Brendan Rodgers showed how difficult of a dilemma it is for Leicester City to field wingers in their current iteration. His starting XI against Arsenal didn’t include a single winger, but his double change at the break included both Harvey Barnes and Ademola Lookman. So, how and why did he make it work?
Leicester weren’t good enough in the first half against Arsenal, and found themselves (deservedly) two goals down at the break. A shift in personnel — and system — was the reaction from Rodgers, who had initially opted for a 3-4-1-2 with only wing-backs providing width.
The adjustment facilitated a switch in structure, to the established 4-3-3, and the simplistic narrative of the fixture would suggest the Foxes performed better in the second-half, thus meaning this formation was better. However, as much as I agree with this sentiment (for this fixture specifically), I do also believe the game state — of which Arsenal were comfortably ahead — did tweak both sides offensive aggressiveness in the match, and this does aid a somewhat false narrative.
The stark differences in performance were marginally down to the switch in structure, more predominantly down to the personnel included off the bench, and quite heavily weighted by Arsenal resistance to press high (due to their lead) and consequently conceding space and time to the Foxes — something they weren’t afforded in the opening 45 minutes.
It was quite apparent the initial starting XI from Rodgers was designed with central penetrations in mind, almost entirely through passes. With only a single player in width, one of which was Luke Thomas — a safer, more regressive passer versus a robust, ball-carrying Ricardo Pereira, who was injured for the game, the Foxes were limited in how dribbling dependant they could be in possession.
The focal point of the 3-4-1-2 formation is with the number 10, ordinarily James Maddison, whose profile is that of a line-breaking passer. His application was to receive between Arsenal’s lines (inside of their block) and circulate into the two forwards — Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho. Infrequently, he’d also have creativity in width, when LCFC were able to push their wing-backs forward and utilise them in the final third.
As a general rule, Arsenal’s defensive-midfield double pivot, Thomas Partey and Albert Sambi Lokonga, were tasked with removing this option in the centre whilst also being in a numerical advantage in possession — forcing them to receive in early stages of their play to get through Leicester City’s press. Both of them did this job adequately and the lack of movement from Maddison and other Foxes midfielders/forwards made their day of screening him as an option a lot easier.
To combat this nullifying in approach, Leicester needed to offer something different in possession. They could look to play long, but without a physical presence in the front line, would exclusively lose possession to one of the Arsenal centre-backs. The other avenue would be to carry possession and beat an opponent before passing, to unlock previously covered angles of passing — like Maddison in midfield.
Despite requiring a different dimension to just passing (and very few vertical passes), the Foxes only managed to complete a single dribble in the first-half, out of three attempted. These numbers are atrociously low, as this gameweek, each team in the Premier League averaged 9.9 dribbles per 90 minutes, quite the disparity when compared with the abject performance of Leicester.
To solve this problem, Rodgers turned to both his ball-carrying wingers at half-time. Ademola Lookman and Harvey Barnes entered the fray, replacing third centre-back, Daniel Amartey, enabling a back-four, and also second-striker, Kelechi Iheanacho. The conundrum of how does Rodgers provide support for Jamie Vardy with an extra forward, and also fitting wingers into a sole system was quite poetically answered with these changes, simply put it doesn’t work.
With a second dimension (ball-carrying) to attack Arsenal, the Foxes offered more danger and offensive impetus in the second-half, with no impact on the result. The possession was “better” from City, but with more space and time — due to Arsenal sitting deeper in their block with a two-goal cushion, it’s hard to attest this to the structure adjustment.
There were a few chances for Harvey Barnes to score, often found after carrying possession before off-loading, and this does highlight the proficiency of attacking in this style. But, was the execution of the first-half system more of the issue rather than the system itself.
Playing short, building out of defence, and looking to find vertical passes throughout all thirds of the pitch, that’s a credible way of playing football. The issues Leicester ran into — and unfortunately have done so on numerous occasions this season — was the speed in which they rotated possession, the incisiveness and verticality, and the movement of the midfielders and forwards were all non-existent.
You can adjust the system and change the focus of attacks, leaning away from vertical passing to create chances and thus requiring ball-carrying and take-ons to fashion chances, but is this merely hiding an issue for the Foxes. The basic principles of attacking football are those aforementioned actions missing from Leicester’s possession. A theme that’s becoming increasingly prevalent as this seasons progresses.
Of course, east Midlands team aren’t strangers to a long injury list and that’s definitely thwarting how positive they can be in possession. Missing key players in defensive areas does subconsciously impact the midfield/forwards to play safer in possession — wary of giving turnovers frequently. However, as many reasons as I can provide for these unpredictable and frankly underwhelming performances, a lot of the finger pointing has to be at the coaching.
These issues aren’t systematic, they’re basic principles of football. We can address these problems by adjusting systems and personnel, and attempt to fill these gaps by exploring different avenues of attacking, but the coaching has to progress to a place where Leicester are executing these principles. That’s the biggest issue, and the one that needs rectifying first.