How Leicester City outclassed Bournemouth for their display of the season

Leicester City found another vital piece of the jigsaw beating AFC Bournemouth 3-1 at the King Power Stadium.

Brendan Rodgers has struggled to figure out his strongest line-up since taking over the reins in February earlier this year. During his time, he has tried a number of formations: either a 4-1-4-1, a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1.

In any of those given formations, Leicester have been able to play two wingers and three central midfielders. The midfield compositions do, however, vary depending upon the formation.

With the 4-3-3, you don’t have a recognise defensive midfielder. With the 4-1-4-1, you get a single defensive midfielder who plays behind the two central midfielders.

The final formation variant is the 4-2-3-1, which accommodates two defensive midfielders. They sit in between the fluid attacking three and just in front of the backline.

Normally, Rodgers has operated with a 4-1-4-1. There was a slight experiment against Sheffield United as he used a narrow 4-1-2-1-2 with four midfielders and no wingers.

At Bramall Lane, the formation earned Leicester all three points, even if only “just”. The introduction of Harvey Barnes was vital.

It was the adjustment of formation, revisiting one that allows for wingers that helped Leicester regain their lead and go on to win the match.

Against Bournemouth, Rodgers returned to his favourable setup, the 4-1-4-1. Barnes and Marc Albrighton played out wide, with Dennis Praet and Hamza Choudhury making way for the duo.

Leicester instantly looked more comfortable, not only in possession with better options closer to the ball but also defensively – as wingers in a Rodgers’ teams are fully aware of their defensive responsibilities. The composition seemed to suit the progression of the ball more so than a formation focused on providing midfield strength.

Leicester looked to progress the play through their full-backs. Almost every progression from defence against the visitors was through the full-back.

Ben Chilwell and Ricardo Pereira are the usual candidates to progress play, so a shape that allows for wingers to play close to the full-backs is essential for Rodgers. It gives more options in advanced areas of the pitch to receive the ball and push forward.

Without wingers, the play seems to stagnate in the central third of the pitch and ultimately forces horizontal pathways until a gap appears in the opposition’s midfield line.

As seen in the win last weekend, Leicester created good chances and lots of them. Arguments will be made that the eventual 3-1 scoreline was an unfair representation of how dominant the home side were, having two to three more good opportunities to extend the lead further.

Most of Leicester’s creativity comes from out wide, although ironically, it was the central areas that proved to be the source for all three goals. It is important to understand, though, that this still is a by-product of playing a formation with wingers – they’re designed to stretch the pitch and occupy opponent’s defences.

Without Barnes creating problems for Adam Smith, Jamie Vardy would have struggled to isolate both the Bournemouth defenders for his opener. That said, any formation would have created that chance, you just need Vardy in your team – his first goal was the perfect demonstration of what he is as a forward.

For the second goal, makeshift left-back Nathan Ake was worried about Albrighton, meaning a sizeable gap appeared between him and centre-back Steve Cook. Vardy exploited this by making a diagonal run into the area behind Ake’s position. The rest was pure tenacity and quality to find Youri Tielemans. who also showed a desire to beat his man and find the net.

The final goal also can have some credit for the wingers. Even though there was no direct involvement by Demarai Gray, the sole winger on the pitch for the final 20 minutes, it’s the advanced positioning of a formation with wingers that allow the press to initiate so high up.

Leicester were able to suffocate Bournemouth within their own box. They had James Maddison, Vardy, Gray and Pereira all pressing the opponent backline and the inevitable mistake came, after some great work from Maddison. The second goal saw Tielemans become the provider and Vardy the scorer.

It has been utter domination from Rodgers’ men, as they remain undefeated one month into their campaign. Out of the opening four games, this was Leicester’s best. And the starting XI didn’t even have Ayoze Perez, Choudhury, Praet or Gray. Frightening.