DJ Barry Hammond

You sure he’s well enough for the job?

I didn’t think Vardy had a problem with the owners? Focus on the key priority of “Rudkin Out”. That’s the thing that could be achieved. There’s no rumoured interest in buying the club so “King Power Out” isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Plus, you can’t guarantee any new owner(s) wouldn’t turn out to be a Venky’s / Panjab Warriors / Chanseri type.

I get where it’s stemming from, I really do. And it’s not a situation just isolated to our club, it’s seems to be a growing cultural thing in football now (eg Coventry fans boooed their players off last weekend), especially on social media; nothing constructive, just “x player is shit, blah, blah, blah.” BUT - I think our fan base has crossed a line at times; like the booooing of Faes at the start of the season. That wouldn’t have just affected him; that would have reverberated across the squad and has no doubt been a factor to the “can’t be arsed” looking performances that have been witnessed from some since (aside from Ayew who always plays like that 😂). Negativity sucks energy from a room. Mean, I hate seeing the level of abuse Luke Thomas gets, because I bet he’s a good honest lad at heart and well liked within the squad. And you know, the players will see this stuff - and it will effect them as well, not just Luke. I expect Mavididi is also another one that has consumed too much of his own social media.

60% of relevant turnover is permitted on player expenditure in Leagues One and Two under the “Salary Cost Management Protocol.” That could be difficult for us - I recall Wrexham and Birmingham had bumper sponsorship deals that helped them with their spending when down there. We don’t have that.

That is awful. Any manager that sent out that formation/line-up should get their P45 immediately. 1.) You’d get killed, both down the flanks and in the middle with that. 2.) You’ve picked 3 centre halves… but then have your midfield ball winner dropping into the back line - WHY!?! 3.) If you only have 2 players playing on the flanks - you do not want them on opposite sides to their stronger foot so their instinct is to drive inwards. You already lack width and have plenty of bodies inside - so to put Fawatu on the right and Mac on the left in this formation is nonsensical. 4.) A box 4 midfield is something you should be created as a rotation from original positions - so say the 3 midfielders, plus one of the wide men, the striker or an inverting full-back. That makes it fluid and unpredictable. Having it set on paper as the starting formation however like you have done will cause issues because your asking players to make that shape from the get go - at which point it becomes very rigid and predictable for the opposition. 5.) The formation has no deep threat. Having that many bodies positioned that high from the get go will be counterproductive; players will be filling space rather than moving into it and just become very easy to zonally mark out of the game. 6.) Despite the supposed 3-2 base of the formation; it would be week in transition due to the intended high position of your wide men and the two advanced midfielders. A direct consequence of this would be your central defenders having to go into wide areas to defend; increasing the spacing between them in the process, lessening their ability to cover through balls / track runs. Additionally, if Skipp is to slot in to make it a back 4… that leaves Winks on his own in the middle and it’s very notable he is not Kante. Anyway - to conclude, these are just some of the reasons why you won’t see anything like this… from any manager of any club. And honestly - a back 3 is not the answer to not only our defensive problems… but also our emerging attacking problems.

Problem is, there is plenty of evidence from on the pitch performances that our fans hostile stance to all things around the club is having an impact on the players. Take Ricardo’s mistake on Saturday for example - an unthinkable one from someone like him; That mistake had nothing to do with his physical condition regardless of whether you think he’s past it or not - that was a mental mistake and that comes from pressure and lack of confidence. Monga is another, who’s performances don’t look as free flowing as they did - and it becomes difficult for a manager to give and young kid minutes if the general stadium atmosphere is less than supportive (even if the abuse isn’t aimed directly at those younger players - because if they see senior players getting stick, then are they not going to play it safe and within themselves as well?). For another example, look at how much better James Justin is doing at Leeds now he’s being used properly and moved away from a set of supporters that were calling him shit on social media every week for the past two years. Now I’m not appealing to you not to protest, “boooo” or shout obscenity towards any of our players etc - you pay for your ticket, you can do what you want. BUT - don’t kid yourself that those sort of actions are not becoming a significant contributing factor to the plight we’re in now and the performances that you are witnessing. The bond between fans and players, the mutual love, that was so powerfully there on that wonderful night in Preston - has gone; and that is a big, big issue for the club.

I though King got them playing quite well in the second half against Charlton too. You know, had the prat not wasted that wonderful opportunity to get a goal back at a pivotal time in the game - who knows how the last 30 would have panned out.

Given all the well documented PSR stuff about our club, I’m amazed you don’t understand our situation isn’t about a lack of investable cash - it’s down to lack of headroom in our rolling forward PSR limits following significant overspends in previous years. naturally the two relegations have had a significant impact on this, with not only reducing the upper limit - but also in terms of income. The other important point to note is this problem will be the case for whoever owns us - they can’t just pump cash into the playing side.

You can most definitely organise a striker by playing to your chosen man’s strengths. Unfortunately, our pair of strikers lack and notable strengths.

I’d argue that mistake had nothing to do with Ricardo’s speed or reaction time. The whole sequence of play; the two side ways passes that resulted in him receiving the ball and being left with no forward or sideways option and then his indecisive touch, which provided the opportunity for Osman to nip in and come clear with the ball, gave a clear indication of a side suffering from negative mental tension. More commonly referred to as “lack of confidence” it’s quite clear to see a number of our players are more concerned about not making a mistake; to the point they become over conservative with the ball; especially early on in games where you will play with a little more conscious thought. The same issue can also prompt bad “in the moment” decision making; like the two inexplicable red cards we’ve seen in the last two games. It should also be noted that - Ricardo competed with Osman a lot better in the second half. Yes, the fact we were defending deeper probably helped that, but he did manage to adjust and get on top of his match-up as the game wore on - so let’s not be too keen to write him off yet.

Could have been an Andy King recommendation - given he played with him at Rangers. Anyway - we needed to add a midfielder to the squad to see us through. It’s a short term deal that suits all parties - let’s see if works out before passing judgement, no? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Right… and you have 3 days to coach the whole structure of at least one of these to the squad. This is not Football Manager - real life coaching requires proper preparation. By all means express an opinion but you should also realise that all you’re doing here is showing how bad your footballing opinions are. Other important points: • Skipp at LEFT BACK? • You’d get absolutely killed in central midfield with both of those setups.

What do you do with Fawatu? You really want him playing as a wingback (and that would have be on the left flank). Do we have enough fit and mobile centre halves to play 3 at the back? And - if you’re not great at defending in a 4, going to 3, which is a much more complex system defensively, is probably not a good idea.

I think this is a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. The two obvious changes were going to be Daka and Fawatu for Ayew and one other (Richards or Mukasa). But equally, you don’t want to upset the shape, discipline focus and rhythm that’s got you to the 65th minute without conceding so far (and you probably want a bit of time to assess what Birmingham’s changes on the 63rd minute have done). And of course you keep Fawatu on as long as you can just in case he conjures up something unbelievable again - and you are probably not that enthused at having to put Ayew on. So you know, as the manager defending in that situation, you are probably wanting to get just a touch beyond on the 70th minute before making your changes if you can - to try and provide that mental boost for the final 20 minutes.

The timing of the red today too - just as we’ve got back into the game and started building some momentum. I also thought his halftime switch was brave and it seemed to be frustrating Birmingham quite a bit before the goal.

Seriously? Mean for that to happen he’d have to be sacked. And you’d then immediately sign him up after that?

Why would you want either of those? They’re close to the sack for a reason!

I imagine he’ll play some part in the next two - given Aribo can’t.

Was that because I pointed out the no goal in 13 in the pre-match thread?

Give Ricardo his due, he was much better second half. But the sending off was so stupid - we were just building a head of steam; just had a half chance for a corner too. The other frustrating thing is that Birmingham didn’t really create that much in the second half despite the man advantage.

Yes, that would be really helpful in our position.

Bugger. First goal in 13 matches I believe.

That’s a bold change at halftime… but i don’t hate it. I seem to remember Pearson doing something similar against Newcastle many, many years ago!

It’s very rare for centre halves to be substituted off. Lascelles is an experienced enough pro to be able to get himself through 90. It’s the stuff during the week that will be eased and managed for him.

Not sure an in the pocket passer is the thing that’s needed when you’re down to 10. There will need to be a midfielder switch at some point though.