shen

Nice goal, but that was easy. Ricardo's first time pass and return from Fatawu were the highlights. A decent keeper stops that, but it's Oxford so...

Skipp and Soumaré did fine against Birmingham, so I can understand Cifuentes not changing it yet.

True, I just interpreted it as 'he's fine, but we probably won't risk him'.

Cifuentes has praised BDCR and mentioned Page will likely miss out. No surprise here. He constantly says he rates him very highly, but I assume he rates Vestergaard more in possession and defending. He's said that the pairing matters, so Okoli is pretty much a cert because he can cover better than any of the others. I was actually going to say I'm astonished at how strong the squad still looks despite all the departures. That bench would be the envy of all clubs outside the top 2 or 6.

Probably Wrexham or Birmingham with their US connections. He'd have been one of the MLS superstars, so the celebrities will have known about him then.

Was interesting to hear his insights from a tactical point of view. Some decent questions asked, Although both OPA and Pipes were probably a bit forceful when it came to confronting Cifuentes with the disconnect between club and fans. I found it interesting how Cifuentes highlights that he wants players to show the right spirit (i.e. it's fair to assume he does his bit by leading by example), yet when the players show said spirit, like fighting back against Wednesday, he doesn't want any of the praise. He made a point to acknowledge all the club staff behind the scene as being a big part of the success the club has had too, which is a worthwhile thing to highlight. He literally says judge the performances on the pitch, implying that this is the only aspect we fans have full access to.

Bizarre team. They were very much in the mix to qualify for Euro 24 conceding just 10 in 8 games and taking 4 points off Poland.

I see our U21s are playing Juventus tonight. Will it be streamed anywhere?

To be fair, many Danish fans also shook their heads in disbelief when Cifuentes ended up with us...

Goals against us - Di Maria, Bergkamp, Lamptey, Lonergan

Denmark won 6-2 with Popov subbed at 3-2 on 63 minutes. Bit of an implosion there from Wales.

Bit disappointed with Greece, not gonna lie. I expected something much better than this with their recent form and young super talents.

Phwoar, Damsgaard with a beauty against Greece.

Chris Popov scored the 2-0 goal for Wales U21 against Denmark.

The brilliant team goal finished by Yakubu (or was it King?) was tasty. Was it against Derby? James Justin's against Arsenal last season. Bruma's screamer from 40 yards or so. Gudjonsson's lob. So many candidates

Card happy ref this...

Such a poor game. Bold statements of intent before this game, but Denmark have been lethargic at best. Feel Scotland deserve at least a point.

Well it certainly puts into question how to quantify or qualify a manager's performance as we really only see him during press conferences and how well or bad his teams play. The rest is mainly hearsay. There are probably too many factors beyond a manager's control to list when it comes to assessing his tenure. Just look at how many in here attribute player signings to the manager. Yet for a long time, it's been the responsibility of the Sporting Director and the Head of Recruitment. We can only assume how much influence the manager has in these transfers. I suspect, like in many clubs, the manager will have some influence, maybe even a veto, but he will say what profile he needs/prefers and the scouting department will make a draft of potential players while the Sporting Director will work on negotiating the deal. So in short, it's not strictly appropriate to assess the manager in isolation from the position of a fan with limited inside knowledge. Any assessment is obviously a reflection of all the factors at the club at the time the manager was present, including the start and end points. When I give a shoutout to Rodgers, it's simply because of the stark contrast during the two phases of his tenure. The damage done in the second phase is far more meaningful and long-lasting than say RVNs half a season in a car crash scenario. So "worst" for me defines what was the most damaging for the club.

Good spot that! Have even been to Jyväskylä before, but never bothered to check their team. It's a blatant rip-off, but I wonder if there is some sort of connection there. Don't think there are any Finnish LCFC fans on here...?

Very much in a soundtrack mood these past few weeks, especially while at work. Rimworld (love Alistair Lindsays work), Skyrim, JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana et al, Diablo 1, but want to highlight Dune: Spice Wars' soundtrack which has contributions from Jesper Kyd but especially Quentin Malapel. Such a mood!

Exactly this. Taylor inherited a good team and completely bottled it. The consequences of that relegation were nearly fatal for the club as well. As bad as last season was under RVN, his hands were pretty much tied and he inherited a poor squad with low morale. He still did a poor job, but their starting positions were very, very different. Shoutout to Rodgers too. The way he completely bottled it and tanked the club makes me suspicious of his role during our successful seasons under him. Everywhere he's had success he's inherited a good squad. I wonder how long the club will feel the lasting effect of his tenure.

Just had a quick look on Squawka, Winks does play more forward passes, but also more sideways passes than Soumaré. Winks has more touches and is much more forward thinking than under Maresca, whereas it's clear that Soumaré is playing Ndidi's old role under Cifuentes.

I don't like Soumaré much either, but hasn't he been much better than Skipp this season? If Winks doesn't pick up the slack, then I Imagine it's JJ next to Bouba in the middle.

I make that 8 or 9 players/staff with a Leicester past? Amazing.

We needed to trim the squad and bring down the wage bill, which we have finally been able to do to a large extent. However, this also means we have to rebuild the squad value and create new assets, which I am not sure we are capable of doing with our current staff. The inbound loans address areas where we definitely needed competition/cover, so I am relieved in that sense. Our start to the season has been good result-wise and maybe, just maybe, Cifuentes can use these new loans and our academy products to build a promising team that has something to fight for at the end of the season. 6/10 from me.