Which player(s) are you looking at most to turn things around right now?
A few players spring to mind for different reasons. Realistically, defensive-minded players have to step up as that's where the real issues lie – but James Maddison, who has carried us for a good 18 months now, is key to keep us scoring goals.
Wout Faes has to freshen things up and hopefully help bring much-needed balance back to our defence. He came out of a debut where he was part of a backline that conceded six times pretty unscathed – all I heard from fans was positives. His partnership with Jonny Evans will be vital to turn things around.
The other two are very unlikely while Brendan Rodgers is in charge. Things have started appallingly for Danny Ward, and the lack of confidence he has right now is flowing to the rest of the team. Daniel Iversen played consistently last season, winning player of the year awards in the Championship, while Ward sat on a bench. It'd be another 'freshen up' that'd surely be no risk.
The final call is Kelechi Iheanacho, whose numbers don't lie but Rodgers doesn't seem to fancy him. Again, the defence is priority but I'd back Madders and Kel to do plenty at the other end and drag us through.
Becky Taylor
Back to basics and our big hitters – Evans, Youri Tielemans, Maddison and Jamie Vardy – leading the squad and dragging them over the line. We need their quality to inspire a performance from the squad, and to maintain that level. We almost need a dressing room revolt, which involves our senior players telling the squad to ignore Brendan and everything he says, to get there.
As much as it may put noses out of joint, a return to the 4-2-3-1 from our glory days of 2019 may be what is required. If that means returns for the likes of Ayoze Perez and Cags to get us there, then so be it. That was the basis for so much of the good stuff we did when Brendan first arrived, and may just be enough to spark a reaction now.
Yes, I'm clutching at straws now.
Elliott Butlin
Cometh the hour, cometh the 🐐 .
And, Brendan if you're reading, I mean an hour too! Let's have Vardy max for 60 minutes and then bring some subs on...
Iain Wright
There are obviously numerous candidates for this, but I keep coming back to one player: Wilfred Ndidi.
There are issues all over the pitch at the moment, and despite the worrying lack of big chance creation so far this season, I trust that we have the quality to turn that around. We also seem to have a few players who are accustomed to scoring goals from 'poor quality' chances (Vardy, Iheanacho, Maddison etc).
The focus then turns to the defensive players, and while there are a few glaring weak points, it's fair to say that there are key players who we should be able to justifiably expect better performances from.
Ndidi has a very simple role in the side (when he's not playing centre-back), no matter what system we play. He wins the ball, then offloads it to someone who can progress it effectively. Like most of the team, he hasn't excelled this season, but his performance against Spurs was alarming.
Not only did he give the ball away cheaply to let Spurs score a crucial third goal, he failed to make a single tackle in a game he's started for the first time in two and a half years, as pointed out by Jordan Blackwell.
Ndidi isn't the scapegoat here, and the midfield is generally not functioning well for multiple reasons. However, his fundamental role in the team, despite being relatively straightforward, is crucial to how we play. When he's out of form it adds pressure on a defence which is totally out of sorts, and that's why we need him back to his best.
Matt Jedruch
The thing we really need is stability and a strong defensive performance to build on. This is probably an odd choice but I’ll go with Jonny Evans. We need to him to really step us as skipper and galvanise the troops to at least give us a chance of winning a game.
Chloe Dexter
The reason we're taking a bigger pounding than British currency right now is general defensive chaos throughout the team – but the situation in midfield is most worrying for me.
Ndidi looks like a shadow of his old self; you could set your watch by his consistency in the past, so it's very noticeable when he's off it. It feels like him dragging his performance levels back up is essential to help us out of this mess.
Alongside him, Tielemans is a defensive liability, so that means he's got to be proving his worth in every other way right now. We've not seen that enough in 2022, to the point where he's not even an automatic pick in fan XIs.
Finally, I'll call out Evans, who manages to avoid quite a bit of flak despite our defensive ineptitude and set-piece struggles. Should/could he be doing more to put things right?
Joe Brewin
