What’s the plan?: Parental pressure and positivity at Leicester City
We’ve reached that time of year when supporting Leicester City feels like being the parent of a child that’s just completed their exams.
They’ve done what they needed to do, they’ve had their celebrations and their holidays, but as the weeks have crept on, your thoughts have started to turn to… what is the actual plan here?
Until there’s some kind of refresh of the football operations department, there will always be a nervousness among sections of the support about squad building and decision-making. It’s been a while now since fans have been able to approach a new season confident that the squad doesn’t have some major imbalance that makes long-term success hard to envisage.
At the moment that major issue appears to be the presence of lots of centre-backs that aren’t quite good enough for the level we’re about to be playing at. Specifically, a lot of centre-backs that aren’t quick enough to feel reliable against Premier League attacks.
The thought of going into the first two home games of the season and the off-the-shoulder runs of players like Son Heung-Min and Ollie Watkins with our current complement is faintly terrifying.
There haven’t been many transfer rumours yet this summer but centre-back does at least seem to be a position the club are aware needs reinforcing. The two main links so far have been Arthur Theate of Rennes and Joe Rodon from opening day opponents Tottenham.
The concern comes less with the addition of players and more with the ability to move players on for a fee. It remains a curious blind spot on Leicester’s part, brought sharply into focus by the peculiar manoeuvrings of Chelsea, Aston Villa, Everton and perhaps more. As these clubs appear to be artificially manufacturing and engineering a way out of current PSR worries between them, our situation remains of the highest concern and our approach remains entirely opaque.
This is where the parental emotions kick in. We just want to know you’re okay. Send us a message. Tell us you’re safe.
The talk of Theate, Rodon or some other more mobile centre-back arriving in the coming weeks should purely be a positive. That long-standing inability to shift players instead gives the impression that we’re just collecting defenders.
It’s hard not to continually come back to the Vestergaard contract decision, which is inextricably linked to the Maresca situation, which in turn is indicative of the lack of planning above manager level.
Hopefully those first two opponents on Filbert Way will be as accommodating of Vestergaard’s shortcomings as England were last Thursday. Our first look at post-Kane Tottenham and Son will spend the whole game wandering slowly back towards his own box. Two weeks later, Watkins will take what he’s learned from England’s main man up front and cut out all that awkward running in behind.
It was actually particularly galling that, from a Leicester perspective, the sight of Vestergaard and Kane in close proximity way upfield brought back memories of an aerial battle which led to that infamous late turnaround in January 2022. These are the humiliations that stay with you and which you don’t want to see replicated. We’ve seen you make these mistakes before. We’re just looking out for you.
Any current sense of uncertainty is tied into not knowing what tactical approach Steve Cooper will take - how many will be in that back line, how deep they’ll be, how much possession we’ll have and so on.
This is, of course, being widely portrayed as a good thing. As a fanbase, there’s a general appreciation of flexibility and pragmatism as a step forward after frustrations felt towards Maresca’s stubbornness during the poor run of form between February and April.
Cooper will presumably already have a rough idea how he wants to set up for those opening games, even if it may take some tinkering with the squad to make it possible. We’re almost certain to see the end of inversion and a return to overlapping full-backs. And it’s easy to foresee a scenario, if these players remain, where the first time Mavididi is able to play an onrushing Kristiansen into space or Fatawu does the same for Justin is greeted with either a roar or relief.
Endless checking back and recycling the ball from the wings was integral to The Idea, and The Idea was good, and The Idea worked. But we’re only concerned now with what will work for this version of Leicester City with its new manager and new opponents. Embracing the positive aspects of that change and harnessing them from the terraces will be absolutely vital. We’ve got your back. We’ll get through this together.
Perhaps this gradual growth in positivity towards the Cooper appointment has been shaped by the Euros. It’s been exciting to watch teams and see new possibilities. The pace and attack-mindedness employed by a lot of countries has been a joy to watch.
The weaker nations might not have enjoyed huge success but there have been very few teams, especially outside of our own island, that have chucked a load of men behind the ball and hoped for the best.
My own Euros fever has led not to identifying how we might replicate the spirit of this Georgia team but instead eyeing up Spain.
This is probably where the parents start setting wildly unrealistic expectations but - assuming Fatawu was correct to announce his own arrival - we’ve also got two exciting wingers who can cut in and create havoc. We’ve got a couple of central midfielders who can progress the ball with pace. We’ve got our own very upright focal point in attack - is it just me or does Alvaro Morata remind anyone else of Tom Cannon? This is what I think about when I’m not worrying about Jannik Vestergaard.
Of course Leicester City’s job is to stay up, whatever it takes, not to play like Spain. Our only job is to dream and for many of us, that dream involves being excited and enthused by our team. Steve Cooper’s plan has to be grounded more in realism - and it might end up being dull. But before the next inevitable setback arrives, it’s fun to start imagining the kids going on to achieve all sorts of wonderful things.
