With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joining Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy on 19 Premier League goals this season, this article discusses how to rejuvenate the Fox.
Since the restart, Leicester City man Jamie Vardy’s lead as the Premier League top goalscorer has dissipated. With two goals in Arsenal’s 3-0 victory against Norwich, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has joined the Foxes front-man on 19 goals for the season.
There’s also Danny Ings on 18 goals. Southampton’s striker has been in red-hot form post lockdown, scoring an average of one goal per game.
On the contrary, Vardy hasn’t scored since the restart. It’s partly the reason Leicester City have been struggling to win games, without a consistent scorer of goals, Rodgers has struggled to find another avenue capable of supporting Vardy – who has only managed seven shots on target in 2020, even by his standards of outperforming his own xG (expected goals), this is a dry spell.
In fact, taking a look at the three games after the restart; Watford, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Everton, Vardy has a combined xG of 0.25, from three matches. That’s catastrophically low, if you take the games individually, he had a 0.18 xG versus Watford, a 0.07 xG versus Brighton & Hove Albion, and an abysmal 0.00 xG versus Everton last night.
So, what does Rodgers need to change, to ensure that Vardy and the Foxes start scoring as freely as they did during the early stages of the season?
There’s a misconception that Vardy’s not getting involved in the game enough, he’s being left isolated and thus is struggling to get goals.
This is partially true, Vardy isn’t getting involved in the game, however, that’s never been the case, in fact, during his prolific stages of this season, Vardy would very rarely touch the ball outside of shooting opportunities.
This lack of involvement shouldn’t be alarming. What the Foxes need to rectify is how few shooting opportunities are available to Vardy and the quality of these chances.
Using the Everton game as an example, Leicester City attempted 35 crosses (of which only three were successful) into a box dominated by Michael Keane and Mason Holgate. Even if the Foxes completed a higher percentage of their crosses, Vardy was never going to score from one.
At a push, he would’ve made one of them half a chance, but given his 5’9” stature he’s never been considered dangerous in the air. Instead, the Foxes should be focusing on making runs to the byline and cutting it back.
Leicester City and Brendan Rodgers have practically designed a team fit for utilising the cutbacks. Two quick, offensive wide players – Harvey Barnes and Ayoze Perez – capable of making runs behind the oppositions fullbacks.
Two fullbacks – Ben Chilwell and James Justin – who are comfortable advancing, and both pose quality deliveries, albeit inconsistently.
A striker like the No.9 is sharp and smart enough to make runs between the centre backs, into spaces left by the defenders. A central midfielder in James Maddison, who should be making late runs into the box. Both are perfect fits for combining with a cutback cross.
Another faucet that could help Vardy is a strike partner, of which Kelechi Iheanacho is a perfect fit. For the majority of the season, Vardy played the solo-striker role expertly in the 4-1-4-1 formation, however, teams have began to understand just how the Foxes like to progress play inside this structure.
In recent games, Rodgers has started using an asymmetrical 4-1-2-1-2, operating with just one winger. This allows space for Iheanacho to play in close proximity to Vardy, which was particularly positive versus Everton – the Foxes played a tremendous second half with the two partnered up top.
I expect Rodgers to use this against Crystal Palace at the weekend, even if it’s later on in the second half, although I hope we start the game in this fashion.
Undeniably, Vardy will get more chances in the system. The ball is more reliably in the oppositions half, as there’s more players committed to the attack, so in the recycling possession process, the ball has to go forward more frequently to keep hold of the ball.
I think the largest boost to Vardy’s goal-scoring chances comes from the performances in midfield. There’s been a lack of creation recently, this is mainly due to static movement, but also can be attributed to the plethora of midfield setups Rodgers has tried in recent games.
By experimenting and rotating the team, Rodgers has subconsciously removed the fluidity in the midfield. There’s no longer that natural understanding of where players will be operating, as midfield partnerships are being created on a weekly basis, the Foxes need some consistency.
Hopefully, Rodgers will have noticed the excessive amount of unsuccessful crosses and tell the wingers to alter their focus. Deeper wing play combined with cutbacks should result in a better success rate, not only for Vardy, but for Leicester City as a whole.