ALC Fox

"Leicester have money but can’t spend it under PSR restraints, and could now face a points deficit at the start of next season as a result." - Rob Tanner, The Athletic I know this final paragraph of today's article by Rob is something we already know. But I do think it's worth reiterating. Our owners - even after the difficulties of COVID on their main business and main source of income - have money to spend. They've built an incredible training complex. They give so much to fans. They donate to local causes. They're planning to expand the stadium and develop the surrounding area. Yes, the way the club is run according to the current rules deserves criticism. But the rules themselves are ridiculous. By all measures, King Power are excellent owners with a track record of investment and wiping out debt. There were no layoffs during COVID and no layoffs upon relegation. Unless you're a big 6 club, investment in football in this country is going to result in losses, not gains. I understand that the rules are designed to avoid terrible owners plunging clubs into oblivion and depriving fans of a club to support. So why not make real transgressions like failing to pay players punishable by forcing trash owners to sell the club? Points deductions are very good punishments as they can affect so much. But applying them in different seasons (I know the PL is stopping this) benefits teams in different periods, so clubs that were transgressed against are not being rewarded. Also, if a promoted club can just be fined (as we were last time we were promoted), the EFL benefits but other affected clubs, again, see no reward. I also understand that having rich owners come in and buy success is a cause of rancour and jealousy among supporters of other clubs. But, honestly, responsible owners such as ours - who have been able to wipe out debt and keep every 'normal' member of staff on the payroll during a global crisis that wiped out their ability to make serious money - are few and far between. What do the current PSR rules do other than discourage these people from remaining in the game, with the potential of being replaced by fantasists and reckless, belligerent bullies like Reading, Sheffield Wednesday or Nottingham Forest's owners? In a free market, why can't those who are willing to lose money, come in and try to overturn the current hegemony at the top of the game? It can't happen any other way.

Ahh balls

Absolutely no excuse for it, if true.

I think it's entirely okay to be completely thankful and appreciative of the promotion, title and FA Cup wins and how well run we were perceived to be. But it's also entirely okay to be critical of how things have ended up and how they are currently, despite being top of the second tier. This moment in time is a very turbulent one for a lot of clubs, and while some or navigating it better, some are also navigating it worse. King Power will learn from their experiences, but they shouldn't be given an entirely free pass. A bit of humility on both sides wouldn't go amiss in my opinion.

I'll support the team whether we go up, don't get a points deduction, don't need to pay a fine, win a couple more trophies and have some more European campaigns. I'll also support the team if we're absolutely f***ed, get chucked out of the league, fold the club and have to start again in the Midland Alliance. I might even chuck in a few quid towards setting it up. I don't mean to trivialise all this because it is a big deal. But the point I'm trying to make is, there's so much wrong with the modern game, whether we're a part of what is wrong with it or not. But the fans of the club aren't going anywhere, and will make sure it survives in one way or another. And when things have all been shaken out in the end, we'll be a club that mainly meanders between the top two divisions, with seasons of greatness and seasons of despair, just like we've always been. 🦊🦊🦊

Giving Rodgers the huge contract - which stopped us from sacking him and stopped him from walking for so long - as well as giving in to his demands to not sell our most valuable assets at their peak value were large contributors to this situation, I think.

On the ball I thought he was fantastic yesterday. At times I thought it was a tricky winger on the ball, controlling it midair, flicking it over a player's head, whipping crosses in. He's still yet to put everything together, I think, but my word the promise is there. I think that's quite emblematic of our overall performances currently. Moments of real quality but struggling to convince overall. We'll string it all together again

Different commentator to earlier now isn't it? Early first-half sounded like a local commentary team

We were always really high in terms of wages vs income weren't we? I think that has probably had the most negative impact. The huge clubs don't need to spend anywhere near the same percentage of their revenue on wages because (a) they rake in tons more money and (b) although they do pay higher wages overall, if they're going for the same players as us, for example, they can pay less because of the prestige of playing for a bigger club. Clubs like ours have had to spend huge amounts to attract the players (and manager(s)) we've deemed to what's required to compete towards the top of the Prem. It will be interesting to see how Villa end up in the next few years. They have money but their wages are high and I wonder how they're able to reconcile that with their income. I don't know what Brighton's wages are like but on the face of it, that model allows less money spent on the wages of talented players from poorer markets, so maybe they won't quite be in the same boat as potentially Villa or us, or that Everton and Forest find themselves in.

At the start of the season, didn't Maresca say that there was no expectation to achieve promotion this season? Obviously, if we did miss out, it would be a catastrophic failure considering the lead we had over the rest of the division. But if it wasn't mandated at the start of the season, you would hope that the club would have contingency plans in place to adapt and not have the club implode. One thing I will say is that, yes, we're in a slump right now. But Southampton, Leeds and Ipswich have all had them this season. It's currently our turn, but we know this team can perform. I'm still optimistic that we can not only achieve promotion but also win this league.

Anyone feeling uneasy about Choudhury starting games during the process - and in the aftermath - of being done for drunk driving should bear in mind that Ilias Chair is starting today, who was recently sentenced to a year in jail with a further 12 months suspended for smashing somebody's head in with a rock. He remains available during the appeals process.

Big boys back in. Fatawu still on an adrenaline high after midweek. Mavididi fresh and raring to go. Coady to prove himself further after a good performance midweek. This is the next step in bouncing back after the Boro and Leeds games. I can feel a big performance in this one, to show the other teams we're not going to let them reel us in. It would be the icing on the cake if Huddersfield could turn Leeds over and Birmingham spring a surprise by whooping the Saints.

Babylons

The weird thing is, I'm looking at Pep's Man City as an indicator of how this could play out. Like with Man City, initially, I think any player coming in may need time to adjust to Maresca's tactics, dislodge starters in the side and perform to the maximum. If this is the case, I'd expect a few teething problems and a slow start to the season, which may feel like a big deal to fans considering the reduced number of league fixtures and the number of international breaks early on. For that reason, I'd expect us to make one or more signings from Man City. Perhaps re-signing Doyle or bringing in Taylor Harwood-Bellis if Southampton fail to go up so they can't activate their obligation to buy him. McAtee will also be an option and perhaps also the loan of a youth player we haven't yet considered. The more players who could come in and slot into the system easier, the more likely any early season troubles could be mitigated, which actually makes me quite excited as to which players outside of Man City we could target. Which gems from around Europe and the world are on Maresca's and the scouting team's radar (e.g. the previously little-known Hermansen)? Not to mention how happy Maresca was with how quickly we adapted to his tactics early in his reign. Yes performances weren't perfect, but perhaps Enzo's coaching will mitigate any players' unfamiliarity with the system. We could be in for an exciting season, providing this one plays out as hoped.

Nyoni's senior debut tonight then? Last 15 minutes off the bench

Choudhury playing inverted RB or LB, the Winks role or as #8 Justin playing as LCB, RCB and even in a midfield position late on last night. Nelson playing RCB or LCB. Faes playing across the back line. Ricardo as inverted RB or LB, or as #8. Yunus wide right or #8. Kasey on either wing or #8. KDH and Ndidi swapping sides in midfield. The way Enzo asks these players to play on different positions and often swapping within the same game. You can see the players improving as footballers all the time and becoming more aware and confident in areas of the pitch they wouldn't ordinarily have found themselves. Enzo is a genius.

There's something about Wanya. I think it's his body shape, his touch, and the way he looks up when he's on the ball. There are some things about his game that are good enough already. He just needs to put it all together. I thought he improved as the game went on yesterday and if he can get some more minutes under his belt, he could develop into a really handy player for us. For me, there's something of the Harvey Barnes about him. Not in terms of his style of play, but more that you know there's a player of real quality in there, he just needs to incorporate that missing something and he'll start to fly. Barnes gave me that same impression when he was coming through. Perhaps a loan at a decent Championship club that will play him will be good for him next season, then we'll see him flourish for us the season after.

Imagine if Vestergaard had finished that chance off

Take a bow that man Fatawu. A goal worthy of any game, and really sets up to resume league action in a positive frame of mind. Vestergaard and Choudhury were incredible again. Both were immense against Leeds and again tonight. Hamza as the inverted RB and Ricardo at #8 has to be the template going forward. It was brilliant to see some good performances by the fringe players tonight. They gave it a really good go in the first half, and the quality we showed after the cavalry arrived was really heartening as well. I thought Coady had his best game in a City shirt tonight too, and bringing Nelson on late to see us home just showed what faith Enzo has in him at this early stage in his career. Leeds who?

Kel and Abdul on... Here we ****ing go!

Imagine if we turn these over with Marçal, Thomas and Briggs all bagging

Looking forward to seeing if Silko Thomas makes an appearance tonight. We need wide options in case Mavididi and Fatawu are injured or out of form. He may not be 'ready' now but sometimes being thrown in can be the thing that makes a player ready. Big game for Wanya potentially too.

The only man I've seen score both an overhead kick and, after missing a header, from the resulting accidental bounce of the ball into his face. A hero in royal blue

Bournemouth are clearly a good footballing side and Iraola is doing a good job reforming them in his image. They have spent some coin and think they have a chance of eventually following in Brighton's footsteps if everything stays aligned for them. Right now, they can be either sublime or a bit pants. They obliterated Swansea in the last round but they're in a slump now. At the weekend, we showed we could perform excellently against the in-form side in the division who have excellent squad depth - and silence their raucous crowd. Dean Court isn't going to be quite such a cauldron, and we're very capable of going there and having spells where we control the game. In this one, the result isn't important for me. We play our game and what will be, will be. The performance is the most important, whoever plays. We need squad depth and more players that Enzo can trust. If we rotate significantly, we need players who can show that they can perform well, particularly in the #8 positions and out wide.

After nearly a full day to digest and think about this, much of the anger and frustration has subsided, although that anger and frustration was never with the team, just the situation. I feel that yesterday we were beaten by 'narrative' rather than Leeds United. In the first 15 minutes of the first half we were extremely impressive with how we held on to the ball, beat their press, and built from the back. After the goal, Leeds came at us and we surrendered the ball, but our defence was colossal, Vestergaard in particular, but also Choudhury deserves a special mention. The whole backline was good including Faes and Justin. The second half was all us until their equaliser. We should have been out of sight. We destroyed them. We wore them down. Their fans were silent. We were the best team in the game, the best team in the league by a country mile. This was what Enzoball was supposed to produce. The only caveat was the performances by the wingers. Mavididi did a lot right, getting past his man and into excellent positions, but his decision making was again off it. And he tired and just got worse as the game wore on. Although I wanted him subbed at the time, in hindsight it should have been Fatawu that got hooked. I think he barely had any effect on the game at all, unfortunately. As good as he can be, I don't think he's in a good moment. Neither is Mavididi, but even when his end product is letting him down, his industry, tackling and ball control were still bit vital assets that McAteer didn't possess when he came on. Daka should've stayed on the pitch too. He had a phenomenal game, and it was so, so unfortunate that he had that howler of a miss. His overall game is light years ahead of what it used to be. As shattered as he would've been, that overall game would've been more useful to us than a cold Cannon coming on and not getting up to speed. Tommy was just anonymous. So, the signs are there that we're still the best team in this league. If we play like that again, we'll spank many more teams before the end of the season. My issue is that when our wingers are not on form, we don't have any replacements capable of playing how they do. Akgun is a Rolls Royce and McAteer works hard but Mavididi and Fatawu are electric, with good pace, excellent close control and are so good at beating their man. With them out of sorts, that's a huge disadvantage for us. Proper squad depth in those areas should be a massive issue for us in the summer. For the rest of the season, I'm confident we'll be okay. We approached that game really well. We've played a lot worse and won convincingly this season. There are tough games coming up but Enzo's the man to see us through.