Nod.E

So don't. We don't need any more moaners than we already have.

Ah. I missed the game at the weekend. I'll allow a blip as part of an upward trend, mind

Does make me laugh. I'm not inclined in the slightest to run on to the pitch, but I'm tempted to run on at around the 78th minute just to prove a point. I'm not really, but isn't it silly that they line the pitch like that at 80 odd minutes every week? Anyone with the inclination would just make sure to do it earlier.

Most improved player of the season for me. His goal involvement numbers have been good all season, but his all round performances are there to match now, too. It's not a popular opinion, and most people don't tend to take notice when he's scoring or assisting most games, but he was stinking the place out with his performances for much of this season. I'm struggling to put my finger on when exactly the turning point was, but for the past month or two it seems like he's passing the ball with much more intent. His passes are crisp and find their target, he's not misplacing the simple 'ticking over, Winks-style' passes, and even his touch seems to have improved. I'd still like to see him improve his footwork to help him find his way out of tight situations under pressure, but credit where it's due, he's really turned it around. I was previously happy for him to leave in summer, cash in and re-invest. Now? I'm not so sure. Glad it's not my decision to make!

And you deserve plaudits and applause for creating a new, altogether more pleasing word than when using both in the conventional way.

Wednesday picked it up. We held them at arm's length. Easy to say we should keep going, but every player in blue knew we were the better side tonight. When that's the case and it's 2-0 already, that's all it takes to turn a bit slow. Also, who cares? Energy conserved, great performance when it was needed first half. On we go to the next game with 3 points in the bag.

Great side I've heard tbf

Reach websites take it to the extreme, so I do understand the anti ad perspective in this context. Reach do a really poor job of following the IAB's LEAN initiative. Especially on the 'N' (non intrusive) element. However, generally speaking, you either accept that the content is monetised by ads, or pay to access it. The entitlement to expect quality, free content is as galling as it is disappointing. If nobody pays subscription costs and if there are no ads, guess what? The content goes away. People don't like advertising as a rule, I get that, but if they like and want free content, they have a vested interest in good advertising that works. As far as I'm concerned, let Reach fail and hopefully the fallout is an industry that demands better advertising standards. Yes I work in advertising, yes I'm the devil yada yada, and I'm not just saying it because I'm in the industry (there are many, many things wrong with it - I wouldn't go so far as to champion the industry), but the free internet doesn't work without it. Many businesses don't either. While we're at it, consent pop-ups are more annoying than 95% of ad experiences I encounter, and the data used is non personally identifiable anyway. What's wrong with receiving ads more relevant to you? Bonkers.

Are you not entertained? Love how ruthless we were! I was critical of KDH earlier in the season but now he's really showing what he's made of. Still contributing with goals and assists but also tidying up his general play. Faes gets better and better. Nelson looks a diamond, could save us a lot of money at centre half.

Is this radio commentary? Bloke is commenting on every individual change in facial expression. Take a breath man.

It's a spectrum. And John is on it. The spectrum.

The punishment doesn't change the goalposts that were always there, though. Unless you're suggesting our intention was always to exceed ffp?

He can't because he did

It's just terrible management. If we are so close to ffp that we can't afford £2m in January, what were we doing spending £7m on Coady in the summer? Okay we might have expected him to play more than he has done, but Enzo clearly always rated Vesty, we have Souttar who is at the very least competent, Doyle can play that position and Nelson has been showing promise. In any circumstance, did we ever really need him? At that price? £7m is a huge fee in this division, and at that age we're not going to see much back on that. Casadei was disappointing, but he did offer depth in that position that we now don't have. If KDH picks up a big injury and we bottle the run in, it's on the board. Did we even consider the loan market? We have about 25 centre halves, 18 strikers and 1 natural 8. It's insane.

I would like to retract this statement

Why the fvck is the transfer deadline day programme going on and on about Lewis Hamilton? It's not even a tangent, it's 75% of the coverage. I'm a football fan trying to watch football content. Couldn't care less about F1.

So if we pay £2m for a player out of contract in the summer, Rudkin is an idiot. Also if we drive a hard bargain and negotiate, elongating the negotiation period in the process, Rudkin is an idiot. Cool.

Similar for me, difference being I never really felt 'proper' Leicester even when I did live there, and then moved away. Saying that, I do catch myself viewing things in an overly negative light at times, which others can pick up on. I blame that on my upbringing in Leicester

The mentality of the average person from Leicester needs to be studied

Come on Ric. That's insane.

At times last night it was noticeable that players reacted to groans and rushed the ball forward. We proceeded to lose the ball literally every time that happened. If there's one stick to beat the team with yesterday, it's that we didn't take our (easy) chances when we were on top. Wouldn't have been so tense between minutes 30 and 60 if we did, and we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Can everyone just chill out? Enzo included. Although the sensationalist journalism needs taking with a pinch of salt, too. Teams are doubling up on winks, and our other midfielders (and Daka) aren't very good at taking the ball under pressure. Go long then? Well no, most of the time we tried that we gifted back possession. When has going long ever worked against a low block? Talk about playing into the hands of the opposition. It's a system that has us on the cusp of literally breaking records, and with a few tweaks in personnel, we'll be really ticking. Add to the mix we've been without our biggest outlet (and entertainment source for you dopamine junkies) in Fatawu, it's not hard to understand why we might look a little short on ideas at the moment. But even saying that feels wrong. We missed multiple gilt edged chances last night anyway. Our biggest issues are set pieces and closing games out. The style of play is self evidently successful against the benchmarks of Southampton and Leeds for comparison. Not something that should even be a conversation point right now. If people peddling the 'FORWAAAAARD' line feel they're faced with snobbery, perhaps there's a reason for those responses? More often than not if you're faced with widespread contempt, it's because you're being an idiot. Not that I'd expect that level of self awareness from the average KP mouthbreather. To be honest I think Enzo should ignore them. Hopefully we'll lose those fans along the way.

A couple of things I noticed tonight. Keen to understand from some of the more tactically astute among us whether they share my views. I think teams have twigged how important Winks is to our system. We aren't really getting pressed as a team, but Harry is afforded absolutely no time. The ball goes into him, and he's shut down in an instant. Worse, he's often man-marked. Earlier in the season we'd play the ball into him and he'd have the time to ping a first time pass on the angle to our right back or left back, who would proceed to find a winger or an 8. I think this is largely why we look more ponderous at times recently. There's no out ball. This isn't helped by the fact that KDH doesn't show short (because he's not great at taking the ball under pressure), and (tonight) Praet simply isn't dynamic enough to offer that option even if he wanted to. It felt tonight as though it was defence + Winks in our defensive third, then everyone else either too far up the pitch to influence play, or completely crowded out in the middle. I actually thought KDH was our MOTM today, but it's games like these that do make me wonder about next season. If Winks is going to be our Pivot, and Sensi our ball-playing 8, where does KDH feature for us? It feels like we need a physical presence in there, but a player who is equally adept at offering for the ball deep to take the ball from Mads or our centre halves. It's too easy to mark Winks out of the game and leave us looking confused otherwise. Going to be fascinating to see how it all plays out because KDH is brilliant at pressing and doing all of the things we probably need from a midfielder if we were going to play for the counter attack against the better teams (or even competent teams away from home.) You get the feeling that's not going to be the plan under Enzo, though. He was fantastic tonight, but I wouldn't be surprised to see us cash in on him in the summer so that Enzo can build a team more bespoke to his idea of football. Or, I dunno, FORRRRRWAAAAAAARD 🙄

We get complacent don't we? Penalty did us a favour as we could have played ourselves into a nervous position again. But for the first half an hour we were really good, just didn't take our chances. Praet wasn't pressing at all and also wasn't willing to try a risky pass. Thought Yunus offered a lot more.

A tonne of feathers is the same weight as a tonne of anything else.