ClaphamFox

Doyle will probably be available if we go up and we want him. I doubt we'd be interested in Casadei even if Chelsea wanted to get rid this summer, which they might given their bloated squad. Our sole objective this year is to get out of the division, not to give playing time to youth players who aren't as good as those we've loaned in. It's a shame about the injuries to Alves and Braybrooke as they may have seen some game time based on actual merit if they'd been fit. Hopefully they both will before the end of the season, but only if they're ready.

We're midway through the window and there haven't even been any credible rumours of another club being interested in Praet. This is not exactly surprising given his recent injury record, but it makes the prospect of Sensi appearing in a Leicester shirt this season seem very distant.

How many times have we looked 'off it' in the first halves of games this season? Quite a few times, I'd say. Our first half performance on Saturday was a typical Maresca first half - we weathered the early storm then started to dominate by keeping the ball. We've seen it so many times. In the second half we invariably get stronger as the opposition tire and we score lots of late goals. With eleven men we'd have created more opportunities in the second half as Coventry chased the game. There's no guarantee we'd have won, but that is the most likely outcome. It's a shame that Maresca responded to the red card by parking the bus - if we'd have shown just a bit more attacking intent, that game was winnable even with ten men.

Indeed. Utterly gut-wrenching. I don't even want to imagine what that poor boy went through in his last days.

Fair enough. However, I worry that his ability to annoy people might ultimately work against him when it comes to the election. I really hope I'm wrong.

They do. The point is that Biden is such a weak candidate for the Democrats to put forward that they've given Trump a massive opportunity that he should not get. It's not the fact that Biden is 81 (which isn't necessarily a problem in itself), it's that he comes across as a senile, clueless, insincere glad hander who can scarcely grasp what day it is, let alone the intricacies of complex policy decisions. His popularity has significantly declined in the swing states since he became president. If the Democrats put forward a decent candidate, they should have no trouble seeing Trump off; with Biden as their candidate, they've made Trump strong favourite. That's the problem.

That about sums it up. Trump is the worst possible human being to be US president, but if Biden is the best candidate the Democrats can come up (in a country, let's not forget, of 330 million) then they need to be investigated for match fixing.

Yep. Back for Stoke away on the 3rd.

No. He returns on 3rd February, just over a week before the end of AFCON.

I had no idea the Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative were also in for him. We might struggle to get him now…

Labour would win a 120-seat majority if the election were tomorrow, according to YouGov: https://x.com/YouGov/status/1746869536119292158?s=20

It was two-footed and he didn't come close to getting the ball. Irrespective of whether you or I think it should have been a yellow, everybody knows you can get sent off for those challenges these days, so it was a hugely risky challenge to make. The crowd was on the ref's back about the penalty and then they're baying for a red card for Fatawu's rash challenge. It was always likely the ref would opt to placate them rather than make them even angrier by just giving a yellow. The point is, there was no need whatsoever for Fatawu to give the ref the opportunity to even things up after the pen, but he did.

Social media has taken offence-taking to a completely different level though. Before the internet there were always people who wrote into newspapers to express their outrage about something or other, but it took effort to do this and most people couldn't be bothered. Now it's possible to publish your views online in seconds - that's a game-changer. The other factor in this is that we've become much more hyper-sensitive than we used to be. This trend predated the internet but has certainly been amplified by it. And in many ways, it's been a positive development - misogyny, racism, homophobia etc are far less acceptable than they were a few decades ago. There is much more focus in schools and workplaces on making everybody feel included and having a zero tolerance attitude towards bullying. It's by no means perfect, but it's much better than it was. The problem is, somewhere along the line we seem to have lost a bit of perspective. Instead of merely responding to clear instances of bullying or harassment, some people actually go looking for things to be offended by in order to parade their hurt feelings online. The culture seems to be telling people, "You found something upsetting? Let everybody know and seek retribution against the person who offended you! Ruin their life if you can!" It's bonkers. I'm glad my children are growing up in an era when bullying and harassment are far less tolerated than it was when I was at school - this can only be a good thing. But I don't think this atmosphere of emotional hysteria can ultimately be good for anybody's mental health. Hopefully over time a sense of balance will return and we'll again be able to differentiate between behaviour that is genuinely damaging/threatening and that which is merely obnoxious, or just somebody expressing a different opinion.

Our first half performance was very typical of this season. Coventry had a bit more zip and aggression about them, but we were keeping them at bay and conserving our energy for the second half. We then got the pen and were heading into half-time with a goal lead. Then Fatawu made that brainless challenge and everything changed in an instant.

It’s what happens when you try to surgically implant an elite football competition in a country where there is no football culture. It just doesn’t take.

He wasn’t sent off because of the double jeopardy rule - we got the pen instead.

What’s wrong with that?

That's 8.7%.

I'm not convinced the average leave voter who wanted a reduction in immigration from the EU fully grasped that immigration from other parts of the world would increase, even though some in the leave campaign may have admitted as such. I think it has come as a shock for a lot of leave voters. Last year I spoke to a leave-voting neighbour who seemed genuinely surprised by it. But that's what you voted for, I told him. "No I bloody didn't," he replied.

Sep Smith’s Nut Brown Ale.

Wilf is always good for a few months out in any season. Vardy has just turned 37. McAteer's injury happened during a game. Our key players have been available most of the time - eg Winks, whose previous injury record was poor, seems to be coping remarkably well with Seagrave. Rodgers' training methods (and he has form for this at other clubs) surely must have been a factor in our injury problems in recent years?

Don't you find it interesting that our injury problems since Rodgers left haven't been noticeably worse than those of other clubs? Almost as if it wasn't Seagrave's fault at all...

I doubt we'd be offering him mega wages and the very small transfer fee would make it a low risk move, financially speaking at least.

He's been available for Inter for most of it but hasn't been picked because he's fallen down the pecking order.

He played 30 times for Monza last season.