ClaphamFox

Rob Tanner has published a new article on our (lack of) transfer activity: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5702809/2024/08/16/leicester-city-transfer-window-psr/

He has great potential but is too young for us to pin all our hopes on him. I don’t believe any of our other CBs are anywhere near the quality we need this season.

And we still desperately need a new CB.

Is he faking it then?!

He’s injured.

Curiosity got the better of me so I checked out this guy’s twitter feed. Jesus, what has become of us if we’re actually taking this seriously? 😂

Time to reopen the Sammie Szmodics thread?

I think he’ll score on Monday and do that thing when players refuse to celebrate against their old clubs in a gesture that is supposed to convey respect but somehow just comes across as a bit patronising.

Buonanotte?

100% this. As if the club has told John Percy - or any other journalist - what our case for mitigation is going to be. Only a very small of people will know this, and it’s highly unlikely that any of them talk to the media.

0-3 feels like a par result. Any narrower defeat than that would be a bonus.

For what?

Can you explain how on earth you think this is going to happen?

It has to be a priority position. I’ll be amazed if we don’t sign a LB before the window shuts.

I wonder whether we’ve successfully argued that Man City’s must be held first because the outcome will have a direct impact on our defence - ie, if Man City are found guilty of serious rule breaches in either of the seasons we finished 5th, that would mean we were denied CL money - and ended up breaching PSR - directly as a result of their cheating.

It is absolutely not the plan. If we’re bottom after 10 games with no sign of improvement, Cooper will be sacked.

If they’re really planning to start Man City’s next month, they won’t time to do ours first.

It’s extremely unlikely we’ll get two PSR charges. And from what I’ve heard the club is very bullish about our prospects in the one we have been charged with.

Especially a philosophy that was very successful. Presumably squads are open to fresh ideas when they’ve been performing poorly and the previous manager had lost the dressing room; probably less so when the previous manager was adored and had a well-drilled approach that had just brought a title win.

This is potentially significant. If you’re right that our case won’t be heard until this one has concluded (and I suspect you are), that means ours won’t even begin until January at the earliest.

Faes is a nonchalant bombscare, Vestergaard is slow (and it already seems Cooper isn’t having him) and Coady is ageing and injury-prone. I’m happy to give Okoli a chance but he hasn’t convinced so far. I do like Nelson a lot, but will Cooper give him a chance? People talk as if our biggest problem this season will be scoring goals. I think we’ll have just as many problems at the other end of the pitch.

Isn’t the most likely explanation that neither are smokescreens and that we’re exploring several options at the same time in case our first choice doesn’t come off?

And we are STILL short of PL quality centre-backs. It’s a position we’re badly exposed in.

In the main I agree and if it were any of the previous preseason games I wouldn’t have bothered commenting. But typically the final preseason game provides a fairly clear sense of the selection and tactics likely to be used in the first league game. Yesterday the line-up was baffling and the tactics were indecipherable. In his post-match interview Cooper sounded almost like a broken man and basically admitted that the players aren’t even close to executing the game plan, whatever it is. Contrast this to last year and the focus and clarity under Maresca. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be concerned.

Yesterday he not only played Choudhury but also captained him. He also played Kristiansen while leaving Ricardo on the bench. He then brought on Mavididi, a winger, instead of Cannon, a striker, when Daka went off. These choices were mot forced on him - he made them himself.