In the bleak midwinter - Hazzetta dello Sport 2024/25: Liverpool (A)
In the season of being generous, Leicester City were happy to obliged in providing three gifts in the last Sunday before Christmas. Bow-tied and loosely wrapped.
When many football fans say it’s always their club that breaks the trend, Leicester City seem to go that little further. Three goals you’d struggle to see repeated in type. Each of them preceded by three long balls. The sort of passes that any decent set of defenders mop up with ease.
Jannik Vestergaard allowed one to sail to over his head despite his 6ft 5 frame. James Justin either imagined a call, heard a call or was tricked by a Wolves player I’d never even heard of in my life. Victor Kristiansen simply couldn’t track the pass or player in his channel and no-one thought about tracking or covering. All three of course finished by the sight of Danny Ward looking like a novice beginner trying Yoga for the first time.
As eloquently written in the Fosse Way match report, there was a sense of impending doom when looking towards the man in between the sticks. The mystical bad Jonah. The foolish sailor. The village idiot. A character as though his name must not be mentioned. The Marley & Marley of this Christmas Tale. The ironic cheers rained down when the ball finally ended up in his hands during the second half.
The most depressing thing of Sunday afternoon was how it so much looked like two seasons ago. On the pitch, inadequate defending, a midfield bypassed, isolated attackers and a goalkeeper way out of his depth. In the stands, there’s an uneasy balance of disgruntlement and apathy. A question of how constructive it is. It’s a difficult poser. The club need telling it’s not acceptable. They have everyone’s money for this season.
What’s a better way to communicate your dissatisfaction? To voice your frustration or walk away from your seat? Throw in those that either in person or online take the holier-than-thou attitude that one opinion cannot be voiced. The stares across the stairwell and gestures at fellow supporters. The threat and realisation of violence.
A lot of this mindset stems because on paper, the task for this season doesn’t look that hard. We need to be better than three teams. Wolves, despite their victory, are woefully short of quality in defence. Ipswich are suffering from the same stick or twist attitude many a promoted team has shown. Southampton may have slightly recovered but still look to be floundering.
Therefore the notion appears clear. You must back the players. You must back the club. Because if we stay up, the ghosts of points deductions and financial crises go away.
However, the crucial point is that the status quo would stay the same. The club have abandoned ambition to be, as I have said on many occasions, willing to do just enough to keep their head above water.
On first sight, FFP aids that but what FFP actually does is prolong the impact when you make a bad signing. Amortisation means if you overpay, you are paying over a period of time rather than writing it off. Leicester City find themselves struggling with FFP because those repeated bad decisions have lingered.
Without the proper assessment by an experienced football person within the higher echelons of Leicester City FC, there is no way to tap the ownership on the shoulder and say there’s a better way. If you do tap them on the shoulder, the ownership has their guard dog to one side.
There is apathy among the fanbase because the club in its current guise feels unmovable in its position. If supporters can’t see a future or a path forward, then most would rather step away and turn their back. The status quo will remain the status quo.
It’s going to be a painful few months, sadly. It can be summarised by these match previews increasingly becoming reviews and opinion pieces. Nobody can be looking forward to spending their Boxing Day evening watching us play a Liverpool team who appear intent on turning football into basketball. It feels as though we are reaching the point of a necessary evil unless there is a complete change in strategy and attitude.
Merry Christmas!
