Andy King had done a number of changes and it all was like a new start, but as we said in our earlier article, far from what we would have done. Nice to see Jamaal Lascelles in there from start, having doubts about his fitness, but still a solid performance from the newly arrived defender.
Asmir Begovic, sorry, is a downgrade from Jacub Stolarczyk, but he has not been convincing. Why they continue to play these two, when you have Fran Vieites at the club, is a riddle. Signing a goalkeeper from abroad to just have him as a third choice, is a special act and strange.
Joe Aribo also got his first minutes, being picked instead of Harry Winks or Louis Page. When you decide to play an attacking player in this position, with that type of skills, instead of a steady midfielder, you have no real momentum in your decision making. Patson Daka was also new from start, chosing between him and Jordan Ayew, not really rating the new man, Dujuan Richards as a top forward option. Everything looks totally doomed.
Matt Elliott was a co commentator today and he was satisfied from start, but then to watch Ricardo Pereira missing it totally, all tragic for the old rock defender to comment on. Pereira gave Birmingham attacker Ibrahim Osman flowers and wine, as well as a perfect entrance, to let him score all alone with Asmir Begovic.
Leicester managed to get back and get some sort of momentum as things started to look solid. Jamaal Lascelles had shown his presence early on and looked very solid from start. Then to see Abdul Fatawu score a wonderful goal after 21 minutes, maybe gave us all some sort of hope of a change.
Asmir Begovic had superbly denied Carlos Vicente, before Bobby De Cordova-Reid, after 32 minutes, hacked down Ibrahim Osman to receive his marching orders. This was stupidity and totall uneeded behaviour from a experienced footballer. He was so far away from his own goal that to make such a tackle, was far from needed.
To see two of the most experienced players at Leicester making these early errors, looks far from professional behaviour.
A loss away to Birmingham.#BIRLEI | @BCGame pic.twitter.com/liFGZFmrCw
— Leicester City (@LCFC) February 7, 2026
From this on Leicester managed to keep momentum, keeping it 1-1 at half time. Andy King made a new strange move when he decided to take off Stephy Mavididi and replace him with Harry Winks. This was of course a way of balancing out the fact that Leicester were down to 10 men, but it also gave the team less attacking potential.
The type of system Andy King introduced for second half, made it easy to see what his goal was and we do not critisize King for that. It all became a game against one half, and of course having this type of approach, Leicester would crack in the end. Birmingham scored their second goal in the 67th minute, coming from their top target man Jay Stansfield.
Andy King made a decision to sub Jamaal Lascelles in the 71st minute, hopefully it was just to rest him and take no chances as his game time previously at Newcastle has been very limited. Olabade Aluka came on and did a good job in the last minutes.
Debuts today, not only to Joe Aribo and Jamaal Lascelles in the statring line-up, but also to Devine Mikasa and Dujuan Richards who came on in the 77th minute. This was probably the debut they had hoped for, being forced to defend insteand showing us how they can be part of a team that has the ball and can attack.
- Positives
- Giving four new players a chance to play, starting two of them
- Abdul Fatawu scoring a beauty
- Negatives
- The change of goalkeeper is just doing harm as Stolarczyk has in no way played himself out of the team
- Andy King had no real plan, pressing one and one, running and play far from a conducted act
- Bobby De Cordova-Reid must be totally out of balance, making idiotic tackles far from danger
- Cleared passes are not good enough, hitting the opponent more than their own players
- Patson Daka not able to read the game as he should, coming second every time
Line Up:
Begovic 5, Pereira 3, Lascelles 6, Nelson 4, Thomas 4, De Cordova Reid 2, Aribo 4, Skipp 4, Daka 3, Mavididi 5, Fatawu 6, Subs: Winks, Aluko, Mikasa, Richards, Ayew
- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Abdul Fatawu
Match Stats (H/A)
- Possession: 73 / 27
- Shots on Target: 6 / 2
- Corners: 10 / 1
- Fouls: 11 / 10
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