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The 2019/20 Premier League season has turned out to be a special one for the Leicester City fans. For the first time after their magical 2015/16 season when they won the Premier League, Leicester City are back in the top-4 bracket and in the conversation for a place in the Champions League next season.
The season started with a bang for Leicester City despite not having any realistic hopes for a European place. The Foxes played with conviction and discipline in the early parts of the season. That has made them one of the consistent names in the Premier League top-three alongside champions Liverpool and last season’s winners Manchester City.
As much as the start and the middle of the 2019-20 season were high flying for Leicester City, the last strides towards the finishing line are somewhat turning out to be an anti-climax for them. Since the Premier League restart, Leicester City have looked anything but formidable.
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Let’s take a look at a few key factors that may have derailed Leicester City in recent times after they made a strong start to the season.
Leicester City’s sense of overachievement
At the start of the season, if anyone had predicted that Leicester City would be in the Premier League top four, let alone in the third position, the fans would have happily embraced it.
Manchester City and Liverpool were always going to start as the favourites. Tottenham Hotspur came into the season as the Champions League finalists. Manchester United and Arsenal bolstered their squads while the appointment of club icon Frank Lampard as the Chelsea manager has rejuvenated the fortunes of the London club.
Leicester City seemed to be the dark horses and not even a team who would be in contention for Europe. However, week after week, as Chelsea battled with inexperience, Manchester United looked shaky at the back and Arsenal fought their demons, Brendan Rodger’s Leicester City made every win count to cement their place in the top 3.
The fans were overjoyed. Jamie Vardy was once again wearing his scoring boots. The Premier League got a new poster boy in James Maddison and Brendan Rodgers was being linked with the Arsenal job, thanks to his good work at Leicester City. Such was the gap between Leicester City and the fourth-placed team that they could afford to lose games in the middle of the season. But that is when the complacency crept in.
Leicester City lowered their guard. They looked content with drawing games they shouldn’t have while losing games left them unaffected. Much like the fans, a spot in the top 3 seemed like a privilege rather than a hard-earned achievement for Leicester City players.
Leicester City’s predictable strategy
Ever since the start of the season, Brendan Rodgers has managed Leicester City with a lot of flair. His team was built in a typical Brendan Rodgers manner – ‘Stay in charge of the ball, stay in charge of the match’. On the back of an impressive loan spell, Youri Tielemans was made a permanent player to bolster the Leicester City squad.
The freshness in the squad, however, could not sustain questionable and predictable on-field tactics. For his love for possession-based football, Brendan Rodgers preferred the 4-1-4-1 formation, playing from the back. Wilfred Ndidi played as the defensive cover while Youri Tielemans paired up with either James Maddison or Dennis Praet in midfield.
Since the festive period in December, Rodgers used the 4-1-4-1 formation eight times till the season was disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this period, Leicester City lost four games, won two while the two other games were drawn.
It was precisely in this period when Leicester City lost momentum in their campaign, allowing rivals like Chelsea and Manchester United to get close the gap in the race for a top-four slot.
At times, Rodgers did tweak his formation to 4-4-2 with a double pivot that included Dennis Praet and Wilfred Ndidi. Rodgers even experimented with a 3-man defence, but the results have been mixed.
Leicester City’s synchronised movement on the pitch fell apart, and their possession percentage dipped. When these formations didn’t yield the required results, Rodgers shifted back to his favoured 4-1-4-1 formation.
However, this brought in predictability to Leicester City’s game. Ricardo Pereira was an attacking asset as one of the midfielders took up defensive cover duties. The substitutions too were predictable. Harvey Barnes would step in at some point of time on the left flank while James Maddison continued to be the creative orchestrator for the team.
Leicester City’s predictability has been easily preyed upon by opposition teams. By blocking the creative supply from Maddison, Vardy’s goals drained off and all of a sudden, Leicester City’s high flying boys were grounded and hunted.
Just before the unscheduled pandemic break, Leicester City looked like a team in trouble, bottling a comfortable lead between them and the other teams and are now struggling to finish in the top four.
All is not lost for Leicester City
Even after their slump in recent game-weeks, all is not lost for Leicester City. Since the resumption of the Premier League, Leicester City are trying to claw their way back in contention for a top 4 finish.
Jamie Vardy has become the newest member in the 100 Premier League goals club and looks like he is hungry for goals. Although Ricardo Pereira, one of Leicester City’s star players of the season, is still out with an injury, Brendan Rodgers is slowly getting his team in the early season groove.
With a sudden spike in Manchester United’s form and Chelsea showing their spunk to get into the top 4, the race for Champions League qualification has intensified. Fortunately for Leicester City, their fate \still lies in their own hands.
With four games left in the season, Leicester City lead fifth-placed Manchester United by a point.
The former Premier League champions looked demotivated in the middle of the season, but now with fire in their belly as a Champions League place beckons, the Foxes are back in the hunt.
