Dan

I can see a scenario where something like 5 points tops the group. A load of draws and not many goals. Iran have near enough home advantage which helps them a little. I wouldn't be making too many bets on this group.

I think it's quite plausible England don't win the group. It's a kind one on paper but you're licking your lips if you're one of the other three and seeing that's your pot one side. I can see the Iran game being the most dire of 0-0 draws.

It's coming home really isn't deep at all, I wasn't even sure it was self deprecating (the actual lyrics within the song are) but the main bit, is it just not the same as any song the fans sing? I highly doubt for example Plymouth Argyle fans truly, hand on heart believe that they are the greatest team the world has ever seen.

Correct. He's the luckiest England manager I can remember. His luck is out though. This World Cup is going to be shocking from England, absolutely no doubt about it in my eyes.

Paint watches Gareth Southgate dry.

I'm terrified about our future. I don't think the owner's got a clue what he's doing. It's all very sad. He got thrust into the position before he truly knew how to hold it. It's taken a while for that to be revealed but it's becoming clearer and clearer to me that this is the case. It didn't have to be like this. We've taken a loan out against future TV earnings as well. We are completely stuffed if we go down. I don't think another Derby situation is beyond the realms of possibility. This will sound dramatic but this is a club that simply hasn't budgeted at all for relegation, and it's becoming clearer and clearer that's where it's going to end up. Top, I'm begging you, end this madness before it becomes irrecoverable. Admit your mistake on Rodgers, this cunt doesn't give a single shit for this club, he thought he was above it from day one. Let him win this stand off and get our act together.

This is inexplicable though, I've never seen such astounding ineptitude yet the manager feels so untouchable. What does he actually have to do to get sacked? This is beyond a bad start, this is up there with the worst start a team has ever made in this league, and it's being done with a side that's not finished in the bottom half since 2017. I actually think it's the worst start of all time. We've got a nice run of games coming up, and yet now all I think happens is we allow this bloke to push us further into the mire. He's beyond out of ideas, I think he wants the sack himself. Forest next. It's absolutely astounding that the club cannot see what a chance this is. If we change manager, lift spirits a bit, we will beat them - they're only being saved from a pasting by our own ineptness. Yet I think we're going to actually give it to him, we're going to lose, gift them the shot in the arm they need and put them 6 ahead of us. Every day that passes I look and think Leicester being a well run club was an illusion hidden behind the brilliance of the likes of Vardy.

I'd honestly have Puel back over this. That's how bad it is.

Benitez wouldn't be first choice but if you offer me him now I'm probably taking it. That's how bad it is. We have good players but we have a manager and coaching staff who are the most clueless I've ever seen at this level at organising a team defensively. Add some defensive nous to us, whether that's Benitez, Dyche, Frank, whoever - I think we improve. I mean we literally can't get worse. Absolutely gobsmacked he's still in a job. I think we're done for. I cannot believe the astounding level of ineptitude of the board.

I like the fact you as a neutral still perceive us as a club that can push the top 4, because that's more likely to actually strengthen our hand going forward. I think it's been and gone myself but if we cling onto this perception from the outside then it helps our cause - opens more doors for us anyway. I'd definitely have him, he's proven himself worthy. I'm a little sceptical of how Brentford managers have done since leaving them, pointing to the model of the club as the strength above anything, but he's also done the best job quite obviously. Do it if you can Leicester.

England's striking options are very good to be honest. I really like both Toney and Abraham. It's good depth to have.

I haven't got a clue how ours has survived but roll it on.

LEICESTER MAKE A SIGNING! NO REALLY!

I always used to make Marco Silva's case a bit on here. Always thought decent coach that made baffling career moves. Seems to have really found the right job at Fulham.

There is absolutely no way we can financially support something like Pochettino. For us to pull someone like that we need to be a genuinely appealing version of ourselves. Something like what we were in February 2019 when Rodgers came in - where we had money and a really nicely constructed squad for the most part albeit a few finishing touches were needed (which never actually arrived in my opinion). There was always scope for that Leicester side to do well. Why he'd come here now I've no idea. I think someone like Thomas Frank has a good case to not leave Brentford to come to us at the minute so I've no idea how Pochettino is even a serious debate from our fans. It'll end up being quite underwhelming I think. Put it this way I don't think we're a million miles off a Dyche.

Looks like our first signing of note is on his way though - Wout Faes from Stade de Reims. 24 year old Belgian centre half, recently made his debut for Belgium, looks like he's played in the middle of a back three for Reims who seem a bit like a French Burnley, punch above their weight somewhat but are pretty robust and have the lowest possession in their league. He won their POTS. He had the worst discipline in Ligue 1 with 13 yellows and 2 reds. Seen a few clips - can't ever read too much into a defenders highlights but I've warmed to it a bit after some initial scepticism. We badly lack a bit of edge in our side and he strikes me as somebody with it. He's got to be better than Amartey surely.

Rodgers needs to go for sure. This isn't some knee-jerk reaction to a poor start. I think he had a lot of benefit of the doubt last season (though I personally wasn't as generous and was quite critical throughout). Our underlying numbers last season were pretty terrible. It all pointed to a side being badly coached and nothing has changed this season, and I'm not sure why anybody thought it would - it's the same errors, the same inability to defend, the same inability to create chances, albeit with a weakened team from last season. I still think we've got enough quality in our team to keep us safe and think a new manager would release us off the shackles but it's quite depressing to be discussing this already. 8th, 5th and 5th in our last three seasons. To go down after that would be mental.

I'd be happy with Lacroix and I called Tapsoba a few weeks ago. Really not keen on Akanji.

It doesn't solve the issue but you would think, given two players have departed and the problem was less about funds and more the sustainability, that we could've done one deal by now. But there's nothing. You don't have to break the bank. I'm talking literally a £6/7mil player or something, a prospect from the continent. This summer is already a failure bar a miracle. I think we've spent too long trying to haggle with other clubs when the priority should've just been getting them out the door. Did we not have Monaco offering us £15mil or something for Soumare a few weeks ago, so what, we haggle over another £5mil but in doing so end up putting a premium of a similar or even greater value on anybody else we bring in? I just feel we had to accept we needed players out and if it meant selling a couple of them for under value then so be it. It's far from perfect but it's preferable to this. We've missed out on targets as a result and we both know we have. Niakhate at Forest for example was a target of ours, they got him for a seven figure fee, he would surely be preferable to Amartey or Vestergaard. I think we had to carefully manage the summer but we've ultimately not done a good job of it. I've no idea what the Fofana plan is. Are we just going to keep him in the reserves or bring him back in? I get specifically leaving him out against Chelsea but if he's staying then I think we need to just bite the bullet and get him back in the XI. And I haven't even mentioned Tielemans and Soyuncu. Fuck me we're in for some overhaul. I think part of it scares me because we've had a few years of failing to effectively replenish, so when we're going to have to do a load at once, crikey we better get it right. We need to have a window like Palace's last summer. This Glover appointment feels make or break.

You had the benefit of Watford and Norwich. I think this year there's only one of them (Bournemouth) and that's not even a guarantee either. Burnley as well were circling the bowl and had stagnated under Dyche. Like I say, I don't think we'll go down, and it could all come to pass that we've had a real false start and we do get some kind of grip on things. What I think will ultimately happen is we'll sack Rodgers, improve a bit and pull ourselves out of the discussion with a virtue of the level of quality of player we have - but I do think that's something that is diminishing and it was always going to given we've added hardly anything to the squad in the last three years. The longer we wait to sack him though, the harder turning it around will be. The level of performance on offer concerns me more than anything. If you take West Ham I don't really have any fears for them. I did have a feeling they would have a poorer year, but they have made a couple of decent additions, they've been extremely unlucky at Forest and then played Man City. I can't really defend the Brighton game but Brighton look good again. I see far more reason West Ham will be OK than us. We create hardly anything, we can't defend, we shit ourselves when we're in front. It's a horrible mix. That Southampton game at the weekend and the manner of it was so bad that it's actually spooked me into thinking we're in the discussion. How can you go 1-0 up at home to a side with 1 win in 14 (had lost their last 8 away games or something), the youngest PL XI named in 5 years, and cave in like that and lose? That's the kind of thing only a Norwich or a Watford would've been capable of. I can forgive freak results and bad luck, but virtually every aspect you can name of our performances are getting worse. There was nothing unlucky about it. Southampton looked objectively better in every department. Fucking Southampton!! I cannot name a single side I'd fancy us to beat in the league this weekend.

Christ, when you think of Maddison possibly going too. Next summer is going to be enormous for us. They're gambling on us staying up which I think they saw as a safe bet but this start has made you seriously question otherwise. I don't think we'll actually go down but I think we're right in the discussion this time. Like I said we'll likely be bottom after 6 games.

I agree with the gist of what you're saying but think the World Cup if anything works in our favour as it buys us time - although if nobody is sold then what is the use anyway? It feels like just kicking the can down the road. There was talk a few weeks ago that we were holding back on signings because we had too big a wage bill and too many players in the squad as it was. Well we've managed to trim 2 (Schmeichel & Choudhury) so I'm less inclined to believe that and actually think they're just refusing to back Rodgers. The entire strategy seems all over the place. They must have some serious faith in this new bloke we have coming in as head of recruitment, given we've surrendered having somebody in place all summer just to get him in.

Your last statement is actually a little untrue and I think it could be the difference in us getting away with it. OK obviously January is the same time every year but we only play another 11 league games before it. You would usually play half of your season before January but this season it's about a third. I agree with everything else though - our underlying xG numbers and whatnot last season had us below Everton if you're into that stuff and want some context that this isn't some flash in the pan bad run. We've been crap for ages, frequently saved by how well we finish against how well teams finish against us. What I'm saying is our performances last season were nearer to a relegation scrap than people realise. While I've been assured we'd keep getting away with it because of the form of Maddison and to a degree Vardy, the squad is getting poorer. He won't play Soyuncu, he now probably won't play Tielemans or Fofana in the league, Schmeichel has gone, Ricardo's out for probably the season again. With not a single reinforcement our XI does not look strong anymore. Amartey, who wouldn't get in Bournemouth's side, starts games for us. Ward is surely in the bottom 3 for goalkeepers. I think Leicester being bottom at Christmas might be well overpriced. It sounds dramatic but it really isn't.

I went to the game. The stats are a symptom of Stockport parking the bus and Leicester having no clue how to break it down. I commend the effort put in by Stockport but it's really not on from us. We had no youth players out there - largely backups to the first team. Rodgers said something quite disrespectful about Stockport, which I half agreed with but the statement itself actually really makes him look inept as well - in that "a Sunday League side could've set up how Stockport did". You get cup upsets but they're often the symptom of a wider problem. That was very much the case yesterday. Oh and as a side note for people who say we have bad luck with injuries. He gives Barnes 90 minutes upon a return v Southampton and then another 90 minutes at Stockport midweek. It's mismanagement. The entire thing is to patch up the flaws in his football and the cracks are practically grand canyons at this point.

Like I said earlier though, we played Luton and Burton in his first season and I had absolutely no concern that we'd do anything other than beat both comfortably. Compare to last night where I had a concern something like that would happen, Newport in 2019 where I felt similarly - they're symptomatic of a team in disarray. Leicester when things are clicking will probably stick 3/4 past Stockport and nobody has any concerns. Just because it happens doesn't make it acceptable. It doesn't happen by chance and it won't happen to a team in good knick. That to me was another episode of our shambolic situation, bailed out by a goalkeeper he wrongly won't start in the league.