It’s been a difficult season to predict for Leicester City, good performances have always been sandwiched with lacklustre ones, injuries have decapitated any consistency in the starting XI, and the output in all the competitions has fallen short of recent successes. But, without European football, Brendan Rodgers has managed to find consistency in results/performances to tail off the season.
A simple, but effective dismissal of two of the already relegated sides—Norwich City and Watford—was followed by a really impressive defensive performance away at Chelsea. I’ve been quite vocal around Rodgers’ coaching, and perhaps not understanding the ideologies behind it, but a lot of the credit has to fall on his shoulders after the Foxes perfected a flexible and complex defensive structure at Stamford Bridge.
Contextually, I think it’s important to note the lack of quality in the aforementioned opposition making this run of improved performances easier to achieve. However, even in the convincing victories, Rodgers still had to adjust his structure to limit turnover dominance for Norwich City. Nampalys Mendy replaced Ademola Lookman at half-time, and that stopped the Canaries midfielders from advancing centrally after a turnover of possession. This reclaimed freedom for the midfield/forwards of Leicester City, and thus controlled the game from this point onwards, albeit after allowing Teemu Pukki a couple of high xG (expected goals) chances.
The game versus Watford was really simplistic in an attacking sense, despite falling behind early into the game. Roy Hodgson’s side created their own downfalls, but it was the quality of James Maddison that ensured the East Midlands outfit capitalised on these misfortunes. The most recent game—a 1-1 draw at Chelsea—highlighted some real qualities for Rodgers to take into next season’s campaign. It felt almost like an “old Leicester City performance”, sitting very deep in a defensive block and utilising their quality and pace in transition to create chances in the fixture.
They did just that, as Maddison’s impressive individual goal-scoring season continued with an excellent goal early in the game. Statistically, it wasn’t an impressive attacking showing for the away side, accumulating only 0.06 xG (0.04 xG being the goal), but the point I want to talk about is the discipline and execution of a defensive block that limited the output of an elite footballing-side.
A couple of the key concepts are as follows; aggressive defending of passes into the front three of Chelsea’s 3–4–2–1 and cutting all the passing lanes once Thiago Silva (their central CB) had possession. Wesley Fofana and Jonny Evans were really commanding in their defensive duels, not allowing Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, or Romelu Lukaku to connect through the thirds for Thomas Tuchel’s side. To achieve this, all the centre-backs aggressively closed the space between themselves and the forward receiving the ball, often intercepting or tackling instantaneously. Chelsea reverted to this direct style of progression because the structure of the Foxes block made short passes difficult to complete.
Brendan Rodgers decided upon a 3–4–1–2 formation, which played like a 5–3–2 out of possession. This was designed to cut every individual passing lane once Thiago Silva held the ball. Tuchel’s system of build-up involves utilising Silva as the central hub, but in the depth of the pitch, so he can identify all the passing angles and choose the correct one. The Foxes acknowledged this, so the 5–3–2 was implemented.
Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho would sit on the two “spare” CBs, therefore forcing Thiago Silva to play forwards. His central-midfielders; N’golo Kante and Jorginho, were covered by any of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, James Maddison, or Nampalys Mendy, this forced the wing-backs of Chelsea to invert to match (numerically) the Foxes’ overload in the centre. Reece James was the more constant inverter, as Marcos Alonso is a better asset from out-wide.
For almost 95% of the first-half, Leicester efficiently covered all progressive lanes. It was fluid, sometimes Luke Thomas would press forwards to stop James’ freedom from RWB, Maddison would cut a central passing lane, and as I’ve already mentioned the CBs were aggressive to limit the spaces in the attacking third for Chelsea. Everyone reacted to the situation correctly, it was expertly coached. The one mistake in the setup was KDH overcommitting to a pass across the block into James, he capitalised faultlessly on this singular moment and found Alonso to equalise. It didn’t feel deserved, but in fairness, Maddison’s goal was a very low percentage scoring chance.
Personally, I prefer a LCFC side that wants to control the ball. This obviously doesn’t mean the sluggish, retention-based possession we’ve witnessed on many occasions this season, but a style that sees the Foxes dictate the outcome of the game. However, it’s also smart to sometimes accept you’re the “inferior” side; to teams such as Manchester City or Liverpool, and this also translated to Chelsea—who are still playing for automatic UEFA Champions League qualification—whereas, Rodgers’ side is purely playing for pride. Accepting that “the Pensioners” were going to want to control the ball, allowed City to fixate their game plan on limiting their chance creation, and for the majority, managed this.
Throughout Rodgers’ reign in East Midlands, I’ve praised his ability to be adaptable. The game versus Chelsea was a clear indication that the Foxes have the tactical know-how to adjust depending on their opponent. That bodes well for the upcoming campaign, less tax on the players (with no European football) should equate to fewer injuries and more consistency in the starting XI. If you combine this with a deeper tactical understanding, then there’s every reason to be excited about the 2022/23 Premier League season—alongside the supposed “rebuild”.