Leicester are in a relegation fight, but still hope to survive, having a group of players that should be of the quality needed to get out of trouble. The squad is in real a bit out of shape as it have too many players on the same level and on high salaries. Everything looks very unbalanced and far from harmonic.
We have seen some very grim examples of squad errors done in the past by Leicester managers. We could call on Steve Cooper, but a certain Frank McLintock stands out as the error king. Back in 1977/78 he made so many strange decisions over such a short period, regarding transfer deals, you cannot understand how it was possible, ignoring what had been done under the previous man in charge, and even ignoring his past masters from a fantastic playing career, not using anything of what he possibly must have learned from Matt Gillies, Bertie Mee and Dave Sexton, having the three icons as manager at Leicester, Arsenal and QPR. We hope this will not repeat itself with RvN, as he hopefully have his time at PSV Eindhoven to call on.
For those who never heard of Frank McLintock and his short time as Leicester manager, he managed to destroy in one season what was build in the last six, taking Leicester down, using close to 30 players in one season, and just ignoring the fact that so many changes would of course unsettle everything. He also added players to the squad that was either similar or on a level below in quality and in real not needed, showing heavy lack of understanding how to build a squad of progress, instead of decline.
In your group of players, you should split it up in three categories. The players you have in your team, a settled first eleven, then three to four challengers, that would be to call on if that settled unit, either get injuries, having bad form or just needs a rest. The rest of the squad should be what it is, squad members. You cannot buy or sign a player you need as a squad member, believing he should play every single week, then you are in trouble. You need a certain structure, something we have seen so fantastically done at this football club by two successful managers in the past, Jimmy Bloomfield and Martin O’Neill, also credit to Nigel Pearson who had a certain balance, but far from the structure seen under the two others.
Bloomfield guided Leicester to a 7th and 11th position in his last two seasons at the club, Martin O’Neill managed to establish the club as one to watch, becoming a strong and solid unit at Premier League level. They had a similar approach and did it with a special and clever hand, doing shrewd transfer business in and out, as well as bringing forward young talent from the academy.
Robbie Savage is one to remember from the MON days, coming from third tier football with Crewe, to establish himself as a first teamer in his first season in Premier League. Savage had been part of the famous Man Utd “Class of 92”, appearing as a striker. When joining Leicester, a good and solid midfielder. He found it easy to cope with the level of Premier League, posisbly having those years at Man Utd as a good benchmark when joining Leicester, taking the level of two shelfs higher in the most natural way.
Lovely shot of the late great Jimmy Bloomfield, Leicester City manager (1971-77) #LCFC #TheFoxes #leicestercity
[Credit: Dick Williams/Mirrorpix] pic.twitter.com/xA0sjcTZHn— Football Back Then ⚽️🏐⚽️ (@FootballThen) July 3, 2021
When you look up Leicester from previous seasons, you will find it easy to recognize a number of important facts regarding certain players. Famous names at Leicester such as Steve Whitworth, Dennis Rofe, Gary Lineker, Ian Wilson, Alan Smith, Emile Heskey, Muzzy Izzet, Neil Lennon, Matt Elliott, Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, Wes Morgan, Steve Guppy and Kevin MacDonald, too just mention a few, had time to build success from playing several games and being established first teamers in a second tier environment, either with Leicester or another club, having the grounding to be part of the backbone in those Leicester teams.
We could also reflect on that speical season and magic act under Claudio Ranieri. He build on what had been done from Nigel Pearson. Steve Walsh and Craig Shakespeare were still very much in place and together with Claudio Ranieri, they build a unit so strong you would not really believe it could all be over in a season. This was the perfect set up, the perfect blend, everything knitted together in a pattern close to perfect. Claudio Ranieri never managed to build on his success, doing strange additions over the next summer that in real damaged the future of this specific Leicester team. The only player to replace at the time was N’Golo Kantè, as his move to Chelsea in real was a catastrophic affair for Leicester, even more damaging than losing Frank Worthington or Emile Heskey in the past.
If it was a coincidence or a clever act we are not certain, but you had players in the 5000/1 team that had an upbringing at clubs with massive Premier League winning experience. Not saying that Danny Drinkwater and Danny Simpson, were steady first teamers at Man Utd during their league winning seasons, but they were both at the club when it happened. They knew inside their head what type of mindset you need to bring with you to get a Premier League trophy in the cabinet. Robert Huth and Mark Schwarzer were two other members who had an experience of this as well, so you had that inside the team at the time. Very important and something to recognize when you try to build a team with ability to win trophies.
Early days for Ruud van Nistelrooy, but we would like to see him build his squad in the same manner as Jimmy Bloomfield and Martin O’Neill. This is and will always be the formula needed to get Leicester up the table and into a safe position, but as it stands, that looks a very difficult act to accomplish with the structure, contracts and players at the club at the moment. Too many at the same level, too many on wages they cannot get elsewhere, and of course possibly lacking the quality in certain positions that could be difficult to add still having players you at this point need to get out.
We just have to trust RvN as he navigate in difficult waters, hopefully getting his squad into the correct shape. Again to repeat it another time, this is the talk to listen to; Settling a first eleven, then having three or four challengers, the rest of the players needs to know their position as a squad member and understand that, hopefully also having four or five young and hungry once among that group, understanding the value of every appearance given, rating it as a christmas gift everytime it happens, and cherishing the opportunity with a smiling face.
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