Leicester

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Football Italia journalist Lorenzo Bettoni spoke to the When You're Smiling podcast about Inter Milan midfielder and Leicester target Stefano Sensi: "Sensi is sadly famous in Italy because he has a very long injury history, he's had many muscle injuries and other injuries recently. Last season he was on loan at Monza and he played 28 games which is a decent amount for a player who's had many injuries.

"He's a very good midfielder, three years ago he was included in Roberto Mancini's squad for Euro 2020 but he couldn't make the squad because he got injured. He was in the team so it says a lot about the quality the player has.

"When he joined Inter under Antonio Conte, he was what we would call in Italy a 'Mezzala'. The English translation would be a box-to-box midfielder I would say. He's somebody who can score and assist and contribute in the final third. He has kind of changed now to a deep-lying playmaker.

"He's someone who can play in front of the defence and help the team in the build-up and someone who is very gifted technically. I would be surprised to see Sensi playing as a box-to-box midfielder in a very physical league like the Championship, or hopefully the Premier League next season."

When asked if Sensi can adapt to English football, Bettoni said: "I think so. There's a number of players who have been doing really well in that position, for example Jorginho. They're not exactly the same sort of player because Jorginho is a little bit more structured physically and taller than Sensi but he knows how to find the best position to get the ball and has really good qualities.

"In his first season at Inter, he got comparisons with Iniesta which is of course too much but it says a lot about the potential he has. Great technique, great vision, great sense of position and he can cope even in the very technical leagues."

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Chris Forryan, Leicester Till I Die, external

Some things put losing a football game into its true perspective. The news that our former manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has, at most, 12 months to live, does just that.

I can remember the buzz around Leicester when he was appointed. An ex-England manager at what was then a mid-table Championship club was unheard of in those days.

He was only with us for 55 games, but he had a win percentage of 44% better, equivalent to Claudio Ranieri's spell in the Foxes dugout.

I remember driving up from the south coast to watch an evening kick off at King Power Stadium. It was late when he finally finished his post-match duties and it was nearing midnight by the time he got to my son at the back of the queue, but he still had time and a smile for him

A signed picture of him with a LCFC scarf adorned round his neck has pride of place on my wall. On behalf of Leicester fans everywhere, our best wishes go to Sven - a true gentleman of the game.

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BBC Radio Leicester's Owynn Palmer-Atkin, speaking on the When You're Smiling Podcast about Enzo Maresca's substitutions: "Towards the start of the season, it was four and five [substitutes per game], and plenty of changes game to game. In the Christmas games, he's only made 21 changes from a possible 35."

Foxes fan Henry Pitchers added on Maresca's changes from the bench during the 3-1 defeat by Coventry City: "As the game was going on, I was saying, 'why are we not bringing more fresh legs on?'

"I felt Casadei looked lost - he didn't have the physicality we needed and he lacked a bit of energy. I was surprised we didn't see two more subs and Hamza [Choudhury] coming on earlier.

"In the first third of the season, I liked his substitutions. I felt that he made better decisions than [Brendan] Rodgers was making towards the end of his tenure in terms of timing and the number overall. I think Saturday was the first time I've seriously questioned his decision-making around substitutions.

"It's too early to hint that there's a weakness in Maresca's game management - but let's see what happens for the rest of the season."

Listen to the full episode of When You're Smiling on BBC Sounds

Former Leicester City winger Matt Piper believes Enzo Maresca made changes too late in Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Coventry.

The Foxes played the entire second half with 10 men after Abdul Fatawu's red card but, after making one change at half-time, the Italian manager did not go to his bench again until deep into the second period.

Speaking on the latest episode of BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast, Piper said: "Halfway through the second half, I was saying it would be a magnificent point if we could hold on for a draw. I thought the first half played out evenly but the situation in the game that changed it in Coventry's favour was the sending off.

"Then we had to become a counter-attacking side. He made the change with [Kasey] McAteer coming on for [Stephy] Mavididi at half-time, you could understand why. He needed to introduce fresh blood into that performance because the amount of running those Leicester players did in that second-half was huge, their legs must have been so sapped.

"Mark Robins rolled the dice, bought some fresh legs on, for Coventry and I thought that extra energy helped them.

"I thought we needed that a lot sooner before Hamza Choudhury in the 82nd minute. That might have helped us. I think the manager has made a mistake here but we have had a terrific season to this point."

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