Post by leicesterlass on Dec 27, 2006 18:04:45 GMT -1
This may turn into an essay type thing but you know how I like to type for England!!
First of all about Rob Kelly I'm kind of undecided about whether I think he should stay or not and here are my two arguements:
Kelly Out:
Neither his month without a win nor his latest month without a defeat have made any difference to my general view - that he is cautious, tactically suspect and unimaginative.
I would love/would have loved a more exciting manager but am in no hurry to replace one cautious, unimaginative manager with another, or worse (Iain Dowie)
Six points better off than this stage last season doesn't impress me one way or another. Kelly has done very little to develop the side. His signings have been woeful in the main and we are still lacking in virtually all the departments we were lacking when Levein was here.
He doesn't use obvious opportunities to further develop our team and give himself a greater range of fit options. The loss of the reserves has been an unmitigated disaster and he has numerous players hanging around the club who are of no use to him at all.
I honestly believe it to be no coincidence that our fortunes turned after MM was on hand to see the insipid jaw dropping humiliation at home to Sheffield Wednesday. The players would gave a reaction at Wolves, not because they give two hoots about the manager; the fact he has fallen out with over half the squad and rarely speaks to most of them demonstrates that, but because they do care about their future and their pay cheque each month.
Our tactics haven't got any better, but the players are knuckling down for their future.
Kelly In:
Football is all about moving forwards and not standing still, which is what we seem to be doing at the minute, but there's no guarantee that replacing a manager will move the club 'forward'. Especially when there aren't any decent managers available at the moment.
Kelly has already moved the club forward somewhat, this time last year (after the Boxing Day fixture), we had won 5, drawn 11, and lost 8 - amassing 26 points. This year we're on 32 points.
He's done a reasonable job - certainly not as bad as some make out, and certainly doesn't warrant the sack. We could be worse off, though I accept we also could be higher up.
For all of Kelly's inadequacies and mistakes, he's doing much better than Craig Levein and I can see us improving. It might take a while, but with time we should accept midtable mediocrity for a season or two and see where we go from there. We have no divine right to be the best team in this league, not with our finances or the players at our disposal.
The final thing, I believe Kelly's saving grace will be that the other options available are looking increasingly grim, he may well be the best of a bad bunch.
Secondly on the return of Gareth Williams to our team.
This guy is top quality and I have always maintained that when fit he is our best midfielder by a country mile. He is the difference between us playing good quality football and us bypassing the midfield and playing hoofball. His passing range is second to none in our team and he sees things that others can only wish for at times. This was displayed yesterday when he finished off a slick move with a stunning shot. For a player that we know to be so hit-and-miss he finally seems to have found consistency and is filling the gaping hole which was left in our midfield in his absence. Let's just hope he can keep it up.
Thirdly the right wing position.
Huge, huge problem. This should be one of the main attacking outlets of the team, also providing goals (Cristiano Ronaldo has 10 this season for Manchester United - compared to goals for Leicester from the right wing - 0) But we're severely lacking in any quality in the area. Firstly when you think of the options we have
Stephen Hughes - Fair enough, he is competent but tends to drift inside too often and doesn't drive at the full back enough for my liking.
Josh Low - I'm not even going to go there
Momo Sylla - Aptly nicknamed slo-mo.
But what other feasible options are there?
Max Gradel - I'd love to see this guy given a go, was prolific from the right wing for the youth team and is a real handful. Unfortunately I don't think Kelly will take the plunge with him
Iain Hume - It is possible, he played a lot of games on the right for Tranmere and I think he sits far too deep for a natural striker anyway. Also, if I was a left back I'd be much more scared of Hume running towards me than any of Low, Sylla and Hughes.
Finally strikers.
Elvis Hammond - This guy really is not a footballer, he infuriates me when he plays.
Fair enough he's got pace but that accounts for nothing if you don't use it effectively.
Matty Fryatt - Is looking sharper, apparently him coming on changed the game against Hull. I desperately want him to score to get his confidence levels back up but is looking better and better the more minutes he gets under his (rather large) belt
Iain Hume - The guy seriously needs a rest. Nobody can doubt his effort in every minute of every match but 8 games without a goal tells it's own story, I honestly believe he'll benefit from sitting a couple of games out and coming back fitter and sharper and hopefully being able to rediscover his form of earlier in the season.
First of all about Rob Kelly I'm kind of undecided about whether I think he should stay or not and here are my two arguements:
Kelly Out:
Neither his month without a win nor his latest month without a defeat have made any difference to my general view - that he is cautious, tactically suspect and unimaginative.
I would love/would have loved a more exciting manager but am in no hurry to replace one cautious, unimaginative manager with another, or worse (Iain Dowie)
Six points better off than this stage last season doesn't impress me one way or another. Kelly has done very little to develop the side. His signings have been woeful in the main and we are still lacking in virtually all the departments we were lacking when Levein was here.
He doesn't use obvious opportunities to further develop our team and give himself a greater range of fit options. The loss of the reserves has been an unmitigated disaster and he has numerous players hanging around the club who are of no use to him at all.
I honestly believe it to be no coincidence that our fortunes turned after MM was on hand to see the insipid jaw dropping humiliation at home to Sheffield Wednesday. The players would gave a reaction at Wolves, not because they give two hoots about the manager; the fact he has fallen out with over half the squad and rarely speaks to most of them demonstrates that, but because they do care about their future and their pay cheque each month.
Our tactics haven't got any better, but the players are knuckling down for their future.
Kelly In:
Football is all about moving forwards and not standing still, which is what we seem to be doing at the minute, but there's no guarantee that replacing a manager will move the club 'forward'. Especially when there aren't any decent managers available at the moment.
Kelly has already moved the club forward somewhat, this time last year (after the Boxing Day fixture), we had won 5, drawn 11, and lost 8 - amassing 26 points. This year we're on 32 points.
He's done a reasonable job - certainly not as bad as some make out, and certainly doesn't warrant the sack. We could be worse off, though I accept we also could be higher up.
For all of Kelly's inadequacies and mistakes, he's doing much better than Craig Levein and I can see us improving. It might take a while, but with time we should accept midtable mediocrity for a season or two and see where we go from there. We have no divine right to be the best team in this league, not with our finances or the players at our disposal.
The final thing, I believe Kelly's saving grace will be that the other options available are looking increasingly grim, he may well be the best of a bad bunch.
Secondly on the return of Gareth Williams to our team.
This guy is top quality and I have always maintained that when fit he is our best midfielder by a country mile. He is the difference between us playing good quality football and us bypassing the midfield and playing hoofball. His passing range is second to none in our team and he sees things that others can only wish for at times. This was displayed yesterday when he finished off a slick move with a stunning shot. For a player that we know to be so hit-and-miss he finally seems to have found consistency and is filling the gaping hole which was left in our midfield in his absence. Let's just hope he can keep it up.
Thirdly the right wing position.
Huge, huge problem. This should be one of the main attacking outlets of the team, also providing goals (Cristiano Ronaldo has 10 this season for Manchester United - compared to goals for Leicester from the right wing - 0) But we're severely lacking in any quality in the area. Firstly when you think of the options we have
Stephen Hughes - Fair enough, he is competent but tends to drift inside too often and doesn't drive at the full back enough for my liking.
Josh Low - I'm not even going to go there
Momo Sylla - Aptly nicknamed slo-mo.
But what other feasible options are there?
Max Gradel - I'd love to see this guy given a go, was prolific from the right wing for the youth team and is a real handful. Unfortunately I don't think Kelly will take the plunge with him
Iain Hume - It is possible, he played a lot of games on the right for Tranmere and I think he sits far too deep for a natural striker anyway. Also, if I was a left back I'd be much more scared of Hume running towards me than any of Low, Sylla and Hughes.
Finally strikers.
Elvis Hammond - This guy really is not a footballer, he infuriates me when he plays.
Fair enough he's got pace but that accounts for nothing if you don't use it effectively.Matty Fryatt - Is looking sharper, apparently him coming on changed the game against Hull. I desperately want him to score to get his confidence levels back up but is looking better and better the more minutes he gets under his (rather large) belt
Iain Hume - The guy seriously needs a rest. Nobody can doubt his effort in every minute of every match but 8 games without a goal tells it's own story, I honestly believe he'll benefit from sitting a couple of games out and coming back fitter and sharper and hopefully being able to rediscover his form of earlier in the season.