S-Clarke

We do. Let's not start that debate. ''Oh poor Martin, he has such a poor squad with no money!!'' - absolute bollocks. We've got one of the top 3 teams in this league. We had a bench of Sulemana, Charly Alcaraz, Scottish international Armstrong and PL loanee holgate for petes sake. This is a squad full of quality that should be competing for 2 top all season, if managed right.

What I'm trying to say is that good players, in positions and roles they are comfortable in, don't need teething periods or bedding in. They just do their jobs and the quality will rise to the top, dependant on the league they are in. In it's most basic form football isn't complicated, it really isn't. It becomes complicated when people start being clever with it.

It is. They have gone mini-pep as well, their fans were all frustrated with the suicidal playing from the back against Coventry in their opening game. They did it a lot yesterday as well. They never really played long ball in the PL, but neither did we - there is a specific style they are following though.

I think the argument that we're having 'teething problems' and that 'we were always going to hit these problems whilst we transitioned' is pretty weak tbh. Letting 3 guys run clear through on your goal, on 65 mins, isn't teething problems - it's basic, schoolboy shambles. Leicester have done exactly the same us as, they reinvited the way they played and are focused on a very similar pass and move style. I don't notice teething problems there. The biggest difference is that they have decent quality playing in the right positions doing jobs they're comfortable doing, yep they keep the ball but nothing more clever than that. I appreciate that in the PL we have to look for ways to be 'different' to compete against the heavy hitters, but at this league we are one of the heavy hitters so we don't really need to be clever.

Yeah, I'm seeing this creeping into arguments now ''We don't have the quality'' - ummm, we do. We have stacks of quality at this level and it should be enough if the structure is right. Not sure how David can say we didn't have enough options on the bench - Sulemana, Aribo, Stuart Armstrong, Alcaraz, Holgate etc - there are very few, if any, who can have that level of experience and quality on a bench at this level. There are no excuses to failing to win games with these players, the failing will be on the coaching if it does fail.

This was a fair argument a few years ago when we persisted with starting players Moi, Moussa, Salisu, Perraud, McCarthy, Redmond, Stu Armstrong, Diallo etc etc. But over the last year we have pretty much evolved the entire starting 11 with new players. The only first team players who are still in the building that have been here more than a season is KWP, Bednarek, Adams and Armstrong (Stephens and Smallbone were never regulars for us before this year really). Everyone else is either new this year or new from the year before. I have no doubt's that the quality is available to us, I don't want to start seeing that creep into arguments ''we don't have the quality bla bla' - we do, we're one of the best teams at this level and you cannot deny that. We just need a better structure so we can get the most out of these players, otherwise it's going to be a waste of everyone's time. We'll then lose those ''good'' players and end up going down the vortex of Euell, Powell, Makin and Jermaine Wright levels again.

It is true that Leicester also gave the ball away many times, but the difference was their numbers behind the ball whenever that happened. They were always able to get back and block angles, we were then too slow to act and it was all over. So there are many issues with us, not just defensive shape, but also what we do when we have the ball as we need to be quicker - especially if we nick the ball off the team. We just give them time to re-group. Leicester didn't need to be amazing, they just needed to play on the break and use their pace to exploit the empty half of St Mary's. We gave the ball away a few times as well, but they were quicker and more incisive when that was presented to them - not slow and ponderous like we were. All in all there is a hell of a lot wrong right now.

Anyone can score against us, so I expect the same here. I find it hard to predict the score as our games are just too open.

That's a great illustration of how I saw our midfield last night, i'd expect Smallbones positions to be very similar - thus leaving a massive gaping vortex in the opposing half for them to run into every time they wanted to. Like you say, when you then have Manning and KWP inverted, the flanks are free game as well as the middle. It's suicidal and team swill be licking their lips, any team - pub teams, 5 a-side, non-league - they'd all love to play against us because we give them so much opportunity.

There was an accident on that junction, they shut Allbrook way all afternoon and night - so that prob added to the traffic as I was caught in that on the way back south earlier in the day.

I've mentioned this before, but our most recent successful teams under Koeman and Adkins weren't based on any sort of magical philosophy - it was a case of pick the best players, play them in their correct positions and have steal through the spine. That was it. We mixed it up if we needed to, but we played good football at times because we had good players in the side - no more than that. We didn't need to reinvent football, we just got good players and good leaders in the building. We now seem fixated on doing football our own way with kids, which is total nonsense.

KWP was absolutely inept last night tbf. Skinned so many times. For a player supposedly below his level, he looked out of his depth at times. He needs to sort his shit out or we stick Bree in there.

More of a progressive attacking midfielder, covering the ground, box to box, not having to worry too much about what's going on behind him as he has cover. The problem is that he wasn't worrying too much at times tonight, and there wasn't any cover so we were just picked off. It's like he's trying to default to the way he knows in a more advanced role, but forgets that he's vacated his central role. And no one else is there.

We're hanging him out to dry really, he has no protection around him. Our midfield scares the living shite out of me, he should be an 8 - not a CM. He gets walked all over in there and it's horrible to see. Stoke got the best out of him when they played him higher up, with two central players behind him. I think they had Ben Pearson and Josh Laurent who played deeper as the holders. We're not going to get the best from him by expecting him to be a 6 or a 'pivot', it's just not his game. We've fucked up the midfield big style.

Bazunu kept that to 4, would have been 6 or 7 otherwise. Got to feel sorry for him really, that 4th goal said it all - what hope does he have when a player is running clean through on goal, from the centre circle, and he has no one in front of him? It's truly horrendous for the lad, we're totally and utterly destroying him in front of our eyes. I don't think he'll ever recover from his Saints experience.

We're trying this sexy inverted full-back, pep-wannabe style. It's nonsense when you don't have the right players. Play to your strengths, it's the most basic thing in football that anyone should be able to instruct and organise. Whenever you try to be clever and overcomplicate things then it will go to the shit. The term 'back to basics' springs to mind tbh.

Leicester didn't do anything ground breaking though, they just tackled, blocked and closed off the space without going too high. They had the pace in attack so they didn't commit everyone forward. We had the pace in attack too, but we felt inclined, on every fucking attack, to send everyone bar Bazunu into the final third - mind boggling really. It's just begging for a counter.

The last two games are on him, because our out of possession shape has been inept in both of them. We cannot, we simply cannot, allow teams to have the freedom to break on us like we're giving. It's basic, it's kid playground stuff, 5-a-side stuff. I just don't understand why. Opposition managers will look at it and stick their quick players up, tackle us, and then they're away because we're so high with everyone all over the shop. I'm not on board with the ''EVERYONE OUT'' chatter, because it's ridiculous this early on, but we can certainly voice our concerns and hope he has it in him to fix it. This club has been on a slide for many, many, many years now - it's boring now, but at least we're consistent at something - losing games of football at home, it's a soul destroying experience going to St Mary's and has been since 2016. So I guess it's not going to change overnight, seemingly even with a new 11. What worried me is that we didn't learn anything from Sunderland. Ipswich have pace and attacking quality too, so if we do the same thing against them they will equally pick us off and it will be a similar score line. We need a midfield to start with, them we may have a basis to build from - but he needs to start sticking Charles in there and keeping him in there, he's our only hope.

Yep - that summed up the first half for me. It's like our players are half asleep, they're not with it - are they stoned? They play like it half the time. It's like we've gone out and bought another load of idiots who have no brain cell between them. As 11 on the pitch they've got to be able to work shit like that out, it's the constant ''pass the responsibility' card all the fucking time. No one wants to take ownership or take the lead, they let their mate do it - then when their mate doesn't, all shit breaks loose. That stinks of player make up to me and I don't think that changes.

It's a good point, I've kind of forgot what it's like to win games at home. It hasn't happened, like you said. They shouldn't charge us to go to games, they should be paying us. What we've had to put up with for so many years, the worst team out of 92 last season at one stage, is enough to warrant freebies for all. The club still feels totally broken and smashed to pieces, yet it's all changed and 'refreshed' - yet it doesn't work any better. Losing the will with it all.

When the window ''slammed shut'' I was nervous about our midfield options and felt we were weak in there. I think tonight proved that and then some. Smallbone and Downes are physically weak and just get walked over, the alternatives are Armstrong who doesn't track and Alcaraz who is an attacking midfielder with zero discipline. We are relying on a 19 year old kid being fit all season to anchor our midfield, otherwise we will be played through every single week by anyone. Gillingham did it, QPR did it, Norwich did it, Sunderland did it and Leicester did it. It's like groundhog day, do the same and expect a different result. Doesn't happen in life nor football. Our off the ball shape is simply atrocious, time and time again tonight Leicester had players over and players in space - they just had to play a straight pass, through our midfield and they were running at us. This is why I find it hard to put the blame solely on our 'defence'' or the GK, it's the entire team set up and how exposed we allow them to be. Leicester's shape off the ball was much better, we had the ball in front of them and tried to open them up - but they closed down the avenues, the blocked the channels, they got tight. The total opposite of what we did, we left gaping holes everywhere, channels wide enough for the QE2 to travel through and absolutely zero tackling in midfield. It was a painful watch no matter how anyone tries to dress it up. I got pissed off shipping goals for fun in the PL, to ship the same level of goals in this league is nothing short of shambolic. The players we have are good enough, but we cannot expose them the way we are with the out of possession setup. We are begging to be countered time, and time and time again. Teams know it, they just need a bit of pace and we're done for. It won't take much. A good start to the season has the risk of morphing into a disastrous start if we're not careful. I think we can safely rule out any 'trophy' again this year, we're not winning the league - that's Leicester's and probably by March. We'll make up the pack, but if it continues like this we'll be playing for 6th and no more and with our squad that isn't good enough by any stretch. Comparing our midfield with our last Championship midfield is chalk and cheese, and that's what worries me. We're not fixing that now, we've got to run with that.

Scotland look so much more fluid without Adams.

Holy christ he's so bad.

It's going to get very tiring if we have to hear this all season. It's plainly obvious that the club and the manager have put all their eggs in the Bazunu basket, they are behind him and they will play him as our number 1. If that's the right call or not remains to be seen, but there's nothing any of us can do about it other than get behind the 11 on the pitch and stop the micro-analysing of every goal that is conceded.

No, not brainwashed what so ever. The loan in it's most basic sense worked, because the player was able to play games, he progressed, he improved, his value increased etc. As said above, the cockup was getting relegated. We'd have kept him if we'd still been in the PL and we'd have benefited from a successful loan. We still benefited from a successful loan in a financial sense though, so you cannot say that the decision to send him out to play and improve was a cockup - it had the desired result.