What are you hoping Dean Smith & Co bring to Leicester City (other than wins)?
Dean Smith, Craig Shakespeare and John Terry are the men entrusted with the task of keeping Leicester City in the Premier League. Of course they must start winning games, but what specifically do we need to see?
I’m hoping for two things on a very basic level: firstly, sorting out the defence so we don’t look like conceding in multiple slapstick ways each game; second, restoring some confidence and aggression to a side devoid of both.
This season has been an unmitigated disaster from the very beginning, but I maintain that we shouldn’t be in this position even after that fallow summer. We know quality isn’t the main issue here, so now it’s on Smith & Co to fix the rest.
I’ve always thought he comes across as a thoroughly decent bloke, so I’d imagine he’ll have the players onside immediately. Shakespeare is obviously well known in these parts, and John Terry – whatever we might think of him personally – should be exactly the kind of coach we want to boost players in this situation.
I want to see Smith do his best to revive a version of the old Leicester: the team that never accepted they were beaten, no matter who the opposition was. The team where pride means something.
Joe Brewin
One specific thing: realism. We've spent the whole season in a fantasy land where we're a top 6 team in waiting, which has meant that everyone at the club has failed to treat our spiralling situation with the seriousness it deserves.
That goes for the attitude of the players, our approach to games, even to the atmosphere in the ground. We've spent the whole season playing like we're good, with a slow, possession approach and defenders on the halfway line. The staff and players have been asking the fans to buy into an approach that obviously wasn't working and lashing out at any criticism. Rodgers in versus Rodgers out has had the fanbase fighting among ourselves.
A clean slate gives everyone the chance to reset. The next eight games are all or nothing for the management team as well. This job isn't below them, it's the best one they could get. They should have zero tolerance for the sloppy mistakes that have cost us all season, and won't be bound by petty disputes or a tactical plan that was clearly unfit for the players we have.
It's time to be massive bastards for six weeks and get the job done.
James Knight
I’d like to see the same thing I was hoping for last summer: a bit of identity, even if it’s only for eight games.
To pick out one quote from that article, written in July last year: ‘There is a chance that steely mentality exists in the squad and can be teased out. Either way, something needs to change.’
That could describe our position now, except we’re 30 games into a season that needed more attitude from the start. The Bournemouth game had a just-been-relegated feel about it, but there’s still more than 20% of the season to go.
I hate watching a Leicester City side getting both outplayed and outrun, creating nothing at one end and leaking goals like a sieve at the other, and I think I’ve come to realise that I’m not that bothered what kind of football Leicester play as long as we’re not pushovers.
I don’t mind getting outplayed by better football teams as long as we made them work for it. I don’t mind missing chances that much as long as we’re creating them. I don’t mind conceding goals if there wasn’t much we could do about them.
I want to see the opposite of what I’ve watched for months. I want to see us win a home game again. I want to see us keep a clean sheet. None of this should be as difficult as we’re making it look. It’s infuriating, but we’ve got one last chance to save the season.
David Bevan
The first thing that struck me after the appointment of Smith late on Monday evening was the photoshoot. I am no body language expert, but it was refreshing to see the face of a man who was clearly very proud and happy to be here, and his initial interview exuded confidence in himself and his team.
Maybe he's just relieved to have secured a relatively big ticket after what was considered a huge failure at Norwich, but who cares at this point? Smith and his team are clearly backing themselves, which is more than can be said about a lot of the players and ex-manager.
It's really important that they transfer this confidence into a team who has really hit rock bottom. This will mean quickly finding a system which suits the team and gives us the best chance of winning at least 12 points from the final 8 games of the season. Nobody cares about blueprints and philosophies at this point - we need to start winning games.
The main thing missing from this group of players is belief in themselves and their teammates. Playing to their respective and collective strengths sounds pretty elementary, but not doing so has been one of the (many) reasons we find ourselves in this sorry mess.
If Smith and co can find a short term spark, it will surely invigorate a fanbase which seemed to have lost all hope. Although fans are understandably split on this appointment, there is undeniably a renewed sense of hope among most supporters. Either way, the players need us now more than ever and, given the alternative options, this appointment probably gives us the best chance of staying up.
Matt Jedruch
Simply, get the basics right!
I'm sure Dean Smith will be wanting to keep the message simple but even that’s not straightforward with this squad. The tifo on Saturday spelled out in giant letters the colour shirt they needed to pass to but for the most part even that message was ignored! He really has got a tough job to turn this around as the rot set in a long time ago.
The basic things are that we drop the defensive line back (as we've got defenders with no pace), reduce unnecessary passing square at the back (as we've got defenders uncomfortable on the ball), find a solution to defensive midfield and get the ball into the forwards quicker.
If we can do that, which is hardly 'elite-level' stuff, we may actually look like a professional team rather than the shambles we have been.
The toughest win is always the first one, especially considering the form this year. He has to approach the Manchester City game as one of the 8 cup finals and absolutely not a free swing before we then get into the final 7 games.
It's a big ask, made tougher by a fair number of players with their stuff packed and removals booked - Shakey and John Terry will weed out those not up for it. Dean Smith then needs to rinse everything out of who's left.
Iain Wright
