Leicester City have stayed in the top four longer than any club, and once again fallen at the final hurdle. That won’t happen next season, here is why!
As reported by LeicestershireLive, 242 days is how long Leicester City held top four, where they held every single position from first to fourth throughout the campaign. By the midway point, Brendan Rodgers’ side were looking dead set on not letting last season haunt them.
Our first ever FA Cup, the longest time we have spent in top four, and the continuation of Europa League football are the highlights of our season.
This was a rollercoaster of a season, so let’s review the season and explore where improvements are needed to push beyond Europa League and into Champions League.
What went wrong for Leicester City?
Most of the King Power outfit’s season was fantastic. From exciting and incisive football, to assured defensive performances and resounding felling of top six rivals.
We had the famous victories over Manchester City and Liverpool, and the resurgence of a newly confident Kelechi Iheanacho.
And let us not forget the historic Emirates FA Cup victory for the Foxes, won with a joint Kasper Schmeichel and Youri Tielemans masterclass. Such a moment has got to be the highlight of a great season.
And yet still Leicester were pegged back once more. This was no bottling or failure, there are a mixture of issues which culminated in an inability to see the task through to the end.
First, we had the injuries. Oh, how those injuries came at the worst time and destroyed our ecstatic form.
At some point in our season, we have seen Barnes, Justin, Maddison, Wilfred Ndidi, Dennis Praet, Ayoze Perez, Wesley Fofana, Jonny Evans, Caglar Soyuncu, Ricardo Pereira, Timothy Castagne, Jamie Vardy, and Daniel Amartey injured or completely ruled out.
The only senior first team members not to fall victim at some point were Schmeichel, Youri Tielemans, Iheanacho, and Marc Albrighton.
Second, we had a couple of terribly unlucky games. The defeats to West Ham United (TWICE) and Newcastle United standout as games where everything happened against the run of attacking play, or our defenders made one of their very few mistakes.
Should any of these unlucky games had been turned into draws or wins, then the Foxes may well have clinched top four by a whisker.
Where Leicester must improve: game mentality
During the 2019/20 season, the King Power side had an issue with winning away from home. They would sit back too much and would fail to see games through from winning positions.
The opposite was true of the 2020/21 season. Away from home, the Foxes were deadly, only losing from a winning position once (Leeds United) and would incessantly gain points from losing positions.
However, the same cannot be said for home matches, where Rodgers’ team would struggle to break down opposition low blocks and get caught all too often on the counter. This issue only intensified when Praet, ‘Madders’ and Perez were injured, meaning we lacked a creative core.
Additionally, in far too many matches, the first halves were lethargic, indecisive, weak, and uninspired. They waited until second halves to become a fatal goal machine.
So, this must improve next season. A consistent game mentality throughout the course of matches both at home and away. They need to control games from the get go, be fearsome from the start, and have a little less patience about them in the creation of chances.
Seeing games through at home and away is critical to getting top four. Just look at Manchester United. We would not say they have had their best season, but they grinded results when they had to, and got the points away from home. We have to do the same when necessary.
Where Leicester must improve: transfers
It is blatantly obvious to any pundit or supporter that if the Foxes had more depth in key areas, the injuries would not have cost us so palpably. Here are those positions, and potential signings to bolster the squad.
Right-wing. We turn our attention first to the right-side of the pitch, where Leicester literally had one in-favour winger throughout the season – Albrighton. Cengiz Under was available, but was out of favour for some reason. Ricky P can play there, but is better is a right back.
We need a trusted right winger, which only means we need to either sign a young prospect, an experienced winger, or bring one of our loan players back. Kamal Sowah should feature at the King Power next season, hopefully joined by either Noni Madueke or Jonathan Ikone, though Emiliano Buendía would be a much better option (probably too expensive).
We also need a left winger. With Demerai Gray being sold, and Barnes injured, we only have youth team players who are out and out left wingers. For me, LOSC Lille’s Jonathan Bamba is the best option, with Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo another option should they fall at the final promotion hurdle.
In attacking midfield, Dennis Praet may wish to leave to get Frist team football, while Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will return from his loan at Luton Town. Reinforcements may be needed though. The coveted Michael Olise from Reading or the experienced Alex Mowatt from Barnsley are potential options from the Championship.
Leicester City could also do with a striker. Either one to replace Jamie Vardy or one to compete with ‘Seniorman Kels’. The former would be Odsonne Edouard from Celtic, the latter Gerard Moreno from Villarreal, Tammy Abraham would be a league proven striker.
The withdrawal of Christian Fuchs means Leicester have one left-footed left-back in the senior team – Luke Thomas. Shane Flynn is coming through the youth ranks, but will not be ready for league football next season. Robin Gosesns is the obvious target, though Owen Wijndal from AZ in the Dutch league has been brought to my attention.
I must also remind the Foxes faithful that Leicester are already looking into a more defensive-minded midfielder. One who could rotate with Tielemans or Ndidi, though I would personally prefer a different Youri-like rotation option. The likely signing is Boubakary Soumare.
However, one out of the blue option would be Frank Onyeka – a Nigerian midfielder for FC Midtjylland. He is young at 23, but helps his team to about 1.94 points per game that he plays in, thanks to his defensive awareness. By comparison, our Ndidi (who has played more games) gets about 1.88 points per game.
These are the positions I would highlight for improvement, with several targets already in talks. UCL is not some wild dream, we can get it and we will get it. Say it with me, Foxes never quit!