MY ACCOUNT
Humbled 4-1 by rivals Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon, an already tough campaign for Leicester has hit a new low.
Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes have looked a shadow of their usually reliable selves this term and the Northern Irishman is now favourite with bookmakers to be the next top-flight boss axed.
With huge Premier League clashes against Liverpool and West Ham on the horizon later this week, we look at just what has gone wrong at the King Power Stadium.
Second best
The Foxes were not the only top-tier team to struggle against lower-league opposition in the FA Cup fourth round — but the manner of this latest defeat was startling.
Forest were not flattered by the 4-1 scoreline and the visitors’ miserly efforts saw Rodgers pull no punches in his post-match interview.
The 49-year-old said: “Our players have to look at themselves in the mirror and prove they are good enough to be here.
“A lot of players have to improve. It was an awful performance. I have to apologise to the fans. We needed physicality and authority and lacked it.
“There was a lack of hunger and you get destabilised when you make errors. That’s the first time since I’ve been here that I was embarrassed.”
Familiar feeling
Given Rodgers has generally defended his squad in the wake of criticism, it is telling that even he has lost patience with poor performance levels.
Fancied to compete strongly on four fronts coming into the new season, Leicester crashed out of both the Europa League and Carabao Cup before Christmas.
Having now exited the FA Cup too, all that remains is to hunt for a third-straight top-six finish — a big ask given they already trail seventh-placed Tottenham by 10 points.
And while the odd strong performance here and there has hinted at a potential revival, inconsistency has continued to rear its head.
By the 20-game mark of the 2018-19 Premier League campaign, they had lost only four games. At the same point last term, only five.
Fast forward to this season though and the Foxes have been beaten on eight occasions already.
Soft touch
If Rodgers truly is intending to shake his squad up, his backline looks like the place to start.
Leicester have the worst defensive record in the top half with 37 goals conceded — remarkably, that is 10 more than bottom-placed Burnley.
But expected goals data suggests they are fortunate not to have shipped even more.
Their 40.63 xG conceded is only better than relegation-threatened Newcastle, perfectly showcasing how easy the Foxes have been to breach this term.
The absences of Wesley Fofana and James Justin, both cruelly sidelined with long-term injuries, have unquestionably played a huge part in those struggles and the latter’s return last month was a welcome boost.
With Fofana also nearing a comeback, improvement in the weeks and months ahead is a reasonable expectation — but two absences should never have such a seismic impact.
The likes of Daniel Amartey and Caglar Soynucu could easily fall victim to a summer cull based on recent performances.
Lacking a spark
While Leicester’s attacking approach has always been a little more direct than the league’s leading lights, their underlying data has plunged to concerning levels this term.
They sit inside the division’s bottom five teams for final third passes attempted per 90 minutes, while their average touches per match is also down to 643 from 703 last term.
Simply put, the Foxes are seeing less of the ball and doing less with it.
James Maddison has long been Leicester’s creator-in-chief and his early-season form of one goal and no assists in his first 12 league appearances this term would have been giving Rodgers real cause for concern.
And while the 25-year-old is back firing with eight direct goal involvements in his last eight Premier League starts, he cannot shoulder the burden on his own.
With evergreen marksman Jamie Vardy sidelined for four more weeks, wide forwards Harvey Barnes and Ademola Lookman must become more dependable in terms of final-third output.
Short-term solutions
Comments about a need to freshen things up in terms of personnel may be accurate — but Rodgers also needs to find a way of improving things before the summer.
Though they may struggle to feel enthusiastic about it, a consolation spot in the inaugural Europa Conference League knockout stages presents arguably their most plausible route to European football next term.
Meanwhile, it is important for the Foxes to show they can still compete with the Premier League’s best on their day.
With four of their next five games against sides from the top eight, influential figures such as Maddison and Youri Tielemans need to lead by example.
Injuries and bad luck have played their part, but there is no doubting that standards have dropped in the East Midlands in recent months.
If Rodgers cannot raise them again quickly, he may find himself part of the exodus.
