The Fox Report - Notts County in Review as Burton Albion Lies Ahead

Notts County Review and Russell Martins’ radiant positivity

On Saturday, Leicester City kick started their League One campaign away at Notts County. Russell Martin fielded a youthful side, still with signs of the toxic few previous seasons.

Promising players such as Sammy Braybrooke, Will Alves and Jayden Joseph featured from the kick-off, although established first teamers; Oliver Skipp, Harry Souttar and Luke Thomas also appeared on Martin’s first league team sheet.

From the get-go, the defensive ability of the backline was obviously lacking with a heavy Alex McCarthy touch rebounded onto the Foxes’ crossbar within 6 minutes. Bobby De Cordova-Reid was met with a serenade of boos due to his fault in the defensive lapse, sending a hospital pass back towards the veteran goalkeeper.

Watch extended highlights from our season opener on PiesPlayer ⏪

— Notts County FC (@Official_NCFC) August 16, 2026

De Cordova Reid’s day went from bad to worse when he lifted the ball over the Notts County Goalkeeper, only to fall as the goal was left open, lacking the finishing touch. His performance was sub-par at best and his replacement, Admir Bristric, who was making his debut, was welcomed by the Foxes’ faithful.

Bristric looked promising yet had little outcome, his physicality was shown at glimpses and created more chances than De Cordova-Reid. He was constantly looking for the ball at his feet or making fast darting runs, which we have footage of similar play when he was linked with the club.

Leicester’s goal was a Seagrave combination, as youth prospects Sammy Braybrooke, Will Alves and Jayden Joseph combined with the latter rocketing a low shot almost through James Belshaw in the County net.

The need for defensive improvements was clear, which the travelling contingent vocalised.

Support on the road 💙 https://t.co/8i18AYLooU pic.twitter.com/JvtEZFvQgA

— Leicester City (@LCFC) August 15, 2026

Okoli and Souttar were both stood aimlessly as Notts hit the post from a counter attack, managing to walk through the backline getting onto their own deflection to equalise. The combination of the two centre halves and Oliver Skipp had my heart dropping an endless number of times.

Martin commented after the game “Lots to like and lots to work on” which is a massive understatement, yet positive to say around a younger team, his positivity will have different affects on different members of the squad, a correlation seen in the fanbase as well.

“We played against a really aggressive team … there will be so much learning from that” Martin went on to say.

This honesty yet not sugar coating goes down with mixed emotions from the fanbase, but I see a manager which sees the good in all adversity and that can be highly beneficial to a developing core of the squad.

After the game I heard numerous County fans disappointed that their team didn’t take all three points, a humiliating start to the League One campaign considering they scraped through the playoffs last season, gaining promotion back to League One after relegation in the 2014/15 season.

Burton Albion Preview

Looking ahead to our first home game of the season on Saturday against Burton Albion, I would like to see another youthful starting eleven named.

When the two sides faced out at the Pirelli Stadium last month in pre-season, the foxes comfortably earned a 3-0 win whilst missing a handful of clear chances.

Bristric showed more attacking promise in his cameo than Bobby De Cordova-Reid so I would like to see him get a full 90.

In front of you on home turf ✊#LEIBAL pic.twitter.com/qwz5CjpM6i

— Leicester City (@LCFC) August 19, 2026

It’s clear to see that we need to attack more ruthlessly and take our chances if we want to get out of this league, and players like Wes Burns, Tommy Watson and Harry Howell showed that against Notts County.

I think we need to start a positive and attacking based side against Burton and take the game by the scruff of the neck, as they looked poor against us last month and I think with a strong start we could put them to bed by half time in this one.

Both teams sit midtable after lackluster draws, with the Brewers dropping two points after a 90+1 equaliser from Stevenage at the Pirelli on Saturday.

With very little transfer news in the past few days, I believe we will see a similar lineup from Russell Martin, alongside his stubborn optimism and persistent tactical views seen at Southampton and Rangers, he rarely made numerous changes between starting elevens.

Dropping Bobby De Cordova-Reid will have a positive result with a more clinical front line and dropping Luke Thomas will bring defensive stability after a mediocre at best performance from the left back.

The front three have bags of pace and strength with lots of technical ability from Will Alves. He progressed the ball so much against Notts County and started most of our promising moves, the link up between him and Braybrooke was praised heavily amongst the terraces.

With that or a similar starting eleven I can see the Foxes coming away with all three points and earning them in style with a 3-0 win.

Predicted Line Up

• Jakub Stolarczyk

• Christian McFarlane

• Harry Souttar

• Caleb Okoli

• Jayden Joseph

• Oliver Skipp

• Sammy Braybrooke

• Liam Cullen

• Will Alves

• Wes Burns

• Admir Bristric

Potential Incomings and Outgoings at Leicester City

I think if a rumoured 10-million-pound valuation in matched by Sheffield United for Harry Souttar, we should rip their hands off, as he looked poor for Burton Albion’s goal last weekend as well as his poor passing out from the back and rigidness in tracking back in counter attack situations.

With his potential departure from the club alongside Wout Faes, we could see Kevon Gray step up from the under-21s, or 10th signing of the summer to replace the future defensive outgoings.

I think with the season long injury to Ben Nelson we’d be foolish to go into the upcoming season with Caleb Okoli as the only senior centre half, we need two new centre backs and pronto.

With Middlesborough and Rangers sniffing around Stephy Mavididi, I also think his tenure at the club has come to an end, he looked bored at best in pre-season and looked as if he didn’t want to be at the club anymore