It was a familiar story for Leicester City on the opening day of the 2022/23 season as the Foxes inexplicably let slip a two-goal lead, surrendering what should have been three straightforward points. For 60 minutes, LCFC were in total control, albeit without creating clear-cut chances. After this, things unravelled like they did so many times last season except Leicester did not concede from a set-piece. FoL now highlights three main issues around Brendan Rodgers’ performance.
Not making substitutions
The new rules in the Premier League now allow five substitutions, albeit at a maximum of three intervals, to combat the stress of a condensed schedule. However, you wouldn’t have known it watching Leicester City, with Brendan Rodgers deciding to make just one substitute despite having many worthy options on the bench. This certainly played a significant factor in Leicester’s demise with fatigue increasingly evident amongst players such as Jamie Vardy and James Maddison.
To make matters worse, the boss did not own up in his interview but blamed issues such as fatigue, which is a stretch in the season’s first game. Even if this was the case, it doesn’t make sense why he did not make further changes if he saw this was an issue.
Making the wrong substitutions
The one Brendan Rodgers did make backfired spectacularly. Bringing on Patson Daka was a move that was logical in itself, if replacing a tiring counterpart such as Jamie Vardy. What was not logical was bringing off Leicester City’s best and most energetic midfielder in Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. When the game’s momentum had already turned against Leicester by this point (73 minutes), the midfield needed freshening up, not weakening.
Understandably, Rodgers is much more qualified than us fans to make judgements, even so, his baffling use of substitutions is becoming a significant bugbear and is costing LCFC points on multiple occasions.
The second goal highlighted the tangible consequences of Rodgers’ misjudgement, with Josh DaSilva not being closed down due to KDH no longer being on the pitch. Even if several other players should have closed him down regardless, it doesn’t take away the fact that the goal likely wouldn’t have happened if Dewsbury-Hall was still on the pitch,
Failing to adapt tactically
Brendan Rodgers when he looks back on the game will hopefully realise that he did not adequately respond to the tactical alterations made by his opposite number, Thomas Frank. Frank made all of his substitutions between the 60th and 70th minute, changing to a bold attacking formation and re-energising his team. This resulted in Brentford pressing higher up the pitch and pushing the Foxes back, exposing their well-documented defensive frailties.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that City have a mentality that can be compared to melting ice cream on a hot day. In this case, after Ivan Toney scored, the home side quite literally melted away.
Again we go back to the issue of substitutions. Rodgers ought to have made changes to stem the Brentford momentum, perhaps by bringing on midfielders such as Dennis Praet or Nampalys Mendy. Both of these would have given energy and control which was desperately lacking when Brentford got one back. Instead, continuing with the same set-up allowed Brentford to get on top of Leicester City and eventually make their pressure count.
Was Brendan Rodgers entirely at fault for Leicester City’s collapse?
Whilst the manager must take the majority of the responsibility for the last half an hour, the players are ultimately the ones who carry out the performance on the pitch. Even though they were limited by Rodgers’ stubbornness to change things up, the goals were very preventable on an individual level.
I do not like to single players out for criticism but Daniel Amartey showed exactly why he is not cut out to start for LCFC every week. For the first hour of the game, Amartey was excellent in passing through the lines and keeping the Foxes in control. The issue is that the Ghanaian is always prone to making crucial errors.
In this case, he was culpable on two counts for Brentford’s first goal. Firstly, he failed to hold the defensive line, dropping deep to play Ivan Toney onside. Secondly, he did not get tight enough to the striker, getting bullied at the expense of a goal. One does question whether Caglar Soyuncu is better suited to play as LCB in future, despite the Turk’s shortcomings.
As for the second goal, this was no player’s fault in particular, but more a collective failure to close down the attacker. Again, this was hindered by the lack of a dynamic midfielder due to KDH’s withdrawal. All in all, the players and especially Brendan Rodgers must learn quickly the art of game management, otherwise, FOL fears an impatient LCFC fanbase may soon start to turn against the Northern Irishman.