POSSIBLE KEY ROLE FOR INCE ON LEFT WING AS REPLACEMENTS HIGHLIGHT BATTLE FOR PLACES

coach’s demeanour and comments after the match he was far from happy with Town’s performance against West Ham United.

He branded the 90 minutes “not good enough” and criticised his players for not being brave enough or confident enough, especially in possession.

Wagner rightly received the Premier League Manager of the Month Award for August and he has regularly demonstrated in the past he knows how to pick his squad up from a defeat.

The boss pointed to sloppy passing and needless mistakes for contributing to the defeat and his frustration was clear – so don’t be surprised if he’s got Town back to their gegenpressing best against Leicester City

Wagner stuck with an unchanged team against West Ham, meaning Tom Ince again operated as the No10 with Rajiv van La Parra on the left and Elias Kachunga on the right.

The head coach was restricted in choice by an injury to England Under 21 loanee Kasey Palmer which kept him out of the 18, although he did have new signing Abdelhamid Sabiri on the bench and used him 15 minutes from time as a replacement for Kachunga.

Playing either Palmer or Sabiri as No10 from the start would allow Ince to move wide left, where he caused so many problems for Southampton in the goalless draw at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Especially away from home, although Ince did have his chances raiding forward against West Ham and, indeed, hit the bar, Town may be stronger with the former Derby man on the left flank.

One of the highlights of the Premier League matches so far has been the crispness and accuracy of Town’s passing, but it went astray against West Ham.

Far too many passes didn’t find the target and, right from the off, Town looked too pedestrian and allowed West Ham to dominate in terms of tempo.

Had Town’s defence not been