adminLeicester City supporters went into Saturday’s meeting with Oxford United hoping to see signs that their difficult start to the season was finally beginning to change.
Instead, they were left stunned.
The Foxes were thrashed 4-0 at the King Power Stadium, suffering their second defeat in five League One matches and leaving Russell Martin under even greater pressure.
Mark Harris opened the scoring before Oxford took complete control after the break. Mo Missanga doubled the advantage, Harris added his second and Jamie McDonnell completed the rout.
But the scoreline was only part of the problem.
Leicester lacked the energy, aggression and urgency supporters expected, while Martin’s possession-heavy approach once again came under scrutiny.
After the match, Martin accepted responsibility for the performance and apologised to everyone at the club.
“I apologise to everyone. The staff, they don’t deserve that. The fans. We have to be so much better,” Martin said.
He then insisted that despite the heavy defeat, he could remain calm about the situation.
“It’s why I can be calm about it,” he added.
Those comments have only fuelled the debate around Leicester.
And the discussion has now moved beyond Martin himself, with questions being asked about the decisions that have contributed to Leicester’s decline.
Gary Neville: “I think this is where Leicester got it all wrong. When you’re trying to revive a club and find your feet again, you can’t keep making decisions that take you backwards. You need stability, you need a clear plan and you need people making decisions for the long term.”
Micah Richards: “But Gary, I don’t think you can put everything on one decision. Leicester’s problems are much bigger than that. There have been changes in management, recruitment issues and problems with consistency. You can’t just change one person and expect everything to suddenly be fixed.”
Jamie Carragher: “But that’s exactly why the decisions matter. If you keep getting the big decisions wrong, eventually it catches up with you. Leicester have gone through too much change without establishing a clear identity. Now Russell Martin is under pressure after another 4-0 defeat, and someone has to take responsibility for where the club is heading.”
Neville would then return to the managerial decisions, arguing that Leicester’s problems did not suddenly appear when Martin arrived.
Neville: “Look at what happened when Martí Cifuentes was dismissed. Bringing Gary Rowett in to oversee the remaining games was a short-term decision. If you’re trying to rebuild a football club, you have to ask whether those decisions are actually taking you towards where you want to go.”
Richards, however, would remain reluctant to blame everything on the club’s previous managerial choices.
Richards: “I understand that, but there’s still time to fix it. Leicester aren’t beyond saving. The important thing now is whether the people running the club can recognise what has gone wrong and make better decisions from this point onwards.”
Carragher would then warn against allowing the situation to drift.
Carragher: “That’s the danger. You can’t sit in the middle forever. If Leicester believe Russell Martin is the man to take them forward, then back him properly. If they don’t believe that, then make the decision. What they can’t afford is another period of uncertainty.”
Some supporters are already questioning whether Martin will still be in charge by October if he refuses to change his slow and ponderous style of football.
Others believe Leicester need a more direct and “no-nonsense” approach at League One level, with Rob Edwards being mentioned as a possible alternative.
There are also calls for Martin to make better use of his attacking options by getting the wingers higher up the pitch and supplying Emil Riis and Admir Bristric more often.
Martin was brought to Leicester because of his footballing philosophy, and abandoning that plan after only a handful of difficult results could simply create another cycle of instability.
Abdulhafiz Teslim
admin
