The formation, transfer template that Leicester should follow

Brendan Rodgers decided to experiment with formations during the latter stages of Leicester City’s season, but I’d mainly accredit this to injured personnel and irregularities in the schedule having a profound impact on players fitness.

For the majority of the season, Leicester City played in a 4-1-4-1 formation. Out of the 38 game Premier League season, Rodgers opted for this formation 25 times. The other formations included the; 4-3-1-2 (twice), 3-5-2 (three times), 3-4-3 (three times), 3-4-1-2 (twice), 4-3-3 (once), 4-4-2 (once), and the 4-4-1-1 (once).

Of all the formations played more than a single game, the 4-1-4-1 has the second best record from last season. The 4-3-1-2 has a points per game average of 2, with a win versus Aston Villa (4-1) and a draw against Norwich City (1-1). Considering the number of games played in the 4-1-4-1, the points per game average is an impressive 1.64 – with 12 wins, 5 draws and 8 losses, and the Foxes best formation this season.

As stated earlier, Rodgers did deploy a variety of three at the back formations to close out the season, but I don’t expect the Northern Irishman to create his Leicester City team around this or a back five. This is for a couple of reasons, but the most pivotal reason being the unfamiliar territory of the formations with this current squad of players, and this is reflected heavily in the results.

When playing in a back four, the Foxes averaged 1.56 points per game, and also went undefeated in 73.3% of their 30 matches in these formations. In contrast, the back three formations netted Leicester City an average of 1.25 points per game and they lost 50% of their eight matches when adopting their back three formations.

It’s this reason alone that probably mitigates Rodgers from building his squad around a back three, so I’d expect either the return of the Foxes formidable 4-1-4-1, or it’s attacking variation, the 4-3-3. With this in mind, what sort of players should Leicester City be looking to acquire, to ensure they have the perfect profiles for either of these formations?