davieG

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/enzo-maresca-joke-shows-leicester-9139512 Enzo Maresca joke shows Leicester City predicament as recall needed for difference-maker Talking points from Leicester City's 2-1 loss to QPR, looking at the midfield, injuries, Kelechi Iheanacho's absence, whether experienced players could be called upon, and more ByJordan Blackwell 18:08, 3 MAR 2024 And then there were two. Leicester City have used seven different players in their two attacking midfield roles this season, and five of them won’t be available to face Sunderland on Tuesday. Cesare Casadei has long since been recalled by Chelsea, and now four players are injured, with Wilfred Ndidi and Kasey McAteer already out, with Ricardo Pereira’s hamstring issue emerging in the hour before the defeat to QPR, and Dennis Praet hobbling off after 15 minutes. That leaves just Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Yunus Akgun. The situation is so desperate that Enzo Maresca joked he would have to come out of retirement to play half-an-hour at the Stadium of Light. After three straight defeats, City are in a wobble. They are in their most difficult moment of the season. To get out of it, it’s helpful to have their best players available. They don’t have that. Ricardo’s injury is particularly exasperating after the week he’d had. His performance at Leeds showed he was perhaps the best option to play alongside Dewsbury-Hall while Ndidi was out, the Portuguese producing one of the best individual displays of the campaign. Then he changed the game off the bench at Bournemouth too. Ndidi’s return can’t come soon enough. In the 17 games he’s started this season, City have earned 2.71 points per game, in the 18 games he’s not started, it stands 1.78 points per game. But while Maresca’s options are limited, it doesn’t feel like he helped himself with his configuration on Saturday. When Praet limped off and Yunus was introduced, Dewsbury-Hall switched to the right of the two attacking midfield roles. Maresca moved him there because, out of possession, it’s the more defensive of the two roles, with the left-hand player pressing with the striker. However, it made City worse. It makes Dewsbury-Hall, so often City’s most influential player this season, ineffective. Immediately, City struggled on the right. Even in 15 minutes, Praet had made a lot of runs in behind to both support Abdul Fatawu and create space for the winger. Dewsbury-Hall doesn’t do that. He seems a little lost on that side. He’s much better driving forward on the left, and working with Stephy Mavididi, who he has built up a good relationship with. QPR were sat deep and closed out the space, and naturally that didn’t help. But Maresca’s decision to move him to the right seemed to blunt him just as much. No reason to leave Iheanacho out of the squad Kelechi Iheanacho still can’t get into the City team, and on Saturday, it felt it was to the detriment of the performance. Despite Maresca admitting that the Nigerian is the best at linking play of his four strikers, he chose to leave him out with Patson Daka starting and Jamie Vardy and Tom Cannon on the bench. His first touch can be frustratingly poor at times, and he doesn’t press as energetically as the other strikers, but it cannot be denied that Iheanacho can make things happen. And, more importantly, he offers something different. Daka, Vardy, and Cannon are all similar. Iheanacho is the outlier. It doesn’t make sense for him to be the one who missed out. And that was especially true on Saturday, when Maresca introduced Cannon for Yunus in attacking midfield. Cannon is at his best on the last shoulder. Playing in attacking midfield, he was at a loss. He touched the ball twice in 13 minutes, and one of those was in his own half. Iheanacho, who is very good at getting into position to receive the ball to feet, would have been a much more effective option at that point. Maresca may have a hierarchy and all of the strikers did well while Iheanacho was away with Nigeria, but he does now need to be back in the squad. Maresca has to weigh up pros and cons of experienced heads Now City are in the predicament they’re in, there will be louder calls for the experienced heads to come into the team. Not only are Vardy, Marc Albrighton, and Conor Coady three of the oldest four players in the squad, they have all won titles before. They have been there and done this, and come through countless tricky periods before. They know what it takes mentally to win pressure games. They have that experience. But if Maresca wants to bring them in, he may have to sacrifice other qualities. He may not value that experience over say, Ben Nelson providing greater speed in defence compared to Coady, Abdul Fatawu bringing greater ability in one-v-ones that Albrighton, Daka pressing more consistently than Vardy. Those are the kinds of calls Maresca will now have to make. But his commitment to his style of play means it’s unlikely he will bring in players solely for their experience. For the Italian, the gameplan trumps all. Maresca's toughest moment as he looks to get City winning again So don’t expect any tweaks to the system as City try to recover from their three straight defeats. That’s not Maresca’s style. Asked if he would look to do anything differently in response to the run of losses, he said: “No. In this moment, it’s just a matter of trying to win games. We already analysed the previous two defeats. Today, more or less the dynamic of the game has been the same. Probably the quality in the last third was not so good.” City definitely don’t need to rip up their blueprint. Having such a clear style of play has helped them win as many games as they have. However, it shouldn’t be closed to small changes here and there. On Saturday, with QPR defending deep and City looking for vulnerabilities in an organised defence, they resorted to putting in a lot of crosses. The middle was completely closed off, so they went wide and tried to hurt QPR that way. But Fatawu and Mavididi often didn’t find a blue shirt with their balls into the box. Just six crosses of 30 swung in found a City player. But if that was the way City were going, could Albrighton not have been introduced? They have a player who knows how to deliver a mean cross waiting in the wings. He could have come on for Yunus, Dewsbury-Hall could have switched back to the left, and Albrighton could have taken up a position in the right-sided attacking midfield role, dropping into pockets and curling in crosses after Fatawu had drawn the attention of markers. It just felt City kept doing the same thing over and over again, even when there was very little sign of it threatening QPR. They didn’t need a plan B, they just needed something slightly different. This is where Maresca earns his corn. He’s done a terrific job to this point, introducing a style the players love, that has earned results, and (mostly) got supporters enjoying their team again. But everything has gone swimmingly up to this point. He needs to find a way to get his team winning again, even if that means making tweaks here and there. Perhaps more importantly, he needs to keep his team mentally steady. He doesn’t want panic or nerves setting in. He needs to ensure a quiet confidence is maintained so that City can go back to getting the results they looked so good at picking up not too long ago. It's a test for him because he's an inexperienced manager. But he's passed nearly all of the tests so far, and there will be faith he can do so again.

Born and Raised in Leicester · Follow · I came across this in my photos thought it might be of interest. It is the former Trocadero Cinema and Ballroom, junction with Uppingham Rd and Scraptoft Lane. Went to the Saturday morning films, as well as main cinema, remember Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii. Also saw the Rolling Stones. Great times. Sad watching it burn down that evening along with many other people. Mary

Leicester Memories James Greig · · Charles Street island, Leicester in December 1963. Waiting for the Thurnby Lodge bus and taken with a Kodak Instamatic. They are building the Abbey Hotel at the time. Lots of other old Leicester businesses can be seen too. Re-edited.

Fer Jarvis tosrpnSdeo6f026226u0907ug42tua6im2ft2h2fi9i91g496tm533h6ch17 · The area around the Midland Railway Station in London Road, Leicester. Straight ahead is the Parcel Depot while to the right there is a procession of trams heading in both directions on London Road. The building on the extreme left is the Wyvern Hotel.

Surely it's because that's what many fans want, do they not matter anymore?

Not surprising considering it’s a clone of the PL. A missed opportunity by the FA to set up a level playing field for the women.

Patronising commentary.

Favourites for the final against a poorly performing Man U

62/63 we were 1st/2nd coming into the last 5 games and lost all of them and finished 5th

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/qpr-chant-hits-leicester-citys-9138789 ByJordan Blackwell 08:00, 3 MAR 2024UPDATED08:21, 3 MAR 2024 In the past 30 years, just one second-tier champion has had a run of three or more consecutive league losses. That was Reading in 2011-12. But their four defeats on the bounce came in August and September, right at the start of the campaign, before they were in a promotion push. Otherwise, it just doesn’t happen. Sure, nearly every second-tier title-winner over the past 30 years has had a blip, but they don’t lose three in a row at the business-end of the season. They have to prove they are a rarity: a side that can lose three matches in a row and still win the league. You have to go back 53 years to find the last time a second-division champion lost three games in a row in the second half of a season. Of course, it was Leicester City. They responded by going the rest of the campaign unbeaten. It’s time for a repeat.

After we won the league the club had illusions of grandeur and thought we could compete financially with the Super League 6, wages rocketed and transfer fees were wasted in the chase for more glory. Sure it helped us then go on to win the FA Cup and those top 5 finishes but is spite of reality striking in terms of not be able to compete wages have continued to remain too high and that is what is currently killing us. A real cull of players was needed even to the point of letting some go for free hoping that buyers could cover their wages with no transfer fee that at least would have enabled us to recruit some more suitable freebies to strengthen the squad on lower wages.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/qpr-chant-hits-leicester-citys-9138789 ByJordan Blackwell 08:00, 3 MAR 2024UPDATED08:21, 3 MAR 2024 In the past 30 years, just one second-tier champion has had a run of three or more consecutive league losses. That was Reading in 2011-12. But their four defeats on the bounce came in August and September, right at the start of the campaign, before they were in a promotion push. Otherwise, it just doesn’t happen. Sure, nearly every second-tier title-winner over the past 30 years has had a blip, but they don’t lose three in a row at the business-end of the season. They have to prove they are a rarity: a side that can lose three matches in a row and still win the league. You have to go back 53 years to find the last time a second-division champion lost three games in a row in the second half of a season. Of course, it was Leicester City. They responded by going the rest of the campaign unbeaten. It’s time for a repeat.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/marti-cifuentes-explains-qpr-masterplan-9138578?fbclid=IwAR0mho-b7eYuTwvcUDkJv2vBo3hXZ9rNYvmlzJgAIlPyoR4ZIU35uYGtl4E Marti Cifuentes explains QPR masterplan that upset Leicester City Leicester City's lead at the top of the Championship has been eroded as the Foxes slipped a third successive loss, this time against Queens Park Rangers at the King Power Stadium ByBrian Dick 18:49, 2 MAR 2024 Marti Cifuentes is confident Leicester City will still win a return to the Premier League, even after his Queens Park Rangers team put another dent in their promotion bandwagon. A goal in each half from Ilias Chair and Sinclair Armstrong saw the relegation threatened visitors open up a 2-0 lead and create a platform that would enable them to go on and close out a 2-1 victory. It was the Foxes third consecutive Championship defeat, and results elsewhere saw their lead at the top of the table cut to three points. They do, however, remain five points clear of third-placed Leeds with 11 games to play. QPR had only 26 per cent possession and scored with their only two shots on target – but Cifuentes was proud of the display and revealed the secret behind his team’s success. “I am very happy for the players because they had to work really hard in such a demanding game,” the QPR head coach said. “We are in a difficult situation still there is a lot of work to be done but I think we deserved this small victory and step in the right direction. “We had to adapt to the game scenario, obviously we would prefer to have the ball more, be high up the pitch, try to counter-press but that’s a Premier League side in my opinion. “I am sure they will go up and I am sure that they have top, top quality, it is not easy to play against them because they are so smart the way they play. When you want to try and be more aggressive on the pressure they easily find third men, they find their combinations to break lines. “It was very important to have the discipline for the 95 minutes we played, keep the focus, be smart when was the right moment to press them well but also be sharp in the box and I think we did. The opportunities we had with the first goal and second goal as well it was because the team had the sharpness required to win a game like this.”

Born and Raised in Leicester · Follow Bath Lane 1977

Rail Thing - REAL Trainspotting (1945-1968) · Join Fred Lunn · 52 m · BR standard class No2, 78028 on the afternoon goods train from Desford to West Bridge leaving the Glenfield tunnel. Two of these locomotives had to have cut down cabs because of the low clearance. The line closed in 1966.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/enzo-maresca-questions-referee-promotions-9137508 Enzo Maresca questions referee promotions and fumes over decisions in three Leicester City games Following an incorrect offside call against Leeds, Enzo Maresca said his team had been on the end of costly decisions in three important matches, citing moments against Coventry and Ipswich too ByJordan Blackwell 22:30, 1 MAR 2024 Enzo Maresca has questioned the promotion and demotion of referees and the use of Premier League officials in the Championship after deeming that poor decisions have cost his team in important games. The Leicester City manager did not hold back in his assessment of the refereeing system, asking why Craig Pawson would be allowed to take charge of Premier League matches after what he believes was a mistake in City’s loss to Leeds last Friday. Patson Daka turned in a rebound at a corner in the second half to put City 2-0 up, but was wrongly called offside, with Maresca’s team going on to lose 3-1. Although that was the assistant referee’s decision, Maresca was perplexed as to why Pawson would be allowed to then take charge of top-flight matches. Pawson was in charge at Anfield in midweek for Liverpool’s FA Cup tie against Southampton and is due to referee Everton against West Ham in the Premier League this weekend. It wasn’t just at Leeds where Maresca felt his side were wronged. He also felt that his side should have had a penalty in the draw at Ipswich on Boxing Day for Cameron Burgess’s barge on Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, while he also appealed another spot-kick in the loss to Coventry in January, as well as a second booking for Kasey Palmer. “We had a normal goal that they disallowed,” Maresca said at his press conference on Friday, reflecting on the loss to Leeds. “It was a normal goal. It’s already happened this season many times that in a crucial moment, we had a bad decision from the referee that cost us points. “It happened at Ipswich away, when there should have been a penalty when we were 1-0 up. It happened at Coventry away when there was a handball inside the box but no penalty. In the second half, there should have been a second yellow card, but there was no booking. “Those are crucial moments. The other day, the goal I feel was quite normal and then it’s 2-0 away. They are crucial moments where the referees cost us points. “I’m not complaining about referees because I can make a mistake. I make a mistake every game. But the system is not good because our referee against Leeds, after a few days, he was in the Premier League. How is that the system? You make a mistake and two or three days you are in the Premier League? I think the system is not the correct one. “The referees can make mistakes for sure, everyone makes mistakes. But the system behind that is wrong, because if you make a mistake and then after two days go into the Premier League, there is something that is not working well. This is what I think. “Yes, we respect everyone, but we deserve respect because in crucial moments this year, many times it happens against us. The three games I mentioned are important games. Ipswich away, Leeds away, Coventry away? Important games, yes. “Everyone can make mistakes, it’s not a problem. It is the system that I struggle to understand. How can you make a clear mistake on Sky television in front of all the people and then after two days you are in charge of a Premier League game?” Maresca’s other bone of contention is that referees who drop from the Premier League to officiate Championship matches are used to having VAR to help them. As a result, they are struggling without it. He said: “Then every time a Premier League referee drops, probably because they are used to VAR… The game against Middlesbrough, the first goal, with VAR it’s no goal because there is a clear foul against JJ (James Justin). “I am not talking bad about referees. I’m just saying that if you are used to working every game with VAR and suddenly you don’t use VAR, you struggle. It’s not a referee problem. If every day I use VAR and then I go into a game where VAR is not there, I will struggle.”

Leicester City have been given an allocation of 6,035 tickets, including 30 pairs of wheelchair spaces, for their Emirates FA Cup Quarter-Final clash against Chelsea on Sunday 17 March (12:45pm kick-off). - Ticket and travel details for Leicester City’s Emirates FA Cup fixture - Foxes to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday 17 March The Foxes will take on the Blues at Stamford Bridge having defeated Bournemouth on Tuesday night to reach the last eight of the competition. Ticket prices Age Price Adult £38 Senior (65+) £19 Under 20 £19 Under 16 £19 Sale date information On Sale To Date Away Priority Scheme Saturday 2 March 9am Season Ticket Holders with 550+ Away Priority Points Sunday 3 March 9am (online only) Season Ticket Holders with 520+ Away Priority Points Monday 4 March Season Ticket Holders with 501+ Away Priority Points Monday 4 March 2pm All Season Ticket Holders Tuesday 5 March All Fox Members Tuesday 5 March 2pm On sale at 8am online and 9am by-phone unless otherwise stated above. Supporters aged 15 and under will need to be accompanied by an over 18. All tickets are subject to availability. Fox Travel information - Coaches depart at 7:15am - Priced at £28 per person - All under-16s will need to be accompanied by an over-18 - Strictly no alcohol is allowed on Fox Travel Selling order Sell First – Lower Tier Sell Second – Upper Tier (blocks in the Upper Tier will be opened in stages) All times GMT.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/history/gallery/23-archive-pictures-show-1960s-5439491 23 archive pictures show 1960s Leicester holiday traffic mayhem https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/gallery/leicester-1960-dip-archive-brings-6936185 Leicester in 1960: 33 of our archive photos show city entering a tumultuous decade https://movingintheshadows.co.uk/ Moving in the Shadows – 7 day pass The film is now available to watch online, thank you for your patience. There is a minimum donation of £5 which will give you one week’s temporary access to watch the film. Your donation will go towards the costs of making the documentary, and cover the remaining music, photography and archive footage licence fees. As this is a not-for-profit initiative, any proceeds after costs will go to young people’s charity Soft Touch Arts and BrightSparks Arts in Mental Health Group. Duration : 100 minutes Please note that the film has been slightly edited from the original screened version in order to reduce it down to 100 minutes. During checkout, please click the Paypal button and then “Pay by Debit or Credit Card” to complete your purchase without a Paypal account. Already purchased a pass? Please log in to watch the film Documentary exploring cultural legacy of Leicester in the 1960s now available to watch online Remembering Leicester’s 1960s' Creative Scene "In Leicester in the swinging sixties times were changing. New freedoms and opportunities enabled young people to forge a cultural revolution - and an explosion of working class creative talent began to emerge from the Midlands. It was the rise of the underdog. When my dad passed away, I discovered some tapes in the attic. Early into the millennium, he’d recorded his memories from the sixties. I’d always been amazed that many of Dad’s teenage friends and contemporaries went on to do brilliant things. And I wanted to know why. This is the untold story of Leicester’s creative scene, which shines a light on some of those faces who weren’t in the limelight, but 'moving in the shadows.’" Joe Nixon ‘Moving in the shadows’ is written & directed by Joe Nixon, in association with Soft Touch Arts & Arch Creative.

It's because it's more King Power than Leicester City FC

VAR would have helped if they'd scored or maybe not.

Just down from there