Lillehamring

This is exactly my take. It's effectively the same formation as enzo-ball - with the major difference of being more defensively minded by having a DM (ndidi) rather than a RB (ricardo) as the 2nd pivot - thankfully, as a result of last season, ndidi also looks a lot more comfortable on the ball. So still a double pivot, but more solid. He also seems to be moving the focus of the attack more centrally, rather than hugging the touchlines, which i think will benefit mavi and fatawu (yes, i still believe he will be starting these two as the two attackers behind the striker). And using the WBs allows us some wide attack, but leaves us less exposed (remember how teams targeted Doyle and the space left by ricardo - that shouldn't happen as often in this set up).

Potter was not someone i wanted - he had a poor track record and seemed to think he was more of a catch than he actually is.

I'm staggered by your lack of patience. I'll admit, at first, i thought Cooper was an atrocious choice, but the more i've read, the more he's said, what the players have said, and what i saw against shrewsbury, i've drifted into a really, ahem, pragmatic optimism about him - I think he's a lot more like Enzo than he's given credit for - he seems very much a scholar of the game. He hasn't (from what i've seen) abandoned what we set up last year, but it appears as though he's making it less one dimensional and less susceptible to exploitation. Before you write him off as "another massively uninspired bit of Leicester managerial recruitment. " - perhaps at least wait til we've seen him play a few games. It's odd how Enzo was being offered months of game time to prove himself last year, yet Cooper is being dismissed before a ball has even been kicked in anger.

No. Did you not read the rest of my post? - the wilderness being a spell of 9 points from a possible 30, aka relegation form. Obviously, it worked out in the end, but we did hit a very barren patch and the consensus was that that was due to the over-rigid nature of the coaching. As i said, i enjoyed enzo ball, but equally i'm excited to see how Cooper takes that model and develops it so it is not so one dimensional.

Good to hear. There is an overwhelming cynicism here that the club have simply abandoned the fans and won't countenance any input from them - it's reassuring to hear from yourselves that this is not the case. Sadly, our fans seem too hasty to judge the club right now - the stadium development is a generational thing, yet certain fans expect constant updates and instant returns and aren't prepared to accept the apparent stasis in the meantime.

No. that's true but then none of the other owners (of LCFC) were owners in this era of the game - my point was more general about the influence of owners (not just at leicester) rather than a specific reference to specific incidents, I don't believe i even mention shirt sponsorship - given how general an observation it was, it seems a bit abrasive to be challenged on my 'exact wording' - as a general statement, it's not false, perhaps the 'all over' was a bit heavy handed, but the general point is sound. For sure owner influence is more apparent and more far reaching now, but then it's more of a business now. I don't remember there being an outcry when KP first started sponsoring the ground and the shirt, why is it suddenly such a scandal?

That's the bloke. As you say, i'm not that familiar with the ground these days; maybe it is some masterplan to remove all trace of LCFC - for the life of me, I can't imagine why or to what benefit this would be - but it's also possible that they simply haven't put up new images and new installations in anticipation of the renovations expected to come with the expansion - there's no point spending money on areas that will soon be upgraded. You only have to look at the mess the seats are these days to see that the stadium is being left to its own devices for the time being.

Oh, then i must have been mistaken about the period of 3 wins and a draw from 10 games, and the 17 point lead we threw away, when Maresca lost the plot and refused to change his system - wilderness much! Don't get me wrong, i was always a big fan of the Enzo Way - but even i can admit that he was far too rigid in his thinking. Also, i've hypothesised elsewhere that Cooper is actually just playing a mutated form of enzo's system (i won't repeat it all again here), rather than completely abandoning it - which should mean we are less dependant on our wingers and would actually improve us around the goal, on the counter and in a defensive set ( i may be wrong, but it does seem plausible).

No, but the point is - to a lesser extent (it's a billion dollar global industry now, of course) - owners and board members have been a presence throughout the history of the game, there've always been rich local businessmen getting involved, probably making a 'nice littlle earner' out of the hospitality and what not - so, it isn't a new phenomenon, and it isn't something that only KP do. Mandaric was always getting in on photo-ops, abramovich was a presence for years at chelsea, that bloke at newcastle and his sports direct (how did we overlook him!) was a complete mercenary. Maybe KP need to have a think, probably need to be careful - but are they alone, are they the worst - not really.

If that's how i come across then it's purely a coincidence. I write frankly and honestly and say how i see things, and i'm a big one for playing devil's advocate, for showing that there is often more than one way of looking at a situation . That i'm not a hardcore cynic like most posters on here might flavour my opinions as 'sympathetic' to the club but, despite what people (the cynics) may think, i'm not an apologist for the club, i know they aren't perfect, i can see where they can improve. At the same time i'm not one of these fans who refuse to see any positivity, who dismiss any extenuating reasons, and simply find fault with absolutely everything and anything the club do or say.

This is not the past 10 years. Things are changing in broadcasting and media - most of the TV stations i am offered i now have to pay for an App - things cost more to produce, and we consume far more than we ever did. To expect the club to simply provide their product for free is, like it or not, never going to happen again. And have they really been on youtube since 2014 - i doubt that. Why would the OB equipment 'be there anyway' - and even if they have invested in the gear, that still needs paying for, and still needs paid personnel to operate it.

Well, as bad as you lot may think it is, right now - it'll never be worse than the time when alliance and leicester were sponsors, where they had their logo on every single føkking step! The pain, as a disgruntled employee of theirs at the time, still lives with me today!

As DavieG said - i don't get to the KP that often - but the way people are talking it sounds like there isn't a single reference to the team in the entire place - which i'm sure can't be true.

OK - i get your position. I just can't rationalise such unwieldy cynicism - you win.

Maybe it wasn't him i'm thinking of - who was the guy who had the buses?

The 'panic' reference was with regard to the fact that we're one game into pre-season and the guy is close to melt down I've posited an interpretation just a few posts back that suggests that Cooper actually hasn't shifted that much from the essence of what Enzo did - only adjusted it to have a bit more solidity in the middle (ndidi/winks rather than ricardo/winks), whilst giving us a fast break option in the middle that we really didn't have last year (fatawu/daka/mavididi instead of KDH/daka/ndidi).

I suppose then, the jury is still out on VK - and i think a lot will depend on how he interacts with Mavididi - if they click then VKs job won't be so much about creating but as a foil for the attacking players near to him.

I think most of the fan base agree that it was Enzos having an idea and sticking to it that led us into the wilderness. The players he had were good enough in their positions for that level, even ndidi.

Hmmm, is this really the case? And (as suggested elsewhere) is this really that different to Enzo's set up? Let's say he lines up in the same formation except kristiansen on the left, ricardo on the right, fatawu in the McAteer position - Mads Faes/Coady/Okoli (or similar) Ricardo - Ndidi - Winks - VK Fatawu - Mavididi Daka in attack this becomes almost exactly the same as under maresca, the only difference being that it would be VK and Rico in the mavididi/fatawu roles of last year, and mavididi and fatawu inside in the #8 positions (KDH & Ndidi) - which, in many ways is a better way of doing it as it means the real attacking strength is inside and in better goalscoring positions than being (as they often were) isolated on the wing. Mads Faes/Coady/Okoli (or similar) Ndidi - Winks Ricardo - Fatawu - Mavididi - VK Daka It would also mean on the counter a central three of mavi, daka & fatawu (which we saw on occasion against shrewsbury). The more i think about it, the more i see what Cooper has done with the Enzo model. Instead of inverting the full back we have 3 CBs and 2 CMs - with wide men who can drop back defensively into a back 5.

I think the logical take on this is, as you said about fatawu, that he was something of a placeholder (whilst at the same time seeing what he could do there - and he wasn't as bad as some people are suggesting, he got round the FB a couple of times and it was his run inside that won us the free kick). As for Ricardo, it's inevitable his role would change with the (apparent) abandonment of the inverted FB - i'm sure those who didn't get that tactic will be glad to see ricardo back to his traditional role.

Just for clarity - did you watch him at all last season? He certainly played as an attacking wing back in euro 24, so...

Which, ultimately, nearly cost him. You're better than this kneejerk reaction panic. Give the guy a chance - no one expects this to be how we line up against spurs.

I think there might be games where he could be incredible there - against, for example, teams that play with a narrow back 3, or with the FBs pushed forward - the way he got to the bi-line on a couple of occasions was something we hardly ever saw with him on the right.

Would be mental to start Ricardo at LWB when we have Kristiansen. And the only place i'd play JJ is as a RWB (where he was decent) - i wouldn't trust him in the PL in a back 3, and his quality dropped off the scale last night when he switched to the left.

That's a fair point - and i think VK could do a good job there. And then i suppose Fatawu would take the McAteer position.