Leicester City: What’s behind their current slump?

Four losses from six in the Premier League and Leicester City’s distant title-hopes evaporate and with it, a possibility of an unwanted scramble for UEFA Champions League football.

The Foxes picked up inevitable (perhaps) back-to-back losses against league leaders Liverpool and reigning champions Manchester City, but the most recent back-to-back defeats come against opponents of a different stature.

Southampton came to the King Power Stadium and managed to come back from behind, but the loss at Turf Moor was unexplainable: it came against a side that had lost ten of their last fourteen in all competitions.

A cryptic post-match interview from Brendan Rodgers slightly addressed the absences of Hamza Choudhury and Ben Chilwell, but the performances of their replacements were adequate and wouldn’t have caused any alterations to the final score.

Regardless, the congested festive period has come and gone, and the Leicester faithful will be happy to the see back of it. The intensity of the Christmas fixtures could be considered a factor behind the performance, but in Rodgers’ own words:

"“We had a tough game in midweek, but I don’t really want to use that because if we’re going to succeed going forward, we have to have that robustness, we have to have that strength to keep going”."

Tiredness is something that Leicester have to become accustomed to, otherwise, the gruelling schedule of mid-week European football could have devastating consequences next season. However, fatigue wasn’t the only issue against Sean Dyche’s side.

Leicester found themselves competing with runaway leaders Liverpool by playing fast and rotating triangles all across the pitch. There was unpredictability in their play, aided by a plethora of creativity from each position, causing every opponent they faced an increasing difficulty.

Lately, that rhythmic, fast-paced style has digressed to a slow, horizontal-focused possession style that many of the Leicester City faithful would attribute to the Claude Puel era, which Rodgers has tried to stray very clear of.

The situation is amendable and shouldn’t alarm fans. Performing to the level of the start of the season was impossible for an entire campaign – unless your manager is Jürgen Klopp.

In recent matches, Leicester’s left side has not been in sync, with Harvey Barnes being the key contributor to that, as his interior movement has left Chilwell isolated in possession.

He still was one of the better performers away last week, though. His individual performances are pivotal to the team at the moment and his pace combined with a direct approach make him a  threat for full-backs one-on-one. Barnes has been lacking some confidence in recent games but scoring and earning a penalty should help.

The changes to the midfield composition have also disrupted the fluidity. The injury to Wilfred Ndidi and the exhaustion of Youri Tielemans has resulted in multiple changes in the heart of the midfield – with no real success.

The by-product of these unfamiliar midfield partnerships is the slower style of football Leicester have been playing.

Let’s hope the current form is only temporary. Leicester were unlucky to leave Burnley with zero points.

As frustrating as the current brand of football is, the fitness level of the first-choice starting XI isn’t far away from being back to its best and with this, the silkier, progressive fluidity comes back to the midfield.