In the second of our series from our match reporting team, Graham Tracey gives his views…
Before the season started what were your hopes on what we could achieve?
Lower expectations than previous seasons but still fully capable of a top half finish and exciting cup runs.
As the season progressed at which game did you start to fear we could be relegated?
Southampton away, on the back of the Blackburn cup exit, indicated that there was something seriously wrong within the camp and that despite the sound bites there was little belief we could survive.
Given how the season panned out, in terms of success how do you rate it out of 10?
It’s normally petulant to give the minimum score, but if anyone can explain why this was even a 1/10 season I’m all ears. Zero/10.
What do you feel went wrong?
Virtually everything, on and off the pitch. Off pitch – cutting off our nose to spite our face in not offloading players last summer. Not signing players in January who could make a significant immediate contribution. On pitch – not playing a spine of Iversen / Soyuncu / Mendy / Ihenacho all season which would have been enough to keep us up comfortably.
LCFC managers and some LCFC fans had differing views on the effort some of the players were putting in, what are your thoughts?
My view is that players don’t make it to the elite level without huge effort and pride. So I disagree about effort – even those knowing they would leave wouldn’t want the blot on their copybook. But belief was clearly evaporated – whether because so few had experience of a dogfight, they sleepwalked into the spring thinking it would be okay, or because the leadership of Kasper was missed so badly.
What were your views on the signings made during last season?
Souttar and Kristensen should do well in future but couldn’t help turn the tide when they arrived. Faes took so long to recover from his own goals at Anfield that our sports psychiatry can’t be up to much. Tete was so ineffective that I don’t think we can have assessed him properly about how he would settle in England on and off the pitch.
Which player do you think made the most progress last season and why?
Iversen is the only candidate here. I like him a lot.
Which players did you think underperformed the most last season and why?
Ndidi and Tielemans are the two whose form has collapsed. There are others who rather than underperforming, sadly aren’t of top flight standard – Soumare, Daka, Ward.
With a number of injuries, which players injury do you think had the most detrimental effect on our season?
Jonny Evans’ absence definitely cost us a few clean sheets and as such the points that would have kept us up.
Moving onto next season
What is your initial reaction to the appointment of Enzo Maresca as our new manager?
During the period from relegation to his appointment, I didn’t have a strong preference and wouldn’t have objected to Dean Smith staying. But working in Burnley and seeing the Kompany factor last season, I now feel enthused.
It has been made clear the club needs to move out a number of players, who do you feel is essential that we retain?
KDH should be made captain, and I would love to keep Iheanacho if there was some leeway on our wage bill. The most important thing though is to ensure we can survive financially and whoever we need to sell we have no choice.
There will therefore by a number of new signings, however what do you feel the squad lacked last season and needs adding?
There was no shortage of talent, but physicality, aggression, desire and belief were all lacking.
Would you be looking to add some experience to a fairly youthful squad or would you continue bringing in younger players and develop them?
Experience didn’t work too well last time we went down to the second tier in 2004 – the likes of McAteer, Keown, Dublin, Pressman, Wilcox looked good on paper but failed to deliver. So bearing in mind our financial constraints and Maresca’s background, youth – with loan signings probably necessary.
If you had a chance for a word in the owner’s ears, which player(s) would you be advising to sign?
As I say every season, ensuring personalities and attitudes are right is as important as what we can see by watching games, so difficult to say especially as we won’t now be recruiting players we’re used to watching on telly. Striking the right balance with the loan system will be important.
What are your expectations and fears for next season?
Promotion is possible and I won’t miss VAR, but most of all I want reassurance of our financial viability and a positive atmosphere around the place again.
Any other observation you would like to make?
My abiding memory of the season is of visiting Seagrave on the Foxes Trust AGM at the end of February and us meeting Brendan Rodgers during our tour and him clearly having no concern about us going down. The ‘no excuses’ culture at Seagrave of doing everything for the players so they just need to perform has back-fired spectacularly. Even so, I hope that the achievements of the squad about to dissemble will in time be remembered fondly by fans.
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation.