Leicester City travelled to Kenilworth Road for the first time since 2007, in search of a third win in a row. Something we haven’t managed since April 2024 when Enzo Maresca was in charge and former Luton loanee, Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, was busy frustrating Championship opposition.
Our paths hadn’t crossed in years, the 2007 encounter ended in a 1-1 draw but the team sheet and vibes feel eerily similar. A lot of experienced older players, a couple of kids and everybody unimpressed with the state of play and general set up at the club.
Luton were the last team before us to do the double Premier League to League One relegation. That was in 2025 and they didn’t make it straight back up. A fate that looks increasingly likely for this Leicester side unless we can cement a solid run of wins together.
Having dismantled Bromley with relative ease, Luton offered a much tougher test for Russell Martin’s men. This was a Luton side who were looking to make a return to winning ways, having been beaten by MK Dons midweek but whose recent fixtures have gone fairly well otherwise. With two storms converging across the country, and a 12.30 kick-off slot that we don’t seem to prevail often in, you had some idea of how this might go.
But coming on the back of two wins had offered some very cautious optimism. Admittedly, Leicester City have given fans quite a low benchmark for what constitutes disappointment as opposed to anger these days. For travelling fans, disappointment is more likely to fester as anger at the manner in which the first half concluded and how the second half unfolded. We’ve been worse. We’ve also been better. These aren’t the David Pleat days, or something.
It’s the hope that kills you. Another win would have put us further towards the right end of the table, it would have been more convincing that we’re onto something rather than this upturn in results being luck based or our opponents being incompetent. We’ve been told time and time that when it clicks, it’ll be great but we’re almost in November now and we’ve not seen that enough.
This didn’t quite feel like a complete reset back to square one, but the fragile relationship with the fans tipped over into some singing “sacked in the morning” again at the full whistle.
A draw might have been the fair result on balance given that we had actually defended like a unit at the start of the game, Alex McCarthy making some good saves at 0-0.
We were also unlucky to not get a penalty when Will Smallbone took a bicycle kick to the head, apparently a legitimate defensive move. Even the Lundstram red card had a slight feeling of misfortune. Yes, jumping into that tackle while on a booking was silly, but the slick pitch added speed that made it look more reckless.
We could feel frustrated by the refereeing decisions, the correct decision was made to rule out the Emil Riis tap-in but the timing of it (we’d finished celebrating before the offside was given) felt odd. But that Luton would press this advantage and push for a goal felt inevitable. Our own ineptitude is seemingly guaranteed regardless of the quality of the decisions made by the officials. Watching Caleb Okoli in a one-on-one standing on the ball only seems to end one way.
The away end had something to celebrate when Liam Cullen grabbed a 90th minute equaliser but in a game of pushing for that goal, or trying to then snatch a win, we sacrificed any semblance of a defence. Callum Marshall bagged the 90+4 winner for Luton, with only Wes Burns trying to mark him.
You know how it goes, we’re very much in the middle of the pack. Four points off the play-offs, only five points above the relegation zone.
Okoli-no
The prospect of getting two clean sheets in a row felt like an anomaly, perhaps because Bromley offered so little, it was tough to tell if we’d turned a corner defensively or if we just had a pleasant break from panicking every time the ball’s in the Leicester box. Clean sheets aren’t the be all and end all, but today showed why they’re beneficial. We didn’t create enough to withstand conceding twice.
It was a Saturday so that meant it was time for your weekly reminder that Caleb Okoli was purchased to be a Premier League centre back. Yet we find ourselves watching him continue to have regular blackout moments in League One.
Watching him defend excellently one moment and then, having had the ball squared to him by Harry Souttar, panicking, standing still and getting dispossessed by Nahki Wells just moments later feels horribly on brand. The rest of the team had started to push forward, perhaps forgetting his propensity for these moments of madness, leaving Wells to beat just McCarthy. A disappointing way to concede under little pressure, having had a goal ruled out at the other end.
The club social media posted a photo of Okoli with the ball at his feet that seemed to perfectly sum up how it feels to watch him receive a pass. Confusing, terrifying and likely to grant a predictable outcome. To keep making it so easy to score against us is unforgivable and his place in the squad has to be under threat given that there’s more chance of Jon Rudkin resigning this week than Martin switching to a direct style of football.
Okoli was hooked at half time for Burns, seeing a return to the back three approach of Luke Thomas, Warren O’Hora and Souttar. Burns and Will Alves were asked to play the wingers in attack, wing-backs when defending. The substitutes across the second half continued the theme of reducing our defensive numbers. Bobby De Cordova-Reid eventually replaced O’Hora to put even more defensive reliance on those wingers.
When we did get the game level, we’d played almost an entire half without real full-backs and were essentially on overload mode (for the Football Manager aficionados out there). We certainly didn’t look particularly well set up to defend any late onslaughts and when Luton did get the ball, the nearest players were Burns, Alves and a flailing Thomas. Their efforts to do something, anything, to prevent the winner were poor.
It’s a failing to account for the players we had on the pitch and perhaps a failing on the part of the experienced heads out there, even with ten men. Those who have watched Leicester long enough saw that goal telegraphed before it went in. It’s not surprising anymore and the late sucker punch only added to the insert your own emotion here.
An experienced bench
The media have generously been cutting Martin some slack on the basis of the squad he inherited and how youthful it is. With no spots on the bench for Harry Howell, Tommy Watson, Bade Aluko or Christian McFarlane, this argument has got less merit with each passing game. The bench featured plenty of experience, which Martin has been gradually increasing week on week into the starting lineup too.
By the 90 minute mark, only Braybrooke and Alves could be considered youthful and/or inexperienced. Coincidentally, Alves might not be hugely effective when asked to defend, but he was involved in most of the attacking play we did conjure up.
For the onslaught of attacking options we’d thrown at Luton by the end of the game, everyone except a centre back and a goalkeeper, we didn’t have a lot to show for it. Just five shots on target and only one big chance.
Leicester can feel hard done by but the statistics don’t lie. We simply didn’t create enough again. We weren’t fast enough or inventive enough. Luton seemed to know where we were heading and how to shut it down. For the possession we had, we rarely had James Shea panicked.
After the revelation that we’d been under a transfer embargo in the summer, though when we’ve grown accustomed to the sell to buy model, we’d never have known. The summer transfers were the ones most discussed after everybody shared their pain over Okoli. The ones who didn’t play, didn’t make the bench (Bristric anyone?) and the ones Martin seems to favour. Clearly, we’ve had worse transfer windows but there’s still plenty of holes to pick in the recruitment this summer.
Burns played the entire second half, but had little to show for it. It’s not his fault that he isn’t an outright defender, but it adds more question marks to the three year deal we handed out to him that’s starting to look less of a good idea week on week. He works hard going forward, but lacks in end product. His crosses didn’t trouble, he lacked the cutting pace our younger players have.
For Lundstram’s part, he is the closest thing to a true captain we’ve had for a while, but this wasn’t his finest outing even before the red card. He’ll miss the Wigan game midweek, which shouldn’t be quite as big of an issue assuming Chaplin is fit enough for a ninety minute run-out.
Depending on your own personal level of optimism, you have two ways to look at this game. For the cup half full crowd, a tough gig for the last three years, we were slightly unlucky and just ran into a team who have a bit more about them and look a more complete unit. For the other half, this was another abject failing where another team outworked and outmuscled us far too often.
Progress hasn’t been entirely undone in this one loss but the biggest tests are still yet to come. Games at the King Power this year have been largely unhappy affairs, and this week brings two home games in a row again. First Wigan and then Stevenage on Halloween.
Anything less than two wins is going to anger the majority and cast further doubt on Martin’s tenure. If we’d secured a draw at Luton, the optics going into this week would feel a little more generous. Instead, what started well has flipped and now this is a chance to show we’ve learned something and secure six points. Less, particularly if it starts by losing to Wigan on Tuesday night, would see all momentum and cautious positivity wiped out immediately.
