How Leicester’s tactical flexibility bodes well for the future

A historic evening at The Emirates saw Leicester City emerge victorious in North London for the first time in 47 years, whilst simultaneously claiming three straight away wins for the first time in the clubs history.

Aside from breaking records, Leicester City showed the footballing world the calibre, and depth of their tactical approaches, as Brendan Rodgers reverted to a 3-5-1-1 formation – a very similar structure to the team that dismantled Manchester City three Premier League games prior.

The ideology for the two fixtures was identical, but the systems were ever so slightly different. Against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, the Foxes deployed a 5-4-1, with a lone striker of Jamie Vardy, but without a recognised attacking-midfielder. This time out, it was a 3-5-1-1 with a definite attacking-midfielder in James Maddison, but a bigger vacancy up-front, as Harvey Barnes played through the middle instead of the talismanic Vardy, who made the bench after an injury ruled him out of the UEFA Europa League tie in the week.

This is where the Rodgers deserves all of the plaudits. He started the fixture without a striker, but was well aware of Vardy’s late game potential. Barnes was almost deployed as a decoy, filling the spaces Vardy would operate in, so the shape could remain similar – he would also offer the same pace in transition. The idea wasn’t to provide Barnes with goal-scoring opportunities, he’s nowhere near as clinical as Vardy, instead he was utilised as a filler, until the 60 minute mark.