“The Jersey Mike’s Trophy has an important place in the football calendar,” said EFL chief executive Trevor Birch yesterday morning.
Up until, and beyond, yesterday morning, you might have wondered what the Jersey Mike’s Trophy is. You might have wondered who or what Jersey Mike is. And what he has to do with the football calendar.
In case you’re still blissfully unaware, Jersey Mike’s is a Subway competitor chain in the United States and your nearest Jersey Mike’s outlet is roughly 3,000 miles away in Bangor, Massachusetts. Oh, and Leicester City played a competitive game in the Jersey Mike’s Trophy last night. Against Fulham Under 21s.
Jersey Mike’s is expanding into the UK this year and has chosen what you may know, depending on your age, as the Auto Windscreens, LDV Vans, Johnstone’s Paint or Bristol Street Motors Trophy to announce its arrival on these shores.
Leicester City, hampered by a series of rules which – if broken – would result in a £5,000 fine the club really don’t need right now, chose to mark the occasion by giving the captaincy to Bobby De Cordova-Reid. There was also a debut for goalkeeper Franco Ravizzoli, a return to the first-team fold for Caleb Okoli and the glorious reincarnation of Admir Bristric after a prolonged spell ironing Russell Martin’s baggy trousers for some unpublicised misdemeanour. Oh, and Luke Thomas started. Obviously.
Leicester’s recent history in this competition, back in the nostalgic pre-Jersey Mike’s days, mainly consisted of ammunition for those who said our youngsters were overrated as the under 21 side lost ignominiously against a conveyor belt of mediocre League One and League Two teams.
Under 21 sides often contain talented individuals who will go on to have great careers but they also contain less talented individuals who will go on to play in the National League North. So they don’t really fit together and function as a normal football team when faced with any kind of professional outfit.
They will constantly give the ball away, then their shoulders will slump and they will jog back listlessly rather than getting into a helpful defensive structure as the professional adults walk the ball into the net.
If you haven’t seen one of these games before and need a reference point, think about what it’s been like to watching our actual main team for most of the past two years.
Leicester had 21 shots in the first 35 minutes last night and had converted that into a 3-0 lead thanks to a Bristric hat-trick. It was, frankly, like shooting fish in a barrel. And while we’re being frank, there was a very real sense that this is what we should be doing to League One teams week in week out with our resources.
After Tommy Watson fired home a couple more to put Leicester 5-0 up on the verge of half time, there was a reminder of why we’re not doing this to League One teams every week. After playing the game almost exclusively in the opposition half, Leicester indulged in a bit of needless possession football near to their own goal line and Warren O’Hora promptly played a careless pass straight to an opposition attacker which led to a goal. You may remember this from such episodes as: Barnsley away on Saturday.
In the space of a few days, O’Hora has gone from a player we hoped to be the answer to our defensive woes to yet another defender who doesn’t look especially suited to Martin’s dogma. A point to prove, then, both for player and manager, seeing as O’Hora fits into the Alex McCarthy category of having previously played for Martin and yet turned up here looking like he’s totally unaware of his very clear and consistent expectations.
In truth, it’s hard to dish out much in the way of individual praise or criticism because this was such a bizarrely uncompetitive game but Bristric’s treble will increase anticipation that he can develop into a helpful player for us. Equally as notable as his three goals was his celebration for his first in English football, a plea for the other players to follow him to the touchline to celebrate with Martin. Presumably the fact this went unheeded by all but three team-mates was down to their sheer embarrassment at the concept of celebrating a goal against an under 21 team in a competition named after a chain of American sandwich shops but read into it what you will.
In the run-up to this crucial encounter, I had a look at a few Fulham messageboards to see what their fans were saying about it. I naively expected a few jokes at our expense and talk of watching their most exciting youngsters in action. Of course, what I actually saw was absolutely nothing at all. Even on Friends of Fulham, a fan site that sounds like it’s for library volunteers, they were exclusively lamenting Matheus Cunha’s late leveller for Manchester United at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
In contrast, Russell Martin talked about using this game to provoke a reaction to what happened in Barnsley and matchday brought the usual socials. The lads have arrived! Here’s an arty photo of Russell Martin! Hey, want to know what time you can watch in Rio De Janeiro!
But they didn’t really promote the fact it was happening in advance, which was part of the reason there were about 35 people in attendance. This gave me a feeling of genuine sadness as kick-off approached. I still have that feeling deep down of wanting to watch every game. Even this season, at our lowest ebb, I’ve engineered stops at motorway services to peer at buffering video of uninspiring performances.
But for the first time ever, that’s drifting a bit. I certainly drifted in and out of watching this game. 18 years ago I went to Hartlepool on a Tuesday night for a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy game. There were 393 of us in the away end and it was one of the first games I ever wrote about.
Part of that is down to life circumstances and perspective, but part of it was also the fact I’d bought into the club’s rebirth under Nigel Pearson. The starting eleven that night included Andy King, Lloyd Dyer and Steve Howard.
There has been a lot of talk about the contrast between Leicester’s position now and where the club was 10 years ago. And yes, it is sad to see a virtually empty stadium for a competitive fixture when you think about the same seats packed full of raucous fans at the start of our Champions League adventure a decade ago this month, but there was still an opportunity for the club to rediscover its true identity this year, even against less illustrious opponents.
Has that opportunity been taken? It’s still early days this season but the signs so far aren’t great.
That’s partly due to the individuals at Russell Martin’s disposal, whether he wanted them here or not. Woyo Coulibaly replaced Thomas at left-back for the second half and didn’t look wildly above the level. Captain De Cordova-Reid, in fairness, did and marked what you might consider a game against his former side by rifling home an impressive finish from long range to make it 6-1 a few minutes into the second half.
At that point there were hopes that maybe we could turn a nothing game into one of note by hitting double figures. But the second half was nothing like the first. Our own youngsters came on with first team debuts for Lorenz Hutchinson on the right wing, Tommy Neale at the base of the midfield and Will Lawrence at right-back. They all looked good. Sadly for them, the last thing we need is more players. What we need is a system that will work against League One teams and won’t result in conceding ridiculous goals every game. The jury’s still out on that despite such a one-sided evening.
In the middle of three weeks off from league duty, Leicester now have two weeks off from anything until a midweek trip to Stevenage, who also remain in the hunt for Jersey Mike’s glory after their own 6-1 win on opening night against Walsall.
The next stop on the road to Wembley… see you there?
