Leicester City Boss Brendan Rodgers has some difficult decisions to make as the Foxes charge into the business end of the season. Star players James Maddison and Harvey Barnes should only miss a few more games before they begin to make their way back to fitness – and also back into the manager’s thoughts.
The belated return of Dennis Praet was the cherry on the cake during Leicester’s demolition of Manchester United on Sunday and provides much needed cover in the middle of the park for the East Midlands side. With Ricardo Pereira and Cengiz Under also likely to be fit after the International break Leicester are likely to have a much deeper squad to pick from for the premier league run in and all important FA Cup semi-final.
With Wes Morgan and James Justin the only players that will remain side lined for a lengthy period this raises the question of who who the big winners and losers will be when it comes to grabbing a place on the team sheet.
The Winners at Leicester City
Three at the back is not a new style for Leicester but the current 3-4-1-2 variant deployed against Manchester United has been a successful experiment. Leicester have claimed some of their best victories of the season whilst playing with three central defenders this season including a 5-2 win against Man City , 3-1 against Liverpool, 3-0 against Brighton and the recent 5-0 thumping of Sheffield United. With this in mind and a lack of out and out wingers available it seems increasingly likely that wing backs could be the way forward for Leicester for the remainder of the season.
This is good news for Iheanacho who is much more likely to be involved if the current formation is here to stay and with nine goals in nine games the Nigerian striker is making himself close to undroppable. It is clear to see that having a strike partner is also benefitting Jamie Vardy who has looked much sharper and has been chipping in with assists and creating space for others even if he is on a dry spell in front of goal.
Another interesting positional battle is the fight for number 10 (and I don’t mean Downing street): James Maddison, Dennis Praet and Ayoze Perez are all returning to fitness and capable of playing behind the Foxes frontmen; Perez is currently occupying this spot in Brendan’s eleven but it’s hard to see anyone keeping James Maddison out who should relish the opportunity to play in the space created by the duo of Vardy and Iheanacho. Dennis Praet is likely to step back into his usual rotational role on the bench providing solid cover for multiple positions.
The Losers
It’s hard to imagine that prior to his injury Harvey Barnes’ starting spot would have been under any danger but with a best case return date of 24/02/2021 and an inform Iheanacho in front of him, it seems likely that Barnes will be eased back into the side to avoid any further complications. This could open the door for some bench minutes as a back up striker for Barnes who has played in advanced roles under Rodger’s this season.
The 3-4-1-2 formation is also bad news for fellow winger Cengiz Under who looks unlikely to get many more chances to impress as he falls down the pecking order and the search for a Mahrez replacement looks set to continue for another window at least. The versatility of Timothy Castagne, Ricardo Pereira and Marc Albrighton who are all capable of playing as full backs or wing backs gives Rodgers great flexibility in his current set up which further damages the case for Under who has struggled with the physicality of the Premier league.
Leicester’s bolstered ranks is of course a blow to the fringe players who have made cameos of varying importance over the season Christian Fuchs, Hamza Choudary, Papy Mendy, Daniel Amartey, Sidnei Tavares, Vontae Daley-Campbell and Thakgalo Leshabela have all played their part when called upon and deserve recognition for the jobs they have each done.
Amartey’s last gasp winner against Brighton and performances against Liverpool and Manchester City have been vital contributions to Leicester’s lofty league position but the return of the big guns will see a reduction in minutes for the Foxes brilliant backups.