deep blue

Not only that, but it will be their 2nd long trip in 3 days.

But also Enzo's player selections. Why doesn't he play Cannon, FFS?

I think Stolarcyk is the better keeper too, and keeping out goals is more important than fancy passing from the keeper at this stage.

In a nutshell!!

You could still argue that Daka's movement has value in tiring out opposition defenders, but that only makes sense if you sub him on 60 mins, not wait till 85.

I would agree - Pearson the ideal sort of person for DOF - but doubt his health would let him take the job.

Enzo brought Daka back into the starting line-up, we won both games and stopped the rot. So the next game (Millwall) what does he do? Removes Daka, starts Vardy, and we lose. Madness. Daka does miss a lot but his overall contribution to our game is more effective than any other of our strikers.

It worked at Bournemouth

Didn't he captain the side last time out? I was impressed by him last season ... hope he comes through.

I remember thinking we should have gone for Kinnear around the time when we lost O 'Neill and Taylor did so badly for us. I think Kinnear would have suited our squad.

Good spots. For me Coady & Albrighton are essential in a situation like this where we need more experience & commitment. I suspect Cannon might be the most clinical of our strikers at present. As for the midfield, why not try one of our academy lads to see if they can liven it up a bit? It looks like Enzo doesn't trust our subs, but his first choice players aren't producing the goods. Has he forgotten our performance at Bournemouth where he had to include some of the "lesser lights"? His thinking seems to have gone completely off the rails. To get rid now looks like pressing the panic button yet it's hard to see him being able to recover from this slump. Can only Hooe I'm wrong (but I wasn't wrong about Rodgers!).

It's really unfortunate timing that they go for him when we are at a low ebb and on the back of a manager who has been extremely reluctant to give our youths a chance. I think there's a good chance that had he stayed this summer Enzo would have brought him into first team training and given him positive encouragement. Of course, given the money Liverpool could bribe him with and their position in the league hierarch, it may still not have been enough to make a difference.

Shows how f**ked is this country when 22.9% of the voting population are still prepared to vote Tory.

You didn't bother watching Ed Davey's speech at the LibDem conference yesterday, then, or follow any of their policy decisions, or consider the Greens? If you limit yourself to considering only Labour or Tories then you've been taken in by the unfair voting system and have failed to see that there are some very decent alternatives out there.

Agreed. For me Hamza is the man with the engine and the aggression required but Hamza, being Hamza, would be a risk.

Never a pen. Given by the home crowd and a weak ref

The fact that we made 9 changes and won at Bournemouth illustrates that we have very good depth. The problem is not that our bench is poor ... but rather that it's poorly utilised. We need to see subs used earlier, and selected more astutely. As Winteriscoming said, "proactively not reactively".

I don't see how you can say that. Enzo has shown far more willingness to promote our young prospects than our previous manager. It's not hard to see why our youngsters are tempted by offers from other clubs when they've been watching players in the age group above going stale with lack of opportunity to progress. Liverpool craftily came in for Nyoni at our lowest point - relegated, financially-challemged, low in morale, in some disarray, on the back of this lack of opportunity, and also just before Nyoni could be put under contract (I guess). Who knows where he might be now if he'd stayed with us in the summer.

Not forgetting Savage

You're right that our squad is unbalanced, but at this level our subs are of adequate ability. On Friday night Albrighton would have been perfect for the moment because of his tenacity, crossing ability (to help keep us looking forward), and, particularly important in the situation, his experience. Cannon was also a good choice. Then there's Praet, who you may not regard but is plenty good enough at this level. One of the worst aspects of his subbing, as several on here have pointed out, is his timing and his strategy in using them. They should be proactive, so that he is setting the agenda, rather than reacting to the opposition, so that he is posing them problems rather than the other way round. And they should be made much sooner, generally between 60 & 70 mins, to give them the time to take effect.

Ludicrous comment. How do you have any idea of what he thinks of himself. Ontariofox is spot on. The lad performed well at first and had a very good understanding with Barnes. Then our manager's influence began to take effect on them both. If you think that our elite manager knew how to assess and develop a player just look how well Bassey and Castagne performed today (in the Prem) as compared to their progress here when you-know-who was in charge.

The logical choice to replace Mavdidi would have been Albrighton - still offering a threat (especially with Cannon in the middle) and much needed experience, as well as determination and workrate.. But Maresca should be sending on both at 60 mins, please. Reactive subs at 80 mins, or even later, stink of timidity instead of setting his own challenge to the opposing manager.. To be fair, Maresca is very inexperienced compared with Leeds & Middlesbrough managers, so hope he can learn fast, especially if we make it up to the Prem (could manager inexperience be part of the explanation why Burnley have performed so disappointingly?).

Deflected goals often come when a defender turns his back rather than facing up to, and making a real attempt to block, a shot from an attacker. In those cases it's not bad luck but very poor technique and football nous on the part of the defender (and I am amazed to see this happen so often with defenders even of supposed Prem quality, and managers not spotting this and picking the defender up on it).

Doesn't anyone here think that the bringing on of 2 subs immediately followed by letting in 2 goals might be more than a coincidence, and it not being simply down to the mentality problem? Just maybe on this occasion the manager made a massive mistake with his substitutions. Just as a suggestion, when Daka began to look unlikely to convert any further simple chances created for him, wasn't 60 mins about the right time to replace him with Vardy? Just one of our chances taken at that time, giving us a 2 goal cushion, would surely have knocked the stuffing out of Leeds.

Poor on the ball? I guess you missed the inch perfect instant pass from Justin for Vardy's goal at Stoke, then.