Another away day, another defeat. There's something about Bournemouth that seems to turn Leicester City players into quivering wrecks. That’s now six league games there without a win.

But let’s face it - it’s not just Bournemouth. Even if we’d scored early at a ground where we've actually won a Premier League game, confidence in a lead is rock bottom these days. That’s especially true on the road, where we've looked mentally and physically weak for months.

People outside the club may be looking at our league position and wondering where it all went wrong this summer. Meanwhile, those of us who have been following the club for years are still trying to work out how we managed to finish in the top half last season. The warning signs were there.

Trent rocket

We’ve long needed a rocket up the club's collective backside. This feeling goes back even further than the FA Cup win, which now feels as much of an anomaly as the victory over Nottingham Forest.

The Trentside club should have provided that rocket, with the idea that Leicester might no longer be the top club in the East Midlands.

What nobody bargained for was Leicester conserving their all for when Forest rolled into town, and losing pretty much every other game. Between us, we're not exactly doing much for the East Midlands tourist board these days.

It also felt in the summer that Leicester needed a statement away win to get back on track. Again, nobody was thinking that would do us for the whole season. Another win or two to go alongside it would be nice. But something to show us that the ‘level’ Brendan Rodgers mentions so often actually exists. It didn’t even have to be sticking five past Manchester City at the Etihad. In truth, we were hankering for the kind of team we saw three years ago.

Has anyone mentioned the 9-0?

Most of us are still wondering what happened to that team from autumn 2019 that won eight games in a row.

In fact, we know what happened to nine of the eleven who started on a soaking night at Southampton when the goals rained in - they're still here, working away on the training ground under a ‘brilliant coach’.

While 0-9 was clearly the standout result, it's not just this season we've been pining for the kind of wins that made up the rest of that run. Think about our most recent games at the other places where we won back then - we led in all three of them but didn't win any.

Crystal Palace, a 2-2 draw last October after going 2-0 up.

Brighton, a 5-2 thrashing after leading in the first minute and going into the break at 2-2.

Aston Villa, a 2-1 defeat after Harvey Barnes opened the scoring.

Despite finishing 8th in May, a lot of what’s happening this season doesn’t feel particularly new.

Empty seats, empty seats

The downturn in performances came before the pandemic but, while that break in the season following a fine 4-0 win over Villa may have disrupted the Champions League charge in 2019/20, it now feels like Leicester would be much better off if every game took place in an empty stadium.

There was a lot of talk about our poor home form in the following campaign and how much of a difference our support made. There was less about what that meant when our players ran out in front of empty seats elsewhere.

Leicester's away record without fans was W11 D7 L4 (40 points from 22 games). Since crowds returned, it's W4 D6 L15 (18 points from 25 games). There are other factors at play, but I can't help feeling I’d have been more confident if Bournemouth had been forced to play behind closed doors.

Is the Vitality that intimidating? Or the AMEX? How are we feeling about a trip to West Ham?

While we’re all getting used to lower expectations, mine for away games are now officially nil. Leading at half time on Saturday, I'd almost have taken a draw. That's how little faith our team inspires when faced with any kind of adversity. The only team we've beaten in our last 12 away games in the Premier League is Watford.

Ds and Ls

Staying in the Premier League is difficult when you have to write off at least half of your games. The results of our most recent corresponding fixtures against our next eight opponents away from home read LDLLLLDD.

For comparison, the two teams that finished directly below us last season (Brighton and Wolves) managed 5 and 7 away wins against non-relegated clubs, respectively.

It may not seem important when you’re finishing above those clubs but as soon as you lose a home game or two, you’re in trouble. That’s what we’re seeing now. The results at home against Brentford and Southampton immediately became disastrous given our away form.

We even had an extra shot at winning at a current Premier League ground last season, and a ‘world famous’ one to boot. Our FA Cup exit to Forest made it one win across the 17 grounds we’ll visit again for a league game this season. That miserable afternoon in Nottingham marked a low point but it was also reflective of recent times following Leicester City up and down the country.

Forget a rocket up the backside - at the moment this feels more like a race to the bottom.