Dr Balls

Leicester away form is amongst the worst in the league. Lost their last 3 away games 1-0 against us, Millwall and now Plymouth. It’s only their home form that’s keeping them near the top.

1. Dickie - like a cross between the best parts of Webster and Flint. 2. O’Leary - a large reason why our goals conceded is the lowest it’s been for many seasons. 3. Knight - finally a goal-scoring midfielder, who can leap like a salmon; far better when he plays in midfield than up front. 4. James - you only realise what he must be doing when he isn’t playing. 5. Pring - not quite at last season’s stellar level but still one of the best left backs in the division. Honourable mentions: Roberts - play like he has the last few games and he is a shoo-in for top 5 players next season. Williams - finally looks like the player we thought we were getting years ago. Tanner - definitely improved defensively, but still fears getting a nosebleed every time he crosses the halfway line! Vyner - great defensively and quick, but a liability playing out from the back. Plays at least one telegraphed or badly misplaced pass every game. Conway and Wells - undone by the managerial change which means we almost never saw them play as a pair, instead feeding off scraps and defenders’ mistakes. Both lucky that the “Bristol City penalty drought” finally ended as otherwise they would have even fewer goals!

Can’t argue with those choices. The Cheese always deserved another chance after being crocked by Shilton in our first home game in the First Division in 65 years. Career-ending injury then but these days that’s not the case.

Less breathless more suffocatingly dull!

And that they started with 2 players considered as wingers in Grealish and Doku. Out with the new and in with the old?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68708981 Apparently no.44 shirt now withdrawn. Hardly surprising given the Nazi overtones.

Presumably 44 will have to be a right winger… Sorry, I’ll get my coat…

We drew his first game against Watford but he did score.

But even their most one-eyed fan would have to admit that they were lucky at Blackburn. For their goal the Blackburn goalie was really poor, and yes like us yesterday they should have had a penalty for shirt-pulling, but beyond that Blackburn were all over them and had the ball in the Ipswich goal 3 times, one of which with different officials would have stood as the offside against Szmodics was at least questionable as to whether or not he did obstruct the keeper’s view. Plus the Ipswich goalie nearly gifted Szmodics a goal but did even better than O’Leary against Vardy in making up for his mistake. i still look at the Ipswich team and see some reasonable Championship players playing way beyond their expected level with form leading to increased confidence, but they would probably need an even bigger recruitment drive than Forest, courtesy of you know who, to stay up. Whereas Leeds and Leicester have better players, having been able to hold on to them via parachute payments, and therefore would be more likely to survive in the Premier League if they were promoted.

It was a good performance. Having both Roberts and Pring on the left side worked well. Knight looked far more effective in midfield with James rather than upfront with Conway. Dickie continued to add to his “player of the season” reputation, Max was excellent at shot stopping and a bit more flaky with his distribution (nothing new there) while Mehmeti finally scored with his left foot. We were lucky that Leicester and particularly Vardy forgot their shooting boots today, but even so we were better on the break and with this less possession, neither of which should surprise anyone who has seen us this season. It’s not a new dawn, it’s more a reprise of what we know can work, although Tommy desperately needs someone else upfront with him, if he is to ever start scoring regularly from open play again.

It was a generally poor refereeing performance but unfortunately what we have come to expect at this level. The worst part about is that the supposed “big team” is always given the benefit of the doubt whether it be fouls committed or those challenges that suddenly become “fouls” when it’s the supposedly “lesser” opposition that are penalised. And it doesn’t just happen in the Championship, this bias is obvious in the Premier League and even international fixtures. And it’s the lack of consistency that really riles supporters. I am sure Leicester would say the same happened when they faced Manchester City. It’s an inherent bias of the officials.

As sarcasm goes that’s as good as it gets! Please tell us it was sarcasm. I mean he articulated words and it was an interview but beyond that…? Nothing!

Probably why the move to West Brom suited Andi Weimann. Absolutely no chance of a recall to the Austrian squad playing here under Manning, but at promotion-chasing West Brom, at least there is some chance if he plays well.

The problem with your approach is that assuming no improvement despite spending a load, another manager will be brought in to sort out the mess in October but without a pre-season and with someone else’s choice of players. Now I realise that you could use that argument to defend Manning, but at that point we weren’t a failing team, while league form since the turn of the year is woeful and actually appears to be getting worse as confidence disappears from the players. That downturn is on Manning.

Also if just shown that photo, I challenge anyone to say that they would have guessed she was 72! Very impressive to have survived so long in the NHS and hope she enjoys her well-deserved retirement.

My only observation is to compare and contrast how recent Head Coaches have been treated. Lee Johnson was kept on despite being Mr Streaky because of his previous relationship with the club and the Lansdowns. That said eventually enough was enough even with him. Dean Holden was appointed after this supposed worldwide search for the best person for the job and lo and behold it was given to the guy who had been the caretaker after the previous sacking. However despite a very promising start, the wheels fell off for Holden, and when results had been poor for some time and relegation was a real risk, he was sacked, even though only months earlier he had been feted as the best thing since sliced bread! As far as Liam Manning is concerned, my observation is that he is on borrowed time. Lansdown Snr will want to see something in the next few games that convinces him that the nest egg is worth sharing with Manning to some degree. The idea of a new young coach “playing the modern progressive way” may have appealed back in October, but if now the likely price tag in purchases and contracts to play that way is high, while in the interim the results are poor and the supporters are up in arms at the “style” of play, plus what it may be doing negatively for Conway’s valuation in the summer transfer window, a different answer may be drawn quite quickly.

TBF Galloway couldn’t be much worse than Manning in terms of points per game in the last 6 games!

Well let’s look at the FA Cup Quarter Finals for evidence. Wolves v Coventry - exciting and unpredictable Chelsea v Leicester - exciting and unpredictable Man United v Liverpool - exciting and unpredictable Man City v Newcastle - dull and predictable if you were a neutral 3 out of 4 were great games, but the possession-obsessed game provided minimal entertainment. And that’s a big part of the problem. And it’s not a new one because that successful Spanish team from 2008-2012 at times looked as if they were trying to bore the opposition into submission!

The important word that you have used is control. Trying to control a results-based business when you aren’t the one who knows best how to achieve the desired results. That’s most sports ownership in a nutshell. The successful ones either head hunt someone who can do the proper oversight role as a CEO, or they have some background in the sport themselves so can anticipate issues and problems. The current mess at the club is that having brought in experienced people into the 2 most important positions in the club, they have then managed to blow that by undermining and sacking them both in short succession. And worse still, appointing a novice replacement to one role, and not replacing the other, but over-promoting someone not suited to a role of that seniority.

It’s progress of a sort but it’s not exactly maximising the potential. And in reality it’s only getting us back to where we were in the late 60s and 70s, without actually achieving promotion. It’s certainly not success and I’m sorry but celebrating winning 5th round FA Cup ties 50 and 30 years ago does look really tinpot, whoever they were against, and the kind of thing I can’t imagine any other Championship club doing, especially as quite a few have won the thing or been in the final in living memory. While our best in living memory is the 6th round, something even Plymouth have bettered in the past 40 years!

I can’t see much more than 5 points from that lot. Ironically we might get more from the Sunderland away game than we do from any of our home games. I would target that game and the Rotherham game to win but I don’t think we will better last season’s points total or get more than 15 wins.

As my old mum used to ask “is it below the Screwfix?” If so, her opinion was that it wasn’t worth considering as any real standard of football. Have to say in Liam’s case, she’s spot on!

Not so much the dullest but absolutely one of the most underperforming and least unsuccessful given the potential. That many supporters are happy that we have become an established second tier club backs up that poor record leading to very limited ambitions.

So maybe good enough for Sheffield Wednesday reserves then?!

And that’s why only Zak of the current players appears on the poster. He’s the only one that they reckon could still be here after the summer. Anyone else with experience will likely be gone as will any player with any ambition!