Hammo

Tonight and every other night (and afternoon). You have to wonder whether they ever practise them in training.

Another similarity is that you get the feeling it is beneath Maresca - just as it was with Rodgers - to practise corners as a means of scoring goals.

Rodgers was operating in the PL. Maresca in the Championship. They are both guilty of misuse of resources because they are steadfast to the point of stubbornness in dictating one particular style of play, which overrides everything else. And when opponents learn to work out how to counter that style, they are clueless as to how to respond - not least during the game itself. I think they are very similar.

Come on. Prime Zidane? Haha. He’s a good tackler and an athlete. That’s all he has ever been. He finds controlling the ball and passing it to a teammate a struggle at the best of times.

You missed out “it is what it is”

Does anyone actually enjoy watching this team play any more? So predictable, ponderous and easy to play against. Even when we win it is such a stressful experience. Maresca is just like Rodgers, he really is. One way of playing and when that is worked out (which isn’t difficult), he can’t or won’t change it and just keeps ploughing on with the same old same old. You wouldn’t know when this Leicester team are winning, drawing or losing. The instruction from the bench is the same.

Maresca is utterly clueless in these situations. A proper rookie

Seen this movie too many times before. Sometimes I think this team needs reminding that the objective of the game is to score.

You reap what you sow. Eventually. The chances of going through the whole season playing those ridiculously unnecessary - dare I say cocky - balls to the keeper in front of his goal and not getting caught out once are minimal. Playing out from the back as a strategy is fine. But I can’t be the only one who gets edgy every time we use this stupidly risky tactic.

We need to go into every game from now on as if it is the final one of the season that we have to win to get promotion. With that attitude - and we saw that today for the first time in ages - I think we will do it. Full steam ahead now…

Everyone played well in a massive, convincing win except Daka. Big shoutouts to Fatawu, Faes and Vardy especially for bouncing back so well from their horror shows in Bristol.

Whatever the most agonising means of failing to get promotion is, you can guarantee that this team will somehow manage to serve it up. It’ll be the drip drip drip torture of last season repeated. I would love to be able to have faith in Maresca and these players to be big, bold, aggressive and show that they are different from Rodgers and his team of bottlers, but there is not one shred of evidence that they are ready, willing and able - either individually or collectively - to rediscover their form of earlier in the season, turn things around and win promotion. I obviously hope that they prove me wrong. But you know what they say about hope…

Not this one. Only promotion will do. If that doesn’t happen he has been a failure.

Which begs the obvious question… why not adapt accordingly rather than recycling the same predictable ‘idea’?

Is this a Maresca interview?

Either because he doesn’t care like we do, or he is arrogant, deluded and full of s**t The second coming of Rodgers before our very eyes.

This

The casual complacency from the players stems from the manager and his slow, ponderous ‘style’ which was outed as one dimensional and unsustainable a long time ago. And what about man management and motivation? I see none of that from Maresca. The players just don’t seem bothered. Sloppiness everywhere. No fight or aggression or quality in the key areas. What the hell does he do with them in training?? As things stand he is Rodgers Mark II.

Predictably predictable. And utterly boring to watch.

Ndidi is an elite breaker-up of the play, a great tackler - or at least he is when at his athletic best, as he has shown in the past. His passing, though, still leaves a lot to be desired. A lot. Granted, he has had his moments as an attacking midfielder this season, but I'm not sold on that being his best position at all. I think Ricardo is a more inventive, dynamic and threatening player going forward than Ndidi, but again, the '8' role is not natural to him. The fact is we don't have any players other than KDH who truly suit that role. Yunus has the technique but is too fragile and Praet is just - well - Praet. It's a problem, but I guess that if Maresca is unwilling to alter the system, then Ndidi has to get the nod - if only for the want of better.

If no longer being top shakes our manager and players out of their lethargy and complacency, and gets them performing again, then it will be no bad thing. Big ‘if’ though.

Calling Sterling’s performance today as a witness for the defence of Daka is risible. And you know it.

What does it really matter if Daka presses better than other forwards if we end up having just one shot on target - in no small part because his finishing is inadequate bordering on incompetent? And we are not just talking today of course - I still worry that his hideous miss against Leeds will ultimately shape our season. The defence of Daka becomes flimsier by the game.

Whatever people think of Maresca and his tactics right now - and the jury’s verdict has clearly and justifiably swayed from unanimously in favour to deeply divided given the evidence of recent results and performances - the incontestable fact is that he will ultimately be judged on whether he gets us promoted or not. Irrespective of what has gone before, these next nine matches will define him as a success or failure as Leicester City manager. Here’s hoping it is the former. There can be no middle ground.

One shot on target. Slow defence. Poor tactics. Only Sterling kept us in it.