Five days and two defeats into the new campaign, and the waft of pessimism that blighted our pre-season shows little sign of relenting.

We acquitted ourselves reasonably well against Leicester, but not enough to prevent rumblings of discontent - during and after the match - about the way we passed the ball with no real incision. Personally, I see valuing possession of the football as one of the most important aspects of football, so you won’t hear me screaming when a pass has to go backwards. I’ll take that over wasteful long balls any day. Of course we’re not Barcelona yet – we’re a team trying to shake 8 months of endless hoofing out of our system, so it’s not going to be entirely fluid right away. It’s the right approach, though.

Annoyingly, we threw away a great opportunity to win that game thanks to the lunacy of Carl Baker (balloon head), and watched as the match eventually petered out to a rather tame 1-0 defeat. The anticlimactic feeling of an opening day defeat is a foreign one to us City fans. We tend to mess up most things, but the first game of the season? That’s usually a banker.

First round League Cup defeats to lower league opposition – now, that’s more our territory. Last night we continued where we left off against Leicester, this time allowing Bury off the hook, having initially taken the lead through Roy O’Donovan’s first competitive Sky Blues goal. While we could claim bad luck and blame circumstances for throwing away the Leicester game, this result offered a much more clear-cut assessment; we was rubbish.

Andy Thorn said it after the game, and while that doesn’t make it much better for the fans who made the journey to watch, at least he made no mistake in acknowledging that it wasn’t good enough, rather than hide behind it being the league cup (á la Boothroyd).

So what happens next? How the bloody hell do we get this season up and running?

Well, I think we’re all pretty clear on where the main issue lies. The squad really isn’t strong enough, especially in attacking areas. 

We need a spark.

It’s funny. I’m not entirely sure how this came about, but I ended up watching our 2008 league cup game against Newcastle after the Bury defeat last night. Christ, there was real life in that team. We had 1st season Gunnarsson skipping about the place, Jay Tabb chasing everything that moved, and up top Clinton Morrison being an absolute bastard… but to the opposition as well as his own teammates, which in hindsight, was useful.

What struck me the most however was the shear nippy-ness of Michael Mifsud. He buzzed around the place, making runs inside and out, and made any through-ball a problem for the Newcastle defence.

Compare this with the current side, and you begin to realise just how sluggish we are. We’ve a number of good technical footballers, and plenty who will try their absolute hardest, but we’re missing that feverish pace. The closest we’ve got at the moment is young Cyrus Christie, who is at least giving us a genuinely purposeful attacking option, albeit it from right back.

We know we’ve got no money, but there’s 20 days until the window closes and it’s imperative we get some fresh legs into the squad. This shouldn’t be wishful thinking - it’s a vital part of running a football club. Young loan players, free transfers, anyone to breathe fresh life into the team and make it feel like the beginning of the season, and not that horribly inevitable period we usually go through around March-time. 

Now comes the really obvious bit. Thorn needs backing. By everyone. We saw at the end of last year what he can do, even with a group of demoralised and tainted players. But there’s only so much he can can get out of the current group. Board, SISU, Hoffman – whoever the eff is going to end up making this decision – you need to realise that we’re not asking for much, but we can’t hope and pray our way through an entire season. Just one or two loanees to provide some fresh options to work with in attacking areas, and we could start to see the same sort of performances we were treated to at the end of last year.

Give the man a fighting chance.

I've a few points following this week's 1-1 draw away at Leicester. They don't all sit neatly together, but I thought I'd cram them in anyway.

Rather strangely, Sky Blues fans have become used to this being the point in our season when optimism is at its highest. February tends to be pretty decent, resulting in a flurry of football-related happiness by early March.

But not even my ridiculous BBC predictor attempts can save us now I'm afraid. We haven't had our normal February, and it looks very much like our friend Mike Low-to-mid-table will be joining our end of season party.

The following was tweeted on Saturday morning which was quite brutal in its clarity:

@the72football:

Seeing a team today that haven't finished in any division's top 6 since 1970. No surprise then that they're currently bottom half. Guess who.

Yes, that's us. You won't find another club in the Football League with a worse record than that. 

Needless to say, that left me in a smashing mood before the big game.

Anyway, a point away at Leicester, given the run they've enjoyed, is a handy one. Of course, I use the term 'handy' loosely. We're in such a beige predicament where we could win the next 5 and still be a mile off 10th place.

On the other hand, there are plenty of teams beneath us making an absolute arse of their own seasons, that we're probably going to struggle to fall into trouble too. That's no cloak of invincibility - it's just how things seem to be going down at the bottom.

In typical Sky Blues style, we took the lead through Marlene, and even more predictably, managed to give up that lead right on the stroke of half-time. You can't really blame anyone; it was a special goal by Naughton. Still bloody typical, though.

Comments during and after this game intrigued me, and one thing that I can't quite work out is how we were banded as such a black-and-white long ball unit, even when at 65ish minutes, I checked my phone and the BBC had the stats as the following:

I'm not saying we play the prettiest of games. God no, often our players go long because the simple passes scare them. But I'm getting nearer the conclusion that if you develop a reputation, you're bound by that, regardless. The focus is so heavily on us being a long-ball team all the time, that none of our play on the ground is acknowledged.

We often get it forward quickly, but that really isn't all we do anymore. Maybe earlier in the season with Clive up top, yes - it was very focused and we all got very cross with it. But we're no Wimbledon, surely?

Anyway, just a gripe of mine. I get a tad protective..

We worked hard on Saturday and tried to impose ourselves on the game, but we're lacking a spark at the moment. The draw will do us, but we'll need more than that if we're looking for a catalyst to help us finish the season with some vigour.

Even though we're all aware that success has gone for another year, it's still so important we don't allow ourselves a finish to the season like the the last two. We've got an endless list of players who are free to bugger off at the end of the season. King, Gunnarsson, McSheffrey, Westwood all have decisions to make. Now, I'm not saying that we've a hope in hells chance of keeping Westwood, or that we need to give many monkeys about McSheffrey staying, particularly. The point is, how we finish this season defines in many players' minds just how attractive a proposition we are for the following year.

This doesn't only affect whether we get to keep any of those, it'll also have a massive bearing on the players we can actually attract here in the summer. Yes, I know we're not Man City so won't be able to throw a load of money at it anyway, but even with our limited funds, we're going to be competing against a handful of other teams for any half-decent players available.

So scrapping to save ourselves from relegation, or saving ourselves early, only to lose the final 10 games, ain't going to wash with the proper good'uns. Not anymore.

Aidy now has a 13 games to prove to us that he's different to the others. That he can motivate a team to do more than go through the motions - and that he's the man to finally change the view (including our own) that we're the nothing men of football, and what's worse, that it's okay to be them.

Don't worry, I won't finish that sentence. David Haye has ruined it for all of us.

Anyway, one thing I've always been concious of is falling into the trap of turning this blog into a written transcript of supporter hysteria. You know, the kind you hear when walking away from the game, whereby exaggeration is key to getting any point across. Everything is "one of the worst" or "by far the best" you've ever seen, and contrary to any rational thought, the referee was definitely on a crusade to piss you off. That's not to criticise it, mind - I do it too during the course of a game.

But even after a day of thought, some things are still worthy of that "exaggeration". Like the game yesterday.

I genuinely can't recall seeing a game at the Ricoh where the entire 90 minutes was dominated by a team as Leicester did. The funny thing is, that's not to say they caused us too much hassle. They didn't really. There were moments when they got in behind, but what I mean is more in terms of the rhythm and tempo of the game. They were in absolute control throughout.

From our perspective, aside from the occasional corner (which are still as dangerous as a bubble-wrapped Roy Cropper), there wasn't a period in the game when you could say we were on top, or were the side carrying the most attacking threat. We just didn't have any.

This all came down to ball retention, and the single-mindedness of our tactics. It was long-ball in its purest form. We can all see the lure of Clive Platt when he's up front by himself. I'm sure he makes a very compelling case for anyone on the pitch to get the ball to him. Every single time though? Come on, that's ridiculous.

We started the game with a team, which on the face of it, should have provided a positive balance of strength and attacking ingenuity. Clingan and Carsley in the middle of the park provide a very solid core, with Clingan more than capable of receiving the ball and picking out a pass. This didn't happen. Partially because of the way Leicester kept the ball from them, and partially because they were completely by-passed by our own long game. Annoyingly, they didn't seem too bothered by this and were encouraging the defence to look for the punt at every opportunity. 

McSheffrey and Danny Ward on each wing were there to provide pace, width and supply to the front men of Clive and the languid Jutkiewicz. In theory, anyway.

It became clear early on that Plan A wasn't working, with McSheffrey being hauled off for high-earning reserve, Michael McIndoe. You've got to give McIndoe his due, while he excelled in his ability to run with the ball in an exceptionally straight line (out of play), his most telling contribution was the cross for Platt's goal. Totally against the run of play, and the team's disinterest in celebrating sort of summed up the performance up to that point. It was a local derby, but they weren't up for it.

The second-half followed the same pattern as the first, with Leicester running rings around us. Needless to say we aided this by giving them the ball straight back at every opportunity. I'm not going to criticise Clive, as individually he's been one of our most consistent performers so far this season. I can't help be concerned by the style of play his presence on the pitch is inducing though. Is it managerial instruction, or do our players lack the confidence to hold the ball and look for the short pass? It's noticeable how every team that has played at the Ricoh so far this season has built from the back, with the keeper only kicking long as last resort. Such a contrast to our own style.

Once Leicester were gifted their equaliser through a clumsy mix-up in defence, there was only one team that were under instructions to go on and win it. I think that was the most frustrating part of the day. While I got the impression against Portsmouth (and even Watford) that we were very keen to win the game, yesterday there appeared to be little appetite to force the issue and make sure we won. I hate to say it, but it was Coleman-esque. Yes, Leicester played good football and that was a contributing factor, but that shouldn't mean that when we get the ball, we can't keep it as well.

It'll always be easier to pick out flaws than it is to find positives, but it'd be wrong to claim the game yesterday wasn't concerning. We know we're a work in progress, and it's great that we're getting results, but I don't want people to be blinded by the points on the board at this stage. We haven't played particularly well since the opening game since Portsmouth - that's a fair judgement, and an important one. 

I'm sure Aidy's not daft; I've heard enough from him to make me believe that he's an idea of where he can take us. The worry we have is that we haven't shown any sort of form yet, and while Lady Luck has been on our side recently, it's not going to last forever. Sooner or later we're going to have to step up and make things happen for ourselves. There's the real test.

Once more, over to you lads. Woo us.

Argh rubbish, couldn't hold on.

While it wasn't an outstanding performance and nobody particularly stood out, for the majority I was pretty pleased with the endeavour of the boys. This didn't stop me from leaving the stadium angry yet again though.

I'll explain why. With 5 minutes to go, at home, against probably our biggest rivals in the league, for some inexplicable reason we were time-wasting. The players appeared entirely happy with a point, and showed little or no urgency to go for the winner.

The biggest example of this was Keiren Westwood. It's not the first time he's done it either. It might seem petty, but it really winds me up when with 1 minute to go he still thinks it's appropriate to spend 30 seconds lining up his kicks and general ambling around.

Leicester on the other hand were leaving players forward from corners (those crazy cats), rushing to take kicks, and really pushing on for that winning goal.

Now, I'm not saying we should have gone gung-ho. But to see the opposition showing far more drive to go for the win in our back yard is pretty demoralising.

That aside, there were positives. Eastwood returned to the team, and while he wasn't spectacular, he showed far more than we have been used to seeing from him. And he also offered a more involved outlet than McIndoe, which isn't surprising.

Best once again showed that he his a top striker in the league. And if it wasn't for the referee (who appeared to have a ridiculous vendetta against him), he probably would have found himself with a few more chances to continue his scoring form.

Sammy started nervously, but got more involved as the game went on... and his goal was another peach. As he was stood over the ball, you just got the feeling he was going to test the keeper. What I was most impressed about was how it was so different to the free-kick against Preston. While that was all power, this was sheer precision. It's nice to know we've got some variation.

On a less positive note, Stephen Wright is still causing the defence some real mischief with his inability to win any challenged headers. I'll give him his due, he smashed more than enough balls out of play when they came to him. But the man is very slow, and nowhere near as imposing as the manager would like to have us believe.

It was a good opportunity to get us into the play-off places, but we failed to do that. Having said that, does anyone remember the very same time last year, beating Southampton 4-1 and going 6th in the league? The next game after the international break we lost away at Wolves and it was the beginning of the demise.

So if we're actually looking for us to avoid the same sort of season as last year, maybe avoiding going 6th again is some sort of cryptic indication of how our season is going to be different?

Or maybe it's just me clutching at even more ludicrious straws..who knows!