ALC Fox

There was a recent game I saw the highlights of (can't remember who against) where he looked good in possession and made a fine run forward centrally, got into a good position outside the area with a pass on that could've put a teammate in but instead he shot and missed. Based on that one instance alone (because I've seen barely anything of him) he looks to have some of the raw ingredients in an attacking sense but lacks composure and decision-making. As I say, it was one moment and he could normally be better or worse than that

Having one good half and one bad half was a regular feature until the recent calamitous performances. Yesterday was a return to what we've seen all season, with the difference that we were very, very good and also very clinical against Derby. Having runners from deep (e.g. James) and playing with energy (including Skipp) was a breath of fresh air. Maybe that suits us more away from home, but the template now has to be Skipp and James deep and BDCR in the 10 position has to be the template going forward, with Page hopefully being given some game time. Winks needs to earn his place back. Easily our best midfielder when he wants to be but is really hot and cold this season, and we may need to remove him from the dressing room if suspicions about his attitude are correct. The differing performances within the same game are really frustrating, especially when we know that we can perform how we did in the first half against Derby. Is Marti the guy to take us forward? It feels like he's still working out his best side and that he's being forced to include players who don't want to be here. And that some of those who he wants to include are very young and therefore inexperienced and inconsistent. But we need to turn some of these inconsistent performances into more complete performances and build some momentum. We have the ability to trouble the top six and even maybe get up to second if we can put a run of form together. There's a long way to go.

Happy with that. A little nervy after their goal but Silko changed the momentum enough to calm things down. James, Nelson, Skipp, Luke Thomas, BDCR and Ayew all had good games imo. Mavididi not too bad as well. Nice to see Aluko get back on as well and Page returning is a brilliant thing. Ricky had one of his better days and Vestergaard with a crucial block at the end. Jakub really good. Fatawu seems to have lost his magic touch a bit but did OK. Would've been nice to see Evans get on but hopefully he's in the conversation and gets some game time soon.

Eh?

How have we let Choudhury mark two men (Nelson and Blackett-Taylor) at the same time on two consecutive corners?

Jakub has been decent on his return. Another crucial save there although I thought the Derby attacker looked offside to me

Just made the decision too late there but another positive run with the ball by Silko. Having a good cameo here

Silko looks like he's bulked up a little

Great opportunity to give Evans a good 20 minutes here at least

Nice to see them both flourishing. Shame we frittered their transfer fees away on dross and trying to avoid the sanctions that will inevitably come our way anyway

We've almost done both before. The fact that we actually got over the line and won both is wonderful and brilliant and can never be tainted. We'll be back there again. It might be decades before we push for winning the league again, but if Bournemouth can sustain a Premier League team, so can we. The right board, the right owners, the right players and the right coaches are out there.

He'll get a good permanent move off the back of this season. If we can sort our finances out and get rid of some of our absolute dross, hopefully it'll be to us.

Is there a manager out there who can get the most out of this squad? Possibly. Maresca managed it with a relatively similar one (with the advantage of it including our greatest ever player). He also almost managed to mess it up, but it was a freak season with three quite excellent teams and another very good one. Since Enzo it's been one bad appointment after another and we're 18 months down the line with players who have taken against one, two or all three managers and possibly (likely) the club itself. Maresca inherited a squad that included players who didn't want to be here and turned it around, loaning some out and persuading others to join him on a ride that led to us becoming Champions. Is there another manager out there who could unite a squad and get them playing for him and the club again? Almost certainly. Maresca, despite many misgivings about his style of football and the fact that both here at Leicester and now at Chelsea, the resources he's had at his disposal in both divisions outstrips most, if not all, his rivals. But he led us to our record eighth second-tier title, he won the Europa Conference League and Club World Cup, qualified for the Champions League and looks a decent bet to do so again. These achievements may be par for the course (with the exception of the Club World Cup) but as we've seen with Chelsea's travails under Graham Potter and now our own under Marti, it's never a foregone conclusion. Two years on, if Enzo inherited this squad with their current mentality, the malaise that has set in around the club, the disorganisation behind the scenes and the damaged relationship with the fans, could he produce what he did before? Maybe. Maybe not. There is an attainable manager out there who could do it, I'm sure. But identifying them and appointing them appears beyond the capabilities of our current board under the weight of evidence of our three most recent appointments. Marti comes across as a nice guy who did a good job at QPR under restraints. Here, he probably didn't realise how restrained he is. I hope he knew the extent of the financial situation, but the attitude, ability and togetherness (or lack of all three attributes) in his players will surely have been a surprise to him. Marti's sacking seems inevitable. Getting someone in who can turn this around will be extremely difficult. But not impossible. I hope.

Sack them all. The manager, the players, the board. Rip it up. Start again. Only players coming away with any credit are Begovic, Stolarczyk and the youngsters this season.

The mad thing is, there was another first-half sending off for two bookable offences on Tuesday night, with Ronald Araujo being dismissed for Barcelona against Chelsea after a very silly second yellow. This is a 26-year-old guy who has won two La Liga titles, been in the La Liga team of the season twice and was their captain on the night. Sometimes these things happen. Aluko is ready, but needs to be blooded properly to get a feeling of the pace of the game at this level. He showed some really nice forward movement and some good tracking and blocking defensively. Get him up to speed and he'll be a real asset, potentially even a good goal threat as well based on his U21 exploits.

The only ones I'd definitely want to keep: Begovic James Ramsey Nelson Stolarczyk Alves Fatawu Ricky looks like he's on the wane but I love him and he can still be quite effective, so maybe him too. Fatawu will be gone next summer regardless so kind of pointless including him. If we can extend Begovic for another season as he can clearly still cut it at this level, sign Ramsey and James permanently and build a squad around those on the list above, I think we'll be OK. Easier said than done, of course, lots of business to do (not our style) and probably requires real joined-up thinking and planning with either a manager who is going to be here for a while or a strategy that involves knowing what kind of manager you want over the next 3 to 5 years. Also, some of the youngsters coming through may properly step up permanently in that time, so that could help: Monga, Page, Aluko, Gray, Evans, Hutchinson, Motsi for example

Obviously Aluko's sending off betrays his rawness and inexperience at senior level. It's unfortunate that he's being parachuted in while we're at our weakest point since certainly 2010/11 but potentially 2008/09, although I've a feeling Nige's League One winning side would bully our current team into submission. Of course, we can't carry a player who is so raw that he'll be risking a red card every week, but I think I saw enough that he has the ability to be successful at this level. He tracked well, made some crucial blocks, and took up some really good positions further up the pitch. There were times in that first half where he had took up a position inside the pitch when the ball was on the right and he was free in a really dangerous position but often the other players just weren't looking for him. Granted, he probably should be demanding the ball and that's to his detriment as a young player. He also made some good overlapping and underlapping runs when Mavididi was in possession and faced up by two defenders, dragging one away and giving Stephy room, with one such example leading to the cross that James nearly scored from. For me, Aluko is dominant at U21 level and showed enough in less than one half that he has the ability to do well for us in the Championship. But if he wants to do that soon, he needs to become a lot savvier quite quickly to avoid the kind of situation he got himself into last night. I've more confidence in him long term than Thomas and Kristiansen, although the reality is that right now he should probably be rotated in rather than being an automatic starter. And the fact he's actually more of a right-back is encouraging too.

Great player, great bloke. Hope it turns out he's a great manager.

The video is about New York rather than the UK but the pushback against the myth of high net worth individuals leaving is very succinctly and effectively made

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DROz9ddkfN_/?igsh=MWp2NG9weHF6dDd0NQ== A short little video from Led by Donkeys on BBC bias

The BBC has a policy of neutrality and trying to let all voices be heard. That inherently probably makes them more left-wing than right-wing although that probably depends on your viewpoint. They manage to p!ss off a large amount of people on both sides of our increasingly divided political spectrum, whether it's through the consistent usage of Farage/UKIP/Reform over the years when they've been a minority party leading to many believing that they're complicit in Reform's current popularity and the more extreme viewpoints espoused by some of their MPs and councillors, or the perceived right-wing bias of their most senior political journalist (Kuenssberg), or - on the other side of things - the continuation of Gary Lineker's employment at the corporation while posting firm, left-wing opinions on his personal social media. Honestly, it isn't perfect. But I don't think it ever was or ever will be. But the programming is fantastic, both TV and radio. And, although not every bulletin is perfect and they occasionally omit certain things that people would deem essential to include, it does aim for neutrality and - in my view - is the most trustworthy news broadcaster in the country. GB News, genuinely, is a disaster zone in comparison. I don't know how anyone can think that channel is a fair representation of what is going on in the country. From what I've heard in the news, there seems to be a good degree of confidence that Trump won't win in any attempt to sue the BBC, and nor should he. The Panorama episode was badly edited and, yes, perhaps the editing does, as a result, show bias. There should have been something to make clear that Trump's speech was edited. But if Trump actually thinks that he did not contribute to what happened on Jan 6th then he's supremely naive (he isn't, he knows what he did). Time and time again, for days and weeks he stoked the fire, screaming about a stolen election, fraud with voting machines and postal voting, etc. He's a liar, a cheat, a bully, a convicted felon, a narcissist, a possible predator and a possible war criminal, besides much, much else. The entire country should be against him suing the BBC.

Glad we won. Rudkin out. KP out.

Asmir you beautiful b4stard

Hopefully we turn a corner and give Boro a good pasting tonight for you. Best of luck with the treatment

Mousinho seems to be a guy who has risen to every challenge thrown at him so far. Difficult to judge him while he's got his feet firmly under the table at Portsmouth and has only ever managed them, though. Leicester is a different kettle of fish and I honestly don't think this club is set up for anybody to succeed right now. I'm still backing Marti once things behind the scenes sort themselves out. I don't really care if the players stop playing for him, we want rid of most of the pr1cks anyway don't we? Give him the kind of squad he wants. Even if we can't quite afford the quality we want, get them playing for him and we'll have something to hang our hats on here. Oh, and sack the board/sell the club