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Leicester City comment by Nev Foulger: Two-week break is at just right time
By LCFC | August 30, 2010
The two-week break for international matches has given Leicester City a "time-out " they will be desperate to take.
Marooned on one point from four games and caught between two cultures, City are currently drifting into dangerous waters.
The players, and manager Paulo Sousa, need to regroup and start again. It is the only way forward.
Reading's 2-1 win at the Walkers Stadium on Saturday made it City's worst start to a league season for 16 years. Boos at half-time and at the end showed what the fans felt about it.
Of even more concern for Asia Football Investment, the club's new owners, was the attendance itself, which fell to less than 20,000.
That was a drop of 2,000 on the disappointing gate of 21,587 for the first home match of the season against Middlesbrough.
Aiyawatt Raksriaksorn, head of the consortium, sat alongside chairman Milan Mandaric in the directors' box and both had concerned looks on their faces at the final whistle.
You can understand why.
This was certainly not in the script, just as relegation to League One was never part of Mandaric's master-plan when he bought the club.
The new owners will want to see City in the Premier League, as quickly as possible. Sousa has promised top-flight football in two years.
If it is to be this season, City already have a lot of ground to make up.
What happens next could define the season for City – and Sousa.
A footballing legend on the field, Sousa now has to prove that he can become just as successful as a manager.
Key to that will be his ability in the transfer market.
His style and methods are vastly different to his predecessor, Nigel Pearson, and the first few weeks of the season have indicated that not all of City's players are adapting to the changes.
Sousa himself must be scratching his head and wondering just what system suits the team best.
On the opening day at Crystal Palace, he started with a familiar 4-4-2 formation, but then changed to 4-3-3 in the second half.
City looked more comfortable and dangerous playing that way.
But it did not work in the home game against Middlesbrough.
And, at Leeds in the Carling Cup, City had to again revert to 4-4-2 before they played well. Yet that system again failed miserably in the first half against Reading.
So what does Sousa do now? He plans at least two more signings before tomorrow's deadline and must hope that, whoever he brings in, can revitalise the side and play in the style he wants.
Sousa insists that it is players, not systems, that win games, but there is no doubt that, at the moment, City are caught in two minds between going direct with the long ball or being patient and keeping possession.
Pearson was always going to be a tough act to follow and, unless Sousa can shape the side in his own image, it is going to remain tough.
The next 48 hours are going to be vital. Rarely has a "time-out" been so timely.
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