ClaphamFox

In his post-match interview last night, Rowett suggested Lascelles may be available.

In James and Winks we arguably have the two best midfielders in the league. When James returns I think we'll start dominating every team we play.

I don't really understand that. Surely we've either breached or not breached for Y25? How could it be dependent on differences between the PL's and the EFL's rulebooks? Confusing...

You would think, wouldn't you? Hopefully the club is right and Maguire is wrong, but given everything that has gone on in recent years I find it hard to have complete faith in everything our club tells us these days...

Maguire posted the link to the Times article, yet he has confirmed this morning that he thinks the EFL may charge us for 24/25 when our appeal against the six-point deduction has been heard. So it's fair to assume that he believes the 20 clubs referred to in the article are the current PL clubs, not last season's. It makes me wonder if the club is aware that it could face charges for 24/25 and wants to avoid any possibility of a further points deduction this season, and so has appealed the six-point deduction to ensure that any charge from the EFL gets dragged into next season...

The article refers to the current 20 PL clubs. Maguire believes we might still be charged for 24/25, although I’m confused by this because —like you—I was also under the impression that the recent points deduction announcement confirmed we hadn’t breached for that period.

We made them look poor because on our day we are capable of making any team in this division look poor. Coventry are probably going to win the division and we should have beaten them at home and played them off the park in the first half at their place before Marti’s HT team talk destroyed our momentum. We can do these things because we have several of the best players in the division. There is no doubt that the quality in our side is unevenly distributed and we have glaring weaknesses in certain areas, but overall our squad is good enough to be at least in the top six. Our problems this season have come from being mentally fragile, not an absence of quality. Rowett has come in and somehow immediately transformed the mentality of the squad. Now the players believe in themselves, the superior quality of our squad compared to those around us will begin to show.

All the teams above us up to Charlton are catchable. In fact I have a feeling Charlton will get dragged in. We’ll finish 17th/18th.

Bobby in for Monga, presumably with Mukasa playing on the right.

For which period?

That is a little melodramatic. If our target is to get at least 17 points from our remaining 13 games, then a point from the most difficult of those games will not be 'useless'.

I guess it will come down to whether Rowett has made any difference or not. It's clear from some of the very pessimistic predictions made above that many people assume that we're basically the same as we were under Marti and that Rowett's arrival will have negligible impact. I'm choosing to be more optimistic and I genuinely believe we'll give them a proper game this evening. I'm also aware that I my optimism may seem more like blue-eyed naïveté by 9.30pm.

With BDCR available again, maybe Mukasa will play up top? Guardiola seems to regard him as a striker.

Just seen you can get 11/2 on us to win tonight. That’s insane. We were seconds away from beating Middlesbrough at home when we were crap under Marti and I think we’ll put in a much better performance under Rowett. Yet it’s priced at a similar level to Liverpool v West Ham in the PL at the weekend. I haven’t had a flutter in a while but I’m sorely tempted at that price….

It’s not brave. It’s a new manager looking at the players at his disposal and picking the best 11 as he sees it. Which is exactly how it should be.

It’s for this reason that I was in favour of appointing Rowett and I think he’ll do well for us. It should be clear to anybody who has paid attention over the past few years that there is a serious culture problem at the club. This dates back to the second half of Rodgers’ time with us and was the downfall of Cooper, RVN and Cifuentes. Only Maresca had enough about him to override it temporarily, and he’s won the Club World Cup and is probably going to be Man City’s next manager. We were fortunate to have him for a year on his ascent to the top. I don’t think Rowett is another Maresca, but I do get the sense that he has the authority and confidence to impose his will on the squad regardless of the shitshow going on above him. This is what we need: a manager who sets high standards and understands football players well enough to make them believe in themselves. In this sense he reminds me a little of Pearson. I wasn’t always Pearson’s biggest fan as I thought he was tactically limited and that cost us at crucial moments, but there is no doubt that he was a great man manager who created a very strong squad culture—I can’t remember us ever moaning about a lack of effort when he was at the club. It’s possible that the new technical director and CEO will help to restore some of the professionalism that we have so badly lacked in recent years. Let’s hope so. But in the meantime, I think an old-school manager like Rowett is exactly what we need to get out of the mess we’re in.

In Vestergaard, Lascelles and Souttar we have three central defenders absent who would all replace Okoli were they fit. This is unfortunate. Hopefully at least one of them will be available soon. If two of them are available within the next couple of weeks, even better.

The pod is excellent—comfortably the best Leicester fan podcast. I wouldn't worry about being divisive. I suspect most of us who listen regularly don't do so because we just want to hear views we agree with—it's good to hear opposing views, especially if they're backed up with an argument. Like many others I could understand where Jake was coming from on this issue but I didn't agree with him because I believe the very serious risk of administration/liquidation outweighs the possible benefit of KP selling up. It's shame if Jake has been getting some flak as his passion as a fan is not in question.

They may have had 10 squad players missing, but not 10 first teamers. Most of their starting 11 at the beginning of the season were in their squad on Saturday.

They made a colossal error by not appointing Rowett when the sacked Mason. Such a weird decision to choose a completely unproven manager over one with a track record of rescuing struggling Championship clubs. I suspect they'll end up looking back at that decision as the moment that relegated them.

Has there been any update on if/when we might see Souttar this season?

They showed plenty of fight in the second half on Saturday, which is what Rowett's teams are renowned for. I don't think we'll have a problem with a lack of fight from now on. Our main problem is our defence, which has been shocking all season. I think Rowett may also improve that over time through coaching, but he won't be able to do much before tomorrow's game. I'm anticipating a positive performance let down by a couple of defensive howlers. 2-2 again.

Hold our beer, etc.

It was offside.

We victory on Tuesday.