Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City were tactically superb against José Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur, in another Premier League victory away from home for the Foxes. The biggest positive to takeaway from the fixture at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is that they’ve developed a blueprint on how to beat teams that implement a deep-block.
In my last article, I ended the piece stating that José Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur was probably the “worst” fixture for Leicester City to face, after the Foxes endured a poor display at home versus Everton. I still stand by this sentiment, but I’m also happy to delve into Brendan Rodgers’ setup and dissect the game plan that gave his men another terrific three points on the road.
First and foremost, this game was unlike the other spectacles away from home. Mourinho has implemented a rigid defensive structure in his brief time with Spurs, and is finally seeing the benefits of the system during this season. This doesn’t mean his football is “negative” as he’s still giving creative freedom in counter-attacking scenarios to the most prolific duo in the league – Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane, and they’re seeing great results as a consequence.
In the other fixtures, Rodgers’ structure was focused around sacrificing possession and utilising the ball in fast-paced transitions. Against Manchester City, Arsenal, and Leeds United this worked well, as all three sides aim to control the ball – even if it’s in different ways. However, with Spurs, you’ve got a team that’ve enjoyed exceptional results with as little as 25% possession – this was a completely different beast.
To tackle this, Rodgers’ starting XI had to be tactically adaptable, but also explosive in the final third. The return of Timothy Castagne was pivotal, as his positional flexibility – along with others in the squad – allowed Leicester City to setup their initial eleven in anywhere between three and four different formations depending on the scenario (phase) in the match.
In possession, the Foxes built attacks inside of a 4-2-3-1, a formation they’ve seen some success against deep-blocks in. Out of possession, Leicester could revert to a 3-4-3/5-4-1 – the formation they utilised during the heights of their injury woes. To enable this, the two defensive-midfielders in the 4-2-3-1 – Youri Tielemans and Wilfred Ndidi – became the double pivot in the centre. Attacking-midfielder, James Maddison, would push out-wide and Harvey Barnes (starting as the left-midfielder in the 4-2-3-1) would accompany him.
In the starting XI, Marc Albrighton was operating as one of the wingers inside the 4-2-3-1, but his transition into an all-round wing-back has been exemplary this season, and that’s a by-product of elite coaching brought in by Rodgers. Therefore, he naturally dropped into the wing-back position and created a defensive five with the initial starting back four. This allowed Leicester City to be very adaptable when Spurs were in possession, but also defensively resolute. With Belgian-international, Castagne, back in the side, you’ve got an excellent attacking outlet from deep as well.
This still wasn’t the entirety of Rodgers’ formation scope. In fact, the Foxes pressed in a different formation as well, utilising a 4-4-2 – with Maddison helping Jamie Vardy press the Tottenham Hotspur defensive line. The reason for this was to initiate an energetic counter-press that would suffocate Spurs into misplacing a pass, or forcing the ball long – which worked to perfection when the game was still level. Having two forwards inside the first pressing line was integral in this plan, hence Maddison’s adaption.
For the majority of the first-half, Leicester City controlled the game. This was predominantly territorially, as the ball was fairly evenly split between the two sides (46% for Spurs and 54% for Leicester at half-time). During the possession phases, Rodgers’ side rotated the ball exceptionally quick – which was very pleasing to see, and would always utilise a progressive passing lane if it was available. There was an unprecedented level of risk-taking whilst in possession and this was a key principle in the game plan.
This is where the blueprint comes in. Mourinho’s managerial style is often best described as “anti-football”, in that he’s reluctant to follow the status quo regarding possession and its importance. As a statement, he’s often deployed his teams to negate ball control and play like the “inferior” team. As I’ve already mentioned, he’s perfected this ideology with Spurs this season.
The deep-block style, a pragmatic term for Mourinho’s setup, has caused a multitude of problems for Leicester City this season, because teams will hold a compact shape out of possession and negate all passing lanes through them – making progressive football difficult to instigate. But, what if you give that team a lot more of the ball than they want? The Foxes’ risk-taking and high percentage of progressive passes – almost forcing the issue – made the game very turnover heavy, end-to-end if you will, and that benefited Leicester way more than it did Mourinho’s Spurs.
Essentially, Rodgers asked the Foxes to play through the lines quick, regardless of whether it netted a progressive play or a turnover in possession. Leicester City also utilised aerial balls into the channels for any of; Castagne, Barnes, or Albrighton to win versus their marker. What this did, was it either resulted in a successful aerial dual (allowing Leicester to receive possession inside the final third) or it gave Tottenham the ball back. However, this wasn’t negative – it was planned. Once Spurs regained possession they’d look to build an attack and leave themselves susceptible in the transitions.
I’d argue that Tottenham have some of the best counter-attacking threats in world football, and if this “blueprint” – giving them the ball and letting them cause their own downfalls, worked so effectively, surely utilising this against the “lower tier” sides in the Premier League, such as the clubs that have taken points at the King Power Stadium already, would be even more beneficial. Take the game against Brighton & Hove Albion as an example, Leicester didn’t play a high turnover style of game, but the early goal in their favour forced the Seagulls into playing a more progressive style of football – thus making the game end-to-end, and unsurprisingly the Foxes were easily victorious.
This style of football is being implemented by a specific club in the Premier League already, and it’s giving them a great deal of success. Liverpool are the biggest advocates of forcing turnovers in possession and consequently, counter-pressing (or gegenpressing) to reclaim the ball whilst their opposition is in transition. To enable this, they play a lot of crosses into the box from midway inside the attacking-half and aim to claim second balls. I’m aware that this isn’t an exact match for what Leicester City implemented versus Spurs, but it’s a clear philosophical similarity – and it’s working tremendously well for Jürgen Klopp’s side.
Optimistically, I think we’ve witnessed a clear tactical setup that works versus teams that sit deep and defend. The real test is to execute this when the next opportunity arises, which won’t be the Foxes next game – at home to Manchester United. Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side look to instigate control of the game rather than sacrificing the ball. This will consequently offer a different challenge, especially given their emphatic result against Leeds United at the weekend.
I think we can all agree that the Foxes need to translate their exceptional performances on the road into points at the King Power Stadium, and why not begin this transition against Manchester United. I will end this article the exact same way I did the last – if any manager can devise and execute a pre-match game plan then it’s Brendan Rodgers and Leicester.