Stop relying on failure specialists
Iain Wright
When Marti took the job, he was very vocal of his admiration for the academy and his desire to promote the younger players. This earned him a lot of brownie points with the fanbase from the outset and generated a bit of excitement.
However, I’m sorry to say that his team selections and particularly those on the bench, have been the complete opposite of those comments, with him regularly turning to players who are proven failures and in many cases, ones who only have a few months left on their contract.
This approach left Marti approximately 20 minutes from the sack last Saturday by many accounts, as his charges stared down the barrel at 1 win in 11 and a defeat to the worst team in the league. Thankfully one of the new (and youthful) players (Jordan James) helped snatch three points for just our 7th league win in the whole of 2025. Admittedly, the result was helped by De Cordova-Reid making making a significant contribution with his goal and assist, but that cameo was one of his very few bright moments in the 18 months he’s been here.
My view is the squads Marti has been picking will lead us to a mid-table finish. It’s worth pointing out that this could then leave us in a very precarious position if and when a points deduction occurs.
We’ve managed just 18 goals in 15 games, with an xG of roughly 3 fewer than even that. The 7 goals in 7 home games is particularly gruelling. We’re not exciting to watch and have a defence that will nearly always concede.
Therefore, would we be any worse off if we gave Bade Aluko some pitch time to see if he’s better than Luke Thomas or the now injured Victor Kristiansen? Surely Jake Evans and Louis Page (when back from international duty), Silko Thomas, Amani Richards and Lorenz Hutchinson are more exciting substitutes than Daka, Ayew, Soumare and Choudhury? Surely there is room on the bench for a few of them when we’ve only beaten two of the worst teams in the league over the last two months?
It’s typical that almost as soon a Ben Nelson got a chance, he got injured, but for a game and a bit he was by far our best defender, which was no surprise to anyone. Even if he wasn’t, I’d sooner watch him develop than more of the same from Wout Faes.
It’s time to wise up with how PSR works and start allowing our top talent to develop, which on turn will create some excitement in the stands and some much needed value in the squad.
BDCR10
Helen Thompson
There’s plenty he could do but recency bias from the Norwich game is on my mind. It has to be Bobby De Cordova-Reid on and preferably playing in the ten role for now. He made the difference when he came on. He offers some better support for Patson Daka and it lets Jordan James play in his best role.
It also allowed more freedom for the James – Abdul Fatawu link up and Bobby joined in too, contributing to that winning goal. Ok, he was part of the squad that helped us come down last year, but there’s less baggage with him still. And the way he celebrated the equaliser, he definitely cares.
BDCR may not be everybody’s favourite but if he’s fit, he looks better than our other options and it seems to suit us better. He’s also a tireless workhorse. It’s shades of Marc Albrighton for effort and he played a key part in the second goal too.
Pick Pat more
David Bevan
Patson Daka’s goalscoring record has become something of a meme in recent months. He’s hurtling towards a full calendar year without a goal for club or country (three chances to prevent that happening – Stoke, Southampton, Sheffield United). And his first touch isn’t the greatest we’ve ever seen.
It’s a sad indictment of the club’s record in the transfer market over the past few years that Daka, somehow, remains our best option at centre-forward.
He’s actually made some good contributions in the past month or two: a lovely reverse pass to assist Jordan James against Wrexham; a similar setup for what should have been a Julian Carranza goal at Swansea; the towering header to lay on the equaliser for Bobby Decordova-Reid at Norwich.
It may not sound like a lot but when you put it next to the contribution of our other strikers, it’s practically Vardy-esque. The formidable shadow cast by our departed icon has been too big for Daka to emerge into the limelight. But he’s also never really had an extended spell as the undisputed selection up front. The time for that has come, sadly more out of a dearth of competition than much Daka himself has shown.
Who knows what might spark, though? It was this time two years ago that he went on a bit of a goalscoring run under Enzo Maresca. Relatively speaking, anyway…
The Fosse Way 
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