Is there a blueprint forming on how to beat Leicester at home?

However, the main issue for the Foxes and the reason why they’ve been losing games at home that they “should be winning” is because of the possession rotations and stagnant movement in the final third. I’ll explain this fully below.

It’s highly likely that travelling teams, in particular those that reside in the lower-end of the table, will adopt a deep-block versus Leicester City. The system is fairly simple; remain compact, push the Foxes into playing through the wings, and transition the ball quickly to create chances on the counter – it’s worth mentioning that this approach also deserves praise from Foxes fans, as it’s an integral reason for Leicester City’s exceptional victories on the road this season.

To beat a deep-block you need a couple of core ideologies. Firstly, in possession you need to rotate the ball quickly – even when playing sideways, as you want to disrupt and move the defensive block to enable spaces to form in between the lines. This requires two things, a fast tempo to your build-up and a clever usage of passing lanes. Unfortunately for Rodgers, Leicester City didn’t utilise either of these.

Looking at passing lanes, when the ball was with the left-centre-back (Christian Fuchs) he’d make a pass into Jonny Evans (centre-back), rather than utilising Wesley Fofana (right-centre-back). This may seem “nit-picky”, but I’ll explain its relevance. When a block is pressing, they don’t want to be shifted from side-to-side (the extremities), they want micro movements that are easy to synchronise across all outfield players.

If you play the ball to the immediate passing lane (LCB to CB) you’re allowing the block to make a slight adjustment and maintain their compactness. However, if you bypass the initial option and play two-to-three passes further, you’re shifting the block with more purpose (LCB to RWB/RCB) and thus creating spaces in the block. It’s difficult to track the movements of the ball and also the attacking players when the play is being shifted with more conviction.

Obviously it’s not as simple as just that, it will probably take a couple of smart passes in a row to form a gap – which players like Maddison thrive in, but the Foxes rarely shifted the ball further than their immediate short option, and Fulham found this very easy to adapt too. The same can be said about the previously mentioned home games, as this is an issue that has been reoccurring in fixtures where Leicester City control possession.

Contrast this to the away victories, you’ll see quicker transitions that are facilitated by playing more direct passes. Think back to Arsenal (away) and Youri Tielemans’ pass into Ünder (who was two-three passes away), that unlocked the Gunners’ defence and created the only goal of the game. It’s fundamentally harder to find spaces when you’re controlling the ball, but that’s why the core principle of fast tempo and smart passes are integral into unlocking this type of structure.

In all honesty, the game against Fulham was a massive underperformance from all players connected with Leicester City – aside from Justin, in my opinion. It’s always difficult to get results in the Premier League when you don’t play to 100 per cent, and that was clearly shown. Thankfully, the Foxes midweek trip to Ukraine comes after qualification in the UEFA Europa League, so key players can have a well-earned rest ahead of an important game against Sheffield United next weekend.

I anticipate that Rodgers will revert back to a complimentary wing partnership for the game against the Blades, and we may see the likes of Timothy Castagne or Ricardo Pereira back in the squad. It’s easy to forget that the squad is still lacking crucial players at the moment. But, the bottom line is that the Foxes had enough quality to beat Fulham, yet they didn’t show it. Onwards and upwards.