Foxes of Leicester
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West Ham 3-2 Leicester: Importance of omitted players costs Foxes

By Dominic Wells

Ricardo Pereira of Leicester City l(Photo by John Walton - Pool/Getty Images)
Ricardo Pereira of Leicester City l(Photo by John Walton - Pool/Getty Images) /
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Leicester City
Leicester City’s Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho (Photo by JOHN WALTON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /

Leicester City have been plagued by injuries, like most of the Premier League has been this season, albeit edging closer to a fully-fit squad as the season draws to a close. At the moment, the Foxes are without a few key players – James Justin and Harvey Barnes, without referencing those omitted from the West Ham United matchday squad.

Rodgers decided, in the absence of explosive winger, Harvey Barnes, to shift away from a formation and structure that places an emphasis on utilising the wings in the final third, for a narrow front three – with the wing-backs providing the width for his side. It’s a clever adaption, and has truly been rewarded with stellar performances from Kelechi Iheanacho – and with Ayoze Pérez playing well in the #10 role (while James Maddison was returning from injury).

Removing the focus of attacking through the wings, as Leicester City lack a profile such as Barnes’, enabled the Foxes to reach optimal performances through shifting their creativity centrally. That’s why this COVID-19 breach is so detrimental – the two “key” players involved were Pérez and Maddison. Without either in the starting XI, Rodgers opted for a robust Dennis Praet – but his natural positioning and gravity created a flat midfield three (as he played more like an #8 alongside Youri Tielemans, than as a #10).

So, upon reviewing the starting XI against the Hammers, Leicester City had little creativity in the wings (as the wing-backs play deeper than a forward would), a pragmatic midfield, and a front two that lacked a connecting player to get them involved in the game. In all honesty, it was a worst case scenario.

Perhaps the most potent piece of evidence that the Foxes lacked a #10, was when Marc Albrighton was introduced – an all-action winger whose conversion to a wing-back has been fairly successful, and he played as the makeshift attacking-midfielder (filling the void between midfield and attack) and probably could’ve taken the Leicester City “Man of the Match” award playing only 30 minutes.