Hazzetta dello Sport: Balague, Bassett and the Baggies bouncing into town
It’s a bumper preview this week from Harry Gregory ahead of yet another biggest game of the season as West Bromwich Albion arrive in LE2. But that’s not the only thing on the agenda for the Hazzetta…
We are now at the point where it’s a firm belief that the chase for promotion from the EFL Championship is a social experiment. At three separate occasions over the last weekend, it was one of the pretenders’ opportunities to make their bid to claim a massive advantage. Each time, they stumbled. Each time, a set of supporters collectively agitated in frustration. While the figures of reality and fate may have already decided the winner, the other elements of life appear like they want some fun.
The erosion of community
It's not fun being involved in it though. The trip to Plymouth bore two extremes. A good evening away of exploring and relaxation which the football tried itself best to ruin. The extremities of the broadcasting schedule mean many of us had taken the chance to have a weekend away.
We stay down and it could be a regular occurrence - the EFL announced an oversaturation of a television deal whereby 41% of Championship games every weekend won’t be played at 3pm on Saturday from next season.
As well as grievances against Leicester City FC that I have been vocal about, it’s this erosion in the protection of the match-going fan that is why I have joined the Foxes Trust. For years I have ranted and moaned on platforms such as this at the decision-making, governance and custodian manner of my biggest hobby, football. It threatens the very thing at the core what makes it so enjoyable: community.
At the very least, if I get frustrated at finding brick walls after making my voice heard then I can retire gracefully off to the nearest non-league club that will have me to say I tried to use the energy from my anger. However, maybe if we just all pitch our voices together to make enough noise it gets spotted.
Supporters’ trusts from Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool have done that recently, while Nottingham Forest’s respective fan groups are about to battle with their owners on the ever-increasing prices of their season tickets.
It’s up for grabs now
Noise and volume brings me neatly back to the Hazzetta’s preview of Saturday’s noon fixture against West Bromwich Albion. In among the screams and shouts in the aftermath of full time at Home Park, it made me wisely consider how in terms of mentality and behaviour Leicester City have really got this half of the season wrong. The common cliché is that you need to shut out all the noise about being doubted and concentrate on your own performance.
The interviews of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Stephy Mavididi recently both used the argument that ‘no-one wants us to go up’ and KDH even acknowledged that they had been called bottlers. This has illustrated they have listened to noise from the outside and that the motivating factor has gone from being about your success to the fear of being a failure.
Enzo Maresca’s ‘its not a big game for us’ comment pre-Leeds looks like a real own-goal now. His behaviour has showcased his lack of experience. He celebrated the announcement of the Leeds loss to Coventry on the King Power pitch as though he was a fan. As the season progressed, he’s looked less like a manager with the ability to take a considered approach and more like a coach who views himself as a player’s friend.
A week off from the drama has been most welcome. Well, that was until Michael Thomas, the Twitter/X account that Guillem Balague likes to share, popped up with one of his tweets and videos illustrating in their opinion that Leicester were playing well and it was the failure to take chances.
My reaction to create an account called Thomas Michael which illustrated in the issues in defensive shape was halted because I don’t have access to the same highlights packages/analyst camera angles that clearly someone has for me to edit together two minutes of backline disasters. A very interesting pattern means it does not take a lot to work out that someone within the LCFC coaching staff possesses the grace of Rodri after a defeat… (allegedly - Ed.)
The Baggies bounce into town
Despite all the horror show in Devon, we find ourselves three wins from promotion and a possible scenario of three results which see us up by Tuesday evening. We typically beat West Brom at the Hawthorns but they historically have a good record in Leicester. They have one defeat in eleven but the opposition has been fortunate. While they seem safely in the playoffs now, Carlos Corberan has chosen to alter his starting eleven in readiness to keep legs fresh.
Notably when researching their recent games, they concede chances, which is at odds with their early season defensive strength. The improvement of Tom Fellows on the right wing and the loan signing of Mikey Johnston from Celtic on the left is where a lot of their attacking craft comes from. Albion have evolved as the season has gone on, which is interesting given how in pre-season there was a gloom around the Hawthorns, particularly surrounding the financial situation which now appears to alleviated with new investment.
They will miss Brandon Thomas-Asante through suspension after he was sent off against Sunderland. There’s an expectation that Leicester might find more breathing room against a team willing to attack them rather than choose to play deep. Corberan is a wily tactician though and my gut is that you will see the Baggies tweak their shape to suit the game. Their most potent weapons are ideally positioned on the pitch to take advantage of the inverted right-back system City play.
The Hazzetta has given up on any team news or line-up predictions for Leicester. Enzo Maresca has hit the levels of stubbornness featured in the film ‘Mike Bassett: Football Manager’ by the title character. In a scene where the English media smell blood during a pre-match conference and push Bassett to the point of self-doubt on his tactics. He reads out the poem If by Rudyard Kipling and at the end he exclaims ‘we will play 4-4-fucking-2’. Okay, so Owynn Palmer Atkin hasn’t been blasted with INVERTED at the top of Enzo’s voice, but we are at that point of ridicule.
It's first again for Leicester. As Leeds, Ipswich and now Southampton fans will look on to see how we get on. Ipswich have the week off as they were due to play Coventry, who are engaged on cup duties. Southampton, who have timed their promotion chase to the last possible moment, are away at Cardiff. Leeds are waiting until Monday evening for their trip to Middlesbrough, which looks difficult. Boro are unbeaten in ten and they were unlucky not to take all three points from Portman Road last weekend.
The key part as the games tick by and the end comes rapidly closer is that the room for error continually decreases. As we near ‘match point’, Saturday represents how that could become break point and the fixture against Southampton takes on a whole unexpected level of importance. There desperately needs to be a change in direction.
