Leicester City suffered a very disappointing defeat on the road as Bournemouth came from behind to dismantle the Foxes Champions League bid.
Jamie Vardy scored his 23rd goal of the season in the first-half in one of Leicester City better performances since the restart, which could have been complemented with more goals.
However, Brendan Rodgers’ decision to take off Kelechi Iheanacho at half-time for Dennis Praet in a “tactical switch“, damaged the momentum of the play in the second-half and was the start of the crumbling second-half performance.
Junior Stanislas tucked away a penalty after Kasper Schmeichel’s poor goal-kick cannoned off Wilfred Ndidi before the Nigerian conceded a penalty. Things got from bad to worse when Dominic Solanke put the Cherries ahead with his first Premier League goal for the club.
In a couple of minutes, the game had turned on its head and possibly the Foxes’ season. With Caglar Soyuncu being shown a red card for kicking out in the aftermath of Solanke’s goal, Bournemouth netted twice more to completely deflate the Foxes players.
With news breaking on Monday morning that Manchester City WILL play European football next season after they won their appeal, a top-four finish will be the only way for the East Midlanders to qualify for the Champions League next season.
But, what feels like a common question when discussing Leicester City, where did it go wrong?
The shocking decision to change at half-time
Let’s go back to half-time on Sunday evening. Leicester City were 1-0 up and playing similar to their early season form. The stats didn’t lie either. Rodgers’ side had 65% possession, 10 shots, five corners and had minimised Bournemouth’s attacking prospect with only one shot.
Fast forward 45 minutes later, the Cherries managed four goals in nine attempts. The possession also decreased to 56%.
Rodgers decided to replace Iheanacho at half-time with the midfield presence of Praet. A decision that back-fired, massively. It’s not that the Belgian performed bad and it’s his fault. Before the break, the link-up play with Ayoze Perez, Vardy and Iheanacho was sizzling and had created a number of opportunities. So the decision to take a striker off when everything was going to plan, seems odd.
Of course, the poor goal-kick, Soyuncu lashing out and the loss of the spirit within the players on the pitch played a vital part in the defeat. But the question is, would it had happened if there was no tactical switch at half-time? I do not believe it would: in the first-half, Bournemouth were struggling to make five passes together and were often caught in possession when transitioning the ball in defence and midfield.
The high press of Ndidi and Youri Tielemans back up with the consistent headers from Soyuncu and Evans had constantly caused Bournemouth problems. However, in the second-half, this changed. With the middle of the park being joined by Praet, Bournemouth utilised their wingers more. However, when questioned on the switch, Rodgers said that Iheanacho “wasn’t having one of his better games” and that Ndidi and Tielemans had a lot of space to cover in midfield.
I argue with Rodgers with that statement. First of all, Iheanacho had not done badly at all. If anything, he was one of our better players and looked confident on the ball.
Secondly, Bournemouth did not cause the Foxes many problems at all in the first-half. If anything, it felt like Bournemouth used the width more in the second-half than the first. Apart from David Brooks’ effort late in the opening 45 minutes, their wingers and full-backs rarely ventured forward to cause any problems.
Time to react for Leicester City
The defeat means that if Manchester United beat Southampton on Monday night, Leicester will drop outside of the top four for the first time since the 1-0 defeat to the Red Devils in September. The incredible drop by the Foxes has been made the most of from a in-form United, setting up a tasty fixture on the final day.
However, this group of players will be determined to correct their wrongs on Thursday against Sheffield United. Schmeichel owned up to his mistake in front of the Sky Sports cameras and apologised to the Foxes fans. A positive sign ahead of three vital games.
The fight within the squad has been a constant throughout the recent years of the club. With a number of players within the squad who kept the club in the Premier League before winning the title the following season, the players now have a job to bring the team back up and complete the finishing touches to this incredible season.
After already defeating the Blades at Brammall Lane in August – one of only five teams to do so in the Premier League – Leicester will want to get back to winning ways on Thursday.
Chris Wilder’s men have not won a league game on the road since their 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace at the start of February. However, 10 points out of a possible 12 have meant a European place is still up for grabs.
If Leicester City want to qualify for the Champions League, the defeat to Bournemouth needs to be forgotten and a victory on Thursday must come. Maybe the Europa League is better suited to the current King Power squad.