all odds makes them an elite club?
Come on... We need to be sensible. We all know its CFC, Utd and City I'm talking about.
Sine when does anyone in a sane world classify Leicester as an elite club? Really? Are you that pedantic that you want to pick arguments for the fun of it??

Maybe you should go to bed if you don't want to have a constructive conversation.

I'm really not interested in picking fights with keyboard warriors who are just trying to score points for laughs and not look at what I'm really trying to get at. Please... just honestly, go to bed if you aren't interested in having a sensible conversation. Some people on this forum really have no life if all they want to do is try to belittle people's opinions and just come up with any old bullshit like a troll.

And @thfc1973 took the defeat to West Ham particularly badly...

 

[spuradik]

If we are going to win the title in the near future, then it starts by getting quality players. We have a good team, but where we lack is the bench. Recruiting players like Zaha, Gray or King is not going to take us to the next level. We'd still be close, but yet never overcome the last mile. And neither are players like Isco coming to us, let's be honest about it. That only leaves us with unearthing hidden gems like we got with Alli. Our signings last year have been woeful, there's no denying that. As much as I rate Poch, who I think is the best manager we've had in our modern history, recruitment is the one area where I find him highly suspect. I understand that he's not alone in making those decisions but I feel he has a huge say in that matter. I really hope we get it right this time, because we're very close and I'd hate to be this near but yet perpetually fail. We're a Sanchez or 2 from winning the title.

 

[thfc1973]

And @thfc1973 took the defeat to West Ham particularly badly...

...much worse than the draw to CFC last year, under the circumstances, yes. We should have beaten West Ham given how they have had such a bad season in comparison.

 

[thebenjamin]

...much worse than the draw to CFC last year, under the circumstances, yes. We should have beaten West Ham given how they have had such a bad season in comparison.

We've had an amazing run and we lost a game. No one really expected us to win every game until the end of the season, surely? We're not that good. We didn't play well, everything went for them, we lost 1-0 away in a London derby.

Shit happens. Small teams beat big teams sometimes. We'll smash United and come second. Great effort all round.

 

[Pedro]

To finish in the top four regularly you should be challenging for the title. How many times have we aimed for fourth and finished just short. Next year we go for the title again, maybe we win it maybe we finish top four, but in terms of finances we have no right to expect to win the league.

 

[thfc1973]

If we are going to win the title in the near future, then it starts by getting quality players. We have a good team, but where we lack is the bench. Recruiting players like Zaha, Gray or King is not going to take us to the next level. We'd still be close, but yet never overcome the last mile. And neither are players like Isco coming to us, let's be honest about it. That only leaves us with unearthing hidden gems like we got with Alli. Our signings last year have been woeful, there's no denying that. As much as I rate Poch, who I think is the best manager we've had in our modern history, recruitment is the one area where I find him highly suspect. I understand that he's not alone in making those decisions but I feel he has a huge say in that matter. I really hope we get it right this time, because we're very close and I'd hate to be this near but yet perpetually fail. We're a Sanchez or 2 from winning the title.

I'm glad you're still up!
Interesting you mention about the scouting as Poch has said a few times that theres a few of them in the recruitment area. So its even more odd that we've had Sissoko's and Jansen's etc considering that it was more than just Poch in the process. It really is baffling.

 

[Pedro]

So, you think that with all the hoo-ha about Leicester coming up, then winning the league in unprecedented fashion with the team they had you now really think that literally them winning the title against all odds makes them an elite club?
Come on... We need to be sensible. We all know its CFC, Utd and City I'm talking about.
Sine when does anyone in a sane world classify Leicester as an elite club? Really? Are you that pedantic that you want to pick arguments for the fun of it??

Maybe you should go to bed if you don't want to have a constructive conversation.

I'm really not interested in picking fights with keyboard warriors who are just trying to score points for laughs and not look at what I'm really trying to get at. Please... just honestly, go to bed if you aren't interested in having a sensible conversation. Some people on this forum really have no life if all they want to do is try to belittle people's opinions and just come up with any old bullshit like a troll.

we are all having a bit of a shit evening but come on, you said 'Isnt it obvious?????? Name any team in the last decade that has won the PL. Duh.' so how does that not 'obviously' include Leicester?

 

[thfc1973]

we are all having a bit of a shit evening but come on, you said 'Isnt it obvious?????? Name any team in the last decade that has won the PL. Duh.' so how does that not 'obviously' include Leicester?

One has to use common sense when they are making the conclusion, surely.. Rather than adding Leicester. We all know its with a pinch of salt that one would add their name in. When anyone talks about elite club you must first categorize these clubs. How many times have they been up there? challenging. Winning. And then you say, okay, in the last decade as my argument was, which clubs can justifiably be classified as elite clubs? Who has won the title in the last decade?
CFC, Utd, City..If that's not obvious then I guess it really is a bit late for you to be talking about this with a clear mind.

 

[StartingPrice]

exactly what my point is. We have over-achieved. So...do we stick or twist? And by twist I mean spend big!?

We are the sixth best funded club in the Prem, so any time we finish above sixth we are technically overachieving. We have finished in the top four in 4 of the last 8 seasons, in 3 of the remaining 4 we have finished 5th. We finished 6th once in those 8 seasons - a par finish. Last season we finished 3rd and this season we will finish 2nd, barring a total collapse - that is over-achieving on the grand scale, really. We have done this by following a plan, really you could take that as far back as our two 5th place finishes under Martin Jol, as well. Investing in youth set-up, young players and spending within means have been key points of this over-achieving decade. There is a clear upwards trajectory. Is it logical to assume that the best (or only way to ensure this upward trajectory continues is to do the exact opposite now? Spending too much, but still not as much as the richer clubs bought us nothing but mid-table mediocrity.

Do you know how long Ferguson was at OT before he won anything?

An average spend is not going to do it.

Do you know this for a fact? What if the average spend bought us eight players of Dele quality at £5 million a piece? Would you prefer to buy eight Ozils at £42 million a piece?

We really must spend big I feel in order to keep the status quo with getting top 4 again - or possibly better, and winning the title.

This is something, really that comes up every single transfer window. My opinion has never, ever changed: I don't care how much or how little is spent. I don't care whether we get expensive players or not. I care only that we get the right players. Why my fellow supporters get so taxed about this, I'll never know. Sometimes the right player can be expensive - Sissoko matched our transfer record (yeah, structured payments, blah blah blah). Do you want more purchases like that? Dele wasn't anywhere near a transfer record...but if we sold him he probably would go close. What about our youth product? Did we fail to go one better because we only had Harry Kane as a striker? Have we suffered more from Harry Winks being a youth product or because he has been injured?

And I think that is your answer: Poch has stated several times that we are ahead of schedule. This season being ahead of schedule has included a European hangover, a suspension for Dembélé, Poch trying our alternative formations at the start of the season, only one of our summer signings really adding anything this season (Wanyama), and injuries to Kane (twice), Alderweireld (feakish accident), Rose (twice), Vertonghen, Lamela, Winks and Lloris. Rose has been out for months, Winks had a season ending injury, Lamela has missed most of the season. And we will almost definitely finish second!

Last summer there were a lot of supporters who argued we needed to spend big to maintain our place, as the big clubs were all spending big and three of them had gotten themselves fancy-dan big name new managers. Others, myself included, argued alternatively that the young age of our players, the year's maturity, the year's cohesion and continuity would see us naturally improve without big name signings. Who was right? Our biggest disappointment was our most expensive signing - the others, Janssen and Enkidu [sic.] I hope will improve for the year's maturity and experience of being in the BPL (I am a firm believer that it is not wholly fair to judge overseas signings, particularly young ones, on their first year in England.

What is an average spend? I have suggested elsewhere that if we sell Walker (looking likely) for £45 - £50 million plus, Sissoko, and a few fringe players, and add a modest sum we would be spending very little net spend but still have a fair sum to invest. Add to that natural improvement due to a year maturity, experience, cohesion and continuity, Lamela, Rose and Winks coming back, and promotions from the yoot (good chance of KWP, Edwards and Carter-Vickers being involved), and with no international distractions plus a year of further experience for Poch then I believe we can improve again significantly. Would you class a modest new spend in this way as breaking the shackles and spending big?

As for our rivals, throwing money at it is no guarantee of success. Chelsea may lose Conte and some of their big players, and they will have European competition and, surely, more injuries than they have had to deal with this season. Guardiola (the cult of Pep) needs to overhaul his whole defence, has issues with Aguero and is yet to show he can come to terms with the constant intensity of the English game. Liverpool are not on a level with us, as proven by league points - even without having European involvement. and Klopp still hasn't shown an aptitude for coming to terms with the lower level teams who park bus on him. The Goons, to be blunt, are in absolute disarray. Apart from their well known managerial issues, they now have an inferior yoot set-up to us, they squad is wholly inferior, as recognised even by their staunchest ex players, their best players want out, and something like ten of their players are in the last or second last year of their contracts. And United, who probably worry me the most, have to replace aging and inferior players, as well as sort their striking situation out, and they aren't enamoured of Hose-A's boring anti-footall. remember each of these clubs, apart from Chelsea, not only have to catch up on us, they need to improve more than we will. Even Chelsea have been lucky in regard to injuries and no European football.

So, I guess, my answer is probably no, we don't need to throw money at it, we can't afford to throw money at it, hell, I don't even know that we would have the money to throw at it

 

[dannythomas]

That's not going to happen

I think most of us said the same last season before we ended by losing to Southampton and Newcastle, not to mention drawing at home to West Brom.

 

[sim simma]

@thfc1973... Oi mate, are you on the old billy whizz or summit. I think your flux capacitor is truly fucked cos I've got no idea where you're coming from.

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Oh, I can tell this is going to be a fun summer.