Good morning everyone, and save a thought or two for Leicester City.
The 2021 FA Cup Champions are living in squalor in League One after suffering back-to-back relegations. You think it couldn’t get any worse, but things have.
The Foxes’ most recent embarrassment was a 0-4 defeat to Oxford United at home. It’s still early days but they’re sitting 17th in League One.
Attention is now being turned to manager Russell Martin, whose record has been extremely poor since winning promotion with Southampton.
He has won 3 games out of 28 across three different competitions (PL, Scottish League and League One), with a -29 goal differential. Horrendous stuff.
The club itself is also up for sale. The price tag: Around £200M.
Nearly two dozen players left the club during the summer transfer window either on permanent deals, expiring contracts, released or loaned out (Oliver Skipp has been loaned out to Charlton for the season). The only name I can pinpoint in their Starting XI on Saturday was Bobby De Cordova-Reid, who was taken off at halftime.
I’m not sure how this club can turn things around. Sacking Russell Martin and bringing in a new manager is probably good first step, but are Leicester willing to do that so soon? Otherwise it’s hard to pin down what they can do. How many teenagers can you put on a pitch and expect to compete with more seasoned players, especially in a 46-game season?
It looks like League One will be Leicester’s home for at least this year.
Fitzie’s track of the day: All The Things You Could Be By Now If Sigmund Freud’s Wife Was Your Mother, by Charles Mingus
And now for your links:
The Athletic ($$): “Do De Zerbi’s Tottenham need to be more creative, more clinical or both?”
Football London: “Tottenham rue Will Lankshear transfer decision that could have solved Roberto De Zerbi puzzle”
BBC: “’That’s a sackable performance’ – what next for Martin at Leicester?”
The Telegraph: “Police investigating Cardiff player’s confrontation with young fan”
