Craig Shakespeare new Leicester manager

[lackedpunch]

Just seen the news about this.

A great development I feel! (As a Foxes fan)

Shakespeare is a canny tactician (the way he changed the formation around at half time in the second leg against Athletico) was astute and almost paid off.

My predictions for the Foxes for the forthcoming season:

*Mahrez goes to Arsenal and scores 3 goals

*Demarai Gray plays every game and bags 20

*Foxes finish 6th

*Shakespeare sits down for the last game of the season

[Snake Plissken]

Craig Shakespeare new Leicester manager

6th is... optimistic.

Leicester will probably become one of those mid-table teams that just hang about. West Brom, Stoke, West Ham. Not that I'm knocking it, because I'd dearly love mid-table mediocrity for my lot at least for three or four seasons.

[Janik]

Craig Shakespeare new Leicester manager

6th is very optimistic.
His job expectancy, based on the record of former caretakers when put in long term charge, would be around 9 months or so.

[Patrick Thistle]

Craig Shakespeare new Leicester manager

Sacked in January or Leicester win the title again.

No half measures.

[delicatemoth]

It's been a week and I still can't muster a response beyond 'meh'.

[mr smith]

As a Leicester fan, what's your thoughts on Ranieri from a distance. Unlucky? Overrated? Would you have him back?

[delicatemoth]

It would be impossible for Ranieri to return after what happened. I was upset, and somewhat angry, at his sacking, and I haven't felt quite the same about the club since. It was brutal, to be frank. It's been a few years since I was a matchgoer though, so I'm not a person they need to worry about. As for luck, he was lucky to inherit a team that were considerably better than anyone gave them credit for and who had just been battle-hardened by an extraordinary relegation escape, and who were then bolstered by some terrific new signings courtesy of the now-departed Steve Walsh. He didn't plot it from scratch in the way that Clough did. But it was still his hand on the tiller, and it would be silly to describe him as anything other than our greatest manager.

While the thread starter is right in saying that Shakespeare did well tactically against Atletico, I don't think he's demonstrated much since, and I feel that a full clearout of staff and star players might have been the best approach. However, Maguire looks a decent signing and if the rumours about Iheanacho come to anything I may eat my words.

One thing winning the league did was give me a general sense of good will towards the other East Midlands teams, so I sincerely hope that your lot can pull their socks up a bit and give you all something to cheer. And as for poor old Coventry, well, no-one deserves that level of grimness.

[Various Artist]

Just a slightly belated observation here based on EEG's great thread last year tabling manager expectancies.

6th is very optimistic.
His job expectancy, based on the record of former caretakers when put in long term charge football managers in England, would be around 9 months or so.

Fixed that for you Janik.

[Nefertiti2]

Lots of noise about Michael Appleton, current Oxford United Manager coming to Leicester as Shakespeare's number 2.

Has done an excellent job at Oxford. where after a brilliant couple of years there are all kind of mutterings about the owner, Daryl Eales (who had been exceptional in terms of communication with fans) failed negotiations with former owner of the club (who still owns the stadium and much of the land around the ground) Firoz Kassam, a failed takeover by Uruguayan Juan Sartori, (who is the son in law of the Russian oligarch who owns Monaco).

[mr smith]

It would be impossible for Ranieri to return after what happened. I was upset, and somewhat angry, at his sacking, and I haven't felt quite the same about the club since. It was brutal, to be frank. It's been a few years since I was a matchgoer though, so I'm not a person they need to worry about. As for luck, he was lucky to inherit a team that were considerably better than anyone gave them credit for and who had just been battle-hardened by an extraordinary relegation escape, and who were then bolstered by some terrific new signings courtesy of the now-departed Steve Walsh. He didn't plot it from scratch in the way that Clough did. But it was still his hand on the tiller, and it would be silly to describe him as anything other than our greatest manager.

While the thread starter is right in saying that Shakespeare did well tactically against Atletico, I don't think he's demonstrated much since, and I feel that a full clearout of staff and star players might have been the best approach. However, Maguire looks a decent signing and if the rumours about Iheanacho come to anything I may eat my words.

One thing winning the league did was give me a general sense of good will towards the other East Midlands teams, so I sincerely hope that your lot can pull their socks up a bit and give you all something to cheer. And as for poor old Coventry, well, no-one deserves that level of grimness.

Interesting. So what do Leicester fans think went wrong last season? From a distance it seemed bizarre.

[lackedpunch]

As a Leicester fan, what's your thoughts on Ranieri from a distance. Unlucky? Overrated? Would you have him back?

I think what Ranieri did best when Leicester won the league was to handle the pressure of expectation so well, and deal so charmingly with the media. He's a good coach for sure, but he found himself manager of the team when all the right elements (Kante, Vardy, Mahrez and others playing at a peak, other teams not able to be consistent) came together.

I love Ranieri , but have a feeling that Leicester could have won it with another manager that season anyway.

[delicatemoth]

Interesting. So what do Leicester fans think went wrong last season? From a distance it seemed bizarre.

Complacency, starting from not reinforcing a defence that was really obviously not going to perform at anywhere like the same level. Selling the team's most important player, his replacement being injured and not integrated into the team, little attempt to change the mode of play to compensate for this. A horrible pre-season involving one of those ghastly 'prestige' friendly tournaments where the squad flies all over the fucking place was bad preparation, and a consequent bad start led to doubts setting in, particularly it appeared in the minds of the main goalscorer and the most creative player. I don't buy the idea that the players deliberately pissed around to get Ranieri sacked, I think they slow-motion walked into a nightmare.

[Janik]

Yeah, neither do I on the players. Why on earth would they turn on the bloke who has suddenly and unexpectedly elevated them (albeit briefly) to worldwide stars? I know there was a quote of two from people like Danny Simpson saying something about changes in diet being imposed, but for me rather than excuses that sounded like desperately casting around for a reason when nothing much in the day-to-day dynamic had actually changed.
In fact, I think players get blamed for not trying in football far, far too often when what is actually happening is pure random fluctuations that come from a low-scoring sport. It's not far from magical thinking. Sometimes the causes of a change in fortune are simply not attributable. However there is a need for someone to blame, so bad luck can't be held responsible. Not trying is a moral failing that it's OK to abuse somebody for, and boiling frustration that results are bad needs an outlet. Therefore the players become the scapegoats.

Basically I think 2015-16 was a perfect storm, which had blown itself out.

Unfortunately, however bad runs start, they can become self-reinforcing. There was no other way out of the spiral of losses that Leicester were in other than sacking Ranieri. In fact, I was convinced that it would happen a few days earlier than it actually did, i.e. after the FA Cup defeat to Millwall. That was the point where I was certain that Claudio couldn't turn things around again.