Brendan Rodgers hits rock bottom at Leicester City

Groundhog day is a phrase that seems to sum up Leicester City’s performances at the moment. Thursday night brought yet another defeat for the Foxes as Mahir Emreli’s goal was the difference between Leicester and Legia Warsaw.

For those who didn’t watch the game, you didn’t miss much- it was dire. Leicester probably didn’t deserve to lose the game but there was a worrying lack of chances created as well as further defensive mishaps. Creating just 1.51 Xg from 18 shots on goal against a side 15th in the Polish League doesn’t make good reading. The defensive displays of Jannik Vestergaard and Caglar Soyuncu certainly didn’t make for good watching, with the absences of Jonny Evans and Wesley Fofana keenly felt.

It seems like the nightmarish football that was a hallmark of late Claude Puel sides has returned. For most of the game, Leicester will concede an early goal then proceed to pass the ball from side to side with little penetration or guile.

As the game goes on, the Foxes will eventually try to attack the game by which time it’s mostly too late. Mostly this is done ineffectively with endless wasted corners and crosses into the box. In a few sentences, this sums up all too many Leicester City performances in the recent past.

Looking at things from a longer-term perspective highlights even more concerns. In the last half-season, LCFC have picked up 24 points from 19 games- the 12th best in the league. This is not top-6 challenging form at all! There’s a strong argument that many of this season’s problems were present last year, but that the form of Kelechi Iheanacho helped paper over the cracks. Unfortunately ‘Seniorman’ can’t impact the game when he isn’t actually on the pitch!

Of course, there are mitigating factors such as the injury disasters LCFC have suffered over the calendar year but this doesn’t hide the fact that Brendan Rodgers needs to change things. Of course, the manager will have the final say and is the most qualified person to make decisions but one persistent issue of Rodgers would probably be his stubbornness.

Einstein’s definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. At times, it does seem Rodgers fits that description. It’s worth saying that anyone wanting Rodgers to be sacked now is also insane. Who else (realistically) could LCFC bring in? Instead, one must hope Brendan is willing to abandon what is not working and spark new life into this talented Leicester City side.