As we enter another international break, Leicester City find themselves in a disappointing 12th position yet at the same time only two points off the top six. On other fronts, LCFC have reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup but are struggling in Europe. As a result, Brendan Rodgers is facing his first serious questions from elements of the Foxes support. Once again, it’s too early to even contemplate sacking the boss, yet there is something that just isn’t working and needs changing.
Individually Leicester possess some of the better defenders in the league, so it’s baffling that these players are unable to work together effectively. FOL endeavours to put forward the potential reasons for Leicester’s defensive mishaps in this campaign.
The statistics:
First, let me warn you these don’t make pretty reading. Using the most basic metric, the east Midlands side have conceded 18 goals this season from 11 games, equating to around 1.64 goals/game. This is joint 5th worst in the Premier League. When looking at all competitions, there is little solace to be found with the Foxes keeping a meagre two clean sheets in 20 plus games. It can’t help that Leicester are facing an average of 15.6 shots per game, which is the 4th highest in the Premier League. This certainly correlates with a decline in territorial/possession dominance the Foxes enjoy in matches lately.
The statistics (continued):
In terms of expected goals conceded, things are slightly rosier with Leicester 10th with an xGA of 16.14. This helps us to see how Leicester have conceded more than they should have, with defensive errors being a primary culprit. The take-away from these general statistics is that these aren’t top-six numbers. If such defensive form continues then City will have to prepare for mid-table mediocrity at best.
In terms of more specific stats, the defensive issues are most apparent in two areas. Firstly, Leicester have conceded the most chances down their left-hand side, which implicates Caglar Soyuncu and Ryan Bertrand/Luke Thomas. Generally, Timothy Castagne has been more solid down this side when he’s played there. Even so, this is more than relegation strugglers such as Norwich and Newcastle, which sounds unbelievable.
The second is a long-term issue that Brendan Rodgers has failed to solve. Set-pieces have been an Achilles heel of the Foxes for a long time now, yet there seems to be little evidence of improvement. In just the last game alone, Leicester conceded 10 out of 18 shots from set-pieces.
That says enough in itself, and the prospect of facing an in-form Chelsea side doesn’t fill any Foxes fan with confidence.
What needs to change for Leicester City?
Last campaign LCFC had a valid reason for any defensive or cohesive issues in their team, with the club suffering an extensive injury crisis in defensive areas. This excuse is no longer valid with Leicester City ‘only’ missing James Justin and Wesley Fofana in defence.
Caglar Soyuncu epitomises the problems in the Leicester defence. The Turk had a frankly atrocious start to the season making some glaring individual errors. More recently Cags has been much better, going ‘back to basics’ nevertheless whilst individually he’s been reasonably dominant, his side of the defence has conceded the most chances. Due to the Turks aggressive style of defending, this leaves huge spaces if he misses his tackle, and this has happened all too much this season.
Take the Spartak goal, for example, Soyuncu failed to cover for Bertrand on the left side as he went diving in recklessly. This left Mikhail Ignatov with time and space to cross the ball with Victor Moses somehow escaping six Leicester players to head home.
The lack of cohesion and tendency for rash decisions has led to Leicester being much easier to get at. Naturally poor performances have impacted Cag’s confidence, but with the alternative defender being the ponderous Jannick Vestergaard, you’d probably stick with Soyuncu any day. Now, this is not a dig at Caglar exclusively! Ricardo, Vestergaard and Bertrand have all failed to hit their required levels this campaign. Nevertheless, the problems are most apparent down Soyuncu’s side, and the stats don’t lie…
Ultimately this begs the question, should Rodgers revert to a back four and play Jonny Evans and Daniel Amartey together?
Brendan Rodgers hinted at a potential lack of aggression and energy being a further issue, and it does seem Leicester shoot themselves in the foot at times. Winning 50/50s and second balls is a basic prerogative of any team and at times it seems like the Foxes have lost that proactive defending that was so successful in recent years.
Furthermore, the slow speed of passing around the back has not only detrimental effects on building attacks but also has led to an increase in mistakes, with the opposition winning the ball high up the pitch. More than one time this season this has led to conceding goals, whether through dodgy distribution from Kasper Schmeichel or Soyuncu/Amartey dawdling on the ball.
Finally, set-plays are an issue that must be solved, and the existing LCFC set-piece coach must quickly implement much-needed improvement. One potential solution is to revert to a man-to-man marking system instead of the current zonal marking favoured by Rodgers. This would ensure the opposition ‘danger men’ are picked up and cannot get a run on the static defenders in a zone.
Furthermore what about attack being the best form of defence? This applies firstly to the mentality in which the Foxes approach games. Going on the front foot aggressively is a great way to deny the opposition goalscoring chances, they can’t create when you’re putting them under pressure.
This also is applicable to set-pieces. Leicester ought to leave Jamie Vardy and one or two attackers outside the box for counter-attack opportunities. Not only does this increase the danger of LCFC on the break, but it will force opposing teams to leave several players back to defend. By making the box less crowded, it may help Leicester defend set-pieces more adequately.