LEICESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 21: Harry Winks of Leicester City in action during the Premier League match between Leicester City FC and Everton FC at The King Power Stadium on September 21, 2024 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Copa/Getty Images)
Winning off the pitch slow starts wasted wingers: What’s surprised Leicester City fans most so far this season.
With six games down, Steve Cooper under pressure and the club having clarity about a points deduction, what’s surprised Leicester City fans most about the season to date?
Fighting the law and winning
Becky Taylor
If I’m honest, I’m not surprised by too much so far this season, I expected it to be an all-timer, mainly painful, and that feels pretty accurate already.
The omission of Ricky P (and to a point Fatawu) or the Wilfred N’Bruyne assists tally would be top of the list for on the pitch surprises, it just has to be avoiding a points deduction as the biggest.
I’ve never been so certain of something happening than us getting a points deduction this season, and a big one at that. Other clubs seemed to cooperate and still get stung, yet here we were fighting it with what looked like a pretty toothless argument.
I actually laughed all evening when it was announced because it was so ridiculous.
Social media was flooded with details of our argument; focussing on the unforeseen relegation and unplanned sacking of Rodgers. It just cemented the thoughts that the club sleepwalked into relegation but also seemed a ‘woe is me’ approach that surely wouldn’t hold up, how wrong we all were!
I kept my distance from the details, but do know there was more to it with loopholes and so on. I don’t really believe they aren’t still coming for us – the authorities cannot wait for the day they get us for something.
I’m sure they’re holding grudges from 2002 and 2016, they don’t want too many more Leicester Citys but we will just keep popping up to wind them up.
It’s a huge surprise and potential saviour to our chances of staying up, but it does feel like the board get away with some of the negligence that got us into the bother in the first place.
Starting slow
Iain Wright.
When we appointed Steve Cooper, I think we all knew there would be a different approach to his predecessor. Enzo was a meticulous details man, “football chess” he even called it. What he managed with getting us promoted was highly commendable.
But there were many occasions where the ‘chess approach’ ignored the fact that football is often about emotion, leaving us facing check-mate when the opposition or their supporters turned the heat up a notch.
In the Championship, eventually, our quality came through and we’ll sadly never know if The Enzo Way would have worked in the big league.
Enzo leaving left the club with a big decision. Should we go down a similar route with a like-minded manager or look for someone more pragmatic with a more physical approach? We obviously went for the latter in Steve Cooper.
His previous body of work with the younger England age groups showed that his ‘style’ isn’t necessarily limited to the rudimentary way he played at Forest, but what I did expect was a transition from Chess to something more akin to Battleships.
This has been my biggest surprise.
Let’s leave to one side the style/plan argument for now – after a shambles of a pre-season, late work in the transfer market and an international break, I am willing to give him some benefit of the doubt (for now).
But what I did expect from a Cooper team was that we’d be ‘up for it’ from the first whistle, just as Forest were on the two occasions we faced them at the City Ground under him.
