As Leicester City limped to their first defeat for 6 weeks against an impressive Leeds United, the post-mortem predictably centres around one man. But does Jamie Vardy’s absence get overstated too often in favour of some more accurate criticism?
As Leeds United took a much deserved 3 points back to Yorkshire a familiar name appeared in the post match criticism. Jamie Vardy, arguably the greatest striker to wear the Leicester number 9 shirt was notable by his absence. The general assumption thrown around is that with the legendary man in the side Leicester City would almost certainly have won and he would most certainly have scored. This is a common assertion that in the days of social media is easily amplified by hysteria.
A recent hip operation and absence could well be a sign of things to come so this may be something Leicester fans need to get used to. Vardy’s age of 34 shouldn’t disguise his normally fit as a fiddle physique but the clock is ticking on Vardy’s time at the club and the sooner we get used to that the better.
The former-England man’s recent form, particularly at home has been less than impressive and he was equally as ineffective in three of the other four home defeats this season. That’s not to ignore his normally great leading of the line that causes defenders lots of headaches.
Replacement Ayoze Perez worked tirelessly, dropping deep to win the ball and bring others into play. He had a goal disallowed (rightly) for offside and forced 2 decent saves from the Leeds goalkeeper IIIan Meslier. But his game wasn’t without flaws, missing simple passes and getting knocked off the ball too easily. He also can’t match Vardy’s desire for playing off defenders shoulders and the Leeds back line were comfortable for the most part in those areas. It could be argued that Perez isn’t really even a striker with much of his best games coming when playing behind a striker in the number 10 role or even out wide.
Many will be annoyed that Kelechi Iheanacho wasn’t brought on late in the game but the Crystal Palace game can’t be forgotten easily. Iheanacho being the main reason Leicester didn’t emerge from Selhurst Park with 3 points. Rodgers certainly seems to favour Perez over the frustratingly inconsistent Kelechi Iheanacho but in truth neither of those players play anything like Vardy. But then who does?
With Vardy’s recent form in front of goal drying up, midfield runners have been more than willing to weigh in with goals. Harvey Barnes scored yet another fantastic goal this afternoon linking up well with James Maddison. But there was little to no creativity beyond that with many of Leicester’s openings being from long range. Maddison in particular had a very poor game compared to his recent displays (set pieces today being a particular annoyance) and Youri Tielemans was muted throughout. With Leeds aggressive press Wilfred Ndidi could have been seen as a bigger miss, his aggression and prowess may well have forced Leeds back further, with only Mendy doing much of the hard work and not always that well.
A few months ago Leicester embarrassed Leeds without Ndidi and with a back 5, this game saw Rodgers keep the same team and back 4 set up that drew with Everton (bar Mendy for Ndidi) and arguably this was a mistake. After Leeds found space down both flanks and peppered a flurry of shots at Schmeichel, Rodgers decided to go for 3 centre backs at half time. Strangely it had the opposite effect on the team with the midfielders playing far too deep and the centre backs desperately trying to get them going forward.
Dodgy Leicester City defending
Despite any blame on strikers and midfielders it can’t be ignored how bad Leicester’s defending was. Which is odd when a back three of Fofana, Evans and Soyuncu should be a more than capable back line. Schmeichel made some excellent first half saves to keep Leicester in it. However, Leeds first goal was far too easy for them to stroll into position with Fofana nowhere near tight enough to Dallas.
The build up to Bamford’s delicious goal was mainly attributed to a strange Jonny Evans clearance with Evans then playing Bamford onside and leaving Soyuncu in an impossible position to recover. The Turkish international was then strangely closing down on the wing as Leicester City left no defenders back as Bamford raced through before sliding in Harrison for a tap in.
So there were more than enough reasons that Leicester could have been better against Leeds that didn’t involve Jamie Vardy. This Vardy obsession all comes born from a deep-seated fear that Leicester are a one-man team and when Vardy’s departure inevitably happens they will revert back to type and spiral down the Premier League table. Not an entirely irrational fear.
Winning games in the No.9’s absence will help alleviate that fear, as will having a better approach to his impending absences. It’s not going to be easy to find a replacement but Leicester’s style of play isn’t all about one player. Leicester City lost against Leeds because too many players didn’t click. Let’s not make it all about Jamie Vardy again, it does a disservice to the quality the manager has worked hard to build at the club.