Off Topic The General Chat Thread.

Luckily New Zealanders can be knighted

 

We fully claimed him a few months ago

 

This is what I love about the English. A few months ago he was a NZ born hooligan in the press who should be thrown in jail, now he's a national hero. Just saying.

 

Hey its called the Andy Murray syndrome

Scottish when he loses, British when he wins

 

Bolton Wanderers takeover has collapsed

Tomorrow they kicked out the EFL
Wednesday they will be liquidated

Very sad to see. Bury could also suffer the same fate

Hopefully both get saved

 

Jermaine Beckford has retired. He is currently on the books of Bury and apparently on £5K a week

Is it a coincidence he retires the day they could go under/be saved

Im not sure but does he gain by retiring now as to at the end of last season?

 

Beckford seems to be a bad omen, played for both Bolton and Bury. Also us, but that was post-administration, so can't blame him for that one

 

Bury's take over has fallen through and they've been expelled from the EFL.

As a supporter of football and a club that came close to the same fate, really not nice to see.

 

Bolton have a 14 day extension to address their take over.

 

Bolton have apparently agreed a sale and are therefore now safe. Sadly I don't think it'll be long before there's another club in the same precarious way.

 

I have a bad feeling Cov could be next. The communities have really got around Bury and Bolton and thats what kept them fighting so long and let Bolton survive

SISU has already took away the community from Cov. Its really not viable for them to play outside of Coventry

Efl to blame for that aswell. Fit and proper owners test. What a pile of bollocks

 

Danny Drinkwaters career continues to nose dive further. Beaten up by a group of guys for chatting up a Scunthorpe players missis! Out for a few weeks. I remember him walking round with his little lad on his shoulders who looked just like him after the Everton game and assumed he was a quiet family guy. I would have sympathy but there’s so many hard working people who earn so little and then there’s people like him.....glad we got the money and upgraded the position with Maddison and Tielemans. To think we paid the same for Tielemans as we got for Drinkwater two years on with all the inflation!

 

That was his nephew

Apparently he was chatting up a Scunthorpe players girlfriend. Was told to take a hike. Didnt take the message and got thrown out where 6 lads jumped him. Sounds like Drinkwater has become a complete twat but bang out of order 6 lads jumping someone. They deliberately stamped on his ankle.

He burnt his bridges here by refusing to train and play. He would still have a big role here had he stayed but as you say we have now moved on. Tielemans is a much better player is an understatement as much as I liked Drinky

 

Ah the young lad? I just assumed it was his lad as he was the spitting image.
It is out of order to lay on someone like that. He just seems to be getting himself into these situations. In terms of role and style, Praet is probably more the replacement and for half the cost

 

The beating itself is nothing unusual, happens all round the world every weekend. The waste of a career is the sad thing. Some are blessed with a rare talent while the majority lead a more ordinary life. To waste that talent is the travesty. I hope in 10 years we don't read he is bankrupt and destitute. I would have thought the loss of license was the wake up he needed but clearly not.

 

Interesting read and some interesting stats.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...qVKxynKu_EzUMQMpvRBDkUiXW2Tu0tvjcQ0kVKpZ482BM

 

Can you post the full article here - is behind a paywall for me.

 

In his first day as Leicester manager, Brendan Rodgers staged a presentation in front of his new squad outlining his vision for the club’s future.

It was a brief but powerful message, challenging the players to join him on a journey and that everyone - from players to manager to backroom staff - would be held to the same exacting standards, every day they walked through the gates of the club's training ground.

The message - which was received in near-reverential silence - clearly hit home. Only Liverpool and Manchester City have accrued more Premier League points since Rodgers's first match - a last-gasp defeat at Watford - and the team are unbeaten in all competitions so far this season. Three years after their fairytale title win, and as they prepare for Saturday's meeting with Manchester United and a reunion with Harry Maguire, Leicester have the top flight's established 'big six' in their crosshairs.

“The narrative has changed, from where everybody maybe felt they were at [before]. The big reason I came here from Celtic was because of the potential in the squad,” says Rodgers. “If we can create a culture where players can learn, develop and improve, we can be really competitive. It’s about trying to break the mould, really.

“It’s going to be tough and there’s a lot of work still to do. But it’s been a very good start to the season and our job is to get to the halfway point and see where we are.”

It is still early days, just four league games in, yet the Rodgers impact has been significant, blowing away the torpor which had shrouded the club under the dour and often bewildering Claude Puel.

The seeds of the transformation have been sown on the training pitch. The week’s sessions are largely based on tactical periodisation, essentially a form of training in four phases - attack, defence and the transitions in between. The emphasis is on shorter, sharper sessions and the workload usually decreases nearer to matchday. It is a philosophy favoured by the likes of Louis van Gaal (initially at Ajax and then Barcelona), Pep Guardiola and England Rugby's head coach Eddie Jones. Jose Mourinho also employed the approach in his first spell at Chelsea, where a young Rodgers was first making his name coaching in the club’s academy.

Mourinho's protegee has now adopted it, and added his own imprint. Rodgers prefers a tight training group of 20 players who can remain “super-competitive” and know they are connected to the matchday squad. His reasoning is that “if you have 25 players training, five or six can think they’re too far away from the first team.”

Training is mapped out weeks before and much of the focus is on ball retention - including never being more than 10 yards away from a team-mate - and pressing opponents.

This season there have already been encouraging signs: in the 0-0 draw at home to Wolves, the visitors achieved their third-lowest number of shots in an away game since their promotion back to the top flight.

Harvey Barnes, the attacking midfielder, believes Rodgers’s training methods have already made a huge difference. “There is a lot of intensity to training and the tactics are very precise going into the games,” he said. “It’s always tough and you know you’ve got to work hard to get in the team on a Saturday.

“He has given everyone a real uplift and the message is always about having a winning mentality. Whether it’s against Man City or someone at the bottom of the table, we’ve got to have the same mentality and go positive.

“There’s a few places in the top six up for grabs, we’re being thrown into the mix and we have our own ambitions.”

Barnes is flourishing under Rodgers and so are many others. James Maddison is back in the England senior squad and Rodgers has worked closely with the £21 million midfielder, particularly on his tactical discipline and how he can express his talents in a team structure without feeling pressure to show them by being a maverick.

Before the draw against Chelsea, Maddison watched clips of Kurt Zouma and spent a long time in training practising set-pieces to get the ball above the defender. Wilfred Ndidi scored the equaliser at Stamford Bridge from a Maddison corner.

Çağlar Söyüncü, the Turkish centre-half, is another player to have impressed, seizing his opportunity after the sale of Maguire. Rodgers relies heavily on his backroom staff and first-team coach Kolo Touré’s work with Söyüncü has been significant.

A former defender with Arsenal and Manchester City, Touré has run a series of video analysis sessions with Söyüncü where together they watch his performances back and go through them. Söyüncü is already emerging as a new cult hero, learning off the vastly experienced Jonny Evans alongside him.

And what of Jamie Vardy? He has scored 13 goals in 15 league games since Rodgers arrived and appears reinvigorated since those frustrating days under Puel. His form is likely to have made any thoughts of an England comeback - recently floated by Gareth Southgate - even more unlikely than they already were.

Recruitment has also been crucial over the past three seasons. Lee Congerton is the new head of senior recruitment, a trusted colleague of Rodgers at many of his other clubs, who works closely with Callum Smithson and José Fontes in the technical scouting team.

Leicester’s recruitment team and analysts usually scout players for at least 12 months before signing them and there is always one eye on the future: Söyüncü is a perfect example, with Leicester moving to sign him from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg last summer for £17.8m as a ready-made replacement for Maguire when United first started sniffing last year.

Youri Tielemans became the club’s record signing at £40m in July, choosing Leicester at a time when a move to United was still a possibility. Leicester are already assessing targets for the summer, with an ‘A’ and ‘B’ list dependent on possible European qualification.

Leicester’s track record in producing their own talent is also impressive. The academy is vibrant and most recently Barnes, Ben Chilwell and Hamza Choudhury have been promoted to the first team. Rodgers often invites some of the under-23s to train with the squad and is a regular spectator at games alongside Jon Rudkin, the director of football.

“The faith of the manager is massive,” says Barnes. “He’s not scared to play the younger players and for the likes of me, ‘Chilly’ and ‘Madders’, there’s no better place to be.

“You won't see that at a lot of clubs – the amount of young players here. The boys in the under-23's can see the pathway. There's definitely more to come.”

Rodgers insists there is still more to come from his first team, and the feeling of anger and frustration in the dressing room after that 1-1 draw at Chelsea underlines the huge ambition in this squad.

Their mission this season will also be inspired by a collective determination to build on the legacy of the club’s beloved late owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

Leicester will move into a new £80m training ground in Charnwood for next year's pre-season and it will be intriguing to see how much more progress has been made under Rodgers in that time.

Saturday’s game at Old Trafford represents an opportunity for Leicester to make another huge statement.

 

Interesting! I definitely don't pay to access it