History is cruel as it often repeats itself. Leicester City fans might be worried as their historical similarity provides a 50% chance of survival.
Half of anything is not ideal, but those who perceive the glass as half full would relish that there is still half a chance for redeeming this derailed season.
Unlike several previous seasons, City fans are at a newfound low. The Foxes had not experienced anything tricky like this since 2001 when they were bottom of the Premier League table for the last time. As it stands, Leicester City has only managed to salvage a single point out of 21 available ones.
The concerns continue
They have also retained all their defensive woes from last season and piled up some more issues. The King Power club, with Danny Ward between the sticks, has conceded 22 goals. The continued underutilization of players and sound-minded tactics are eating away the Foxes’ confidence- which is becoming quite visible.
The previous matchday, which would have seen Leicester City go up against Aston Villa, got postponed as England was still grieving over the Queen’s demise. Before that, Brendan Rodgers‘ men suffered a humiliating 6-2 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur. All these unfortunate events have handed the Foxes their worst start to a top-flight campaign since 1983.
The club has pulled off “The Great Escape,” has won the prestigious league title with a 5000-1 odds against them, have played in the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League. They have only recently had top-five back-to-back finishes, adding more silverware in the form of the coveted FA Cup and the Community Shield trophies. But somehow, all of Leicester City’s meteoric rise pales in comparison to this structural disarray on and off the pitch.
Relegation examples to spur Leicester City
Since the Premier League came into existence in 1992, there has been a fair share of similar examples. Some teams have been in similar troubles by this point in their seasons. Eight teams precisely have experienced this scenario.
They include Manchester City (1995/96), Southampton (1998/99), Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United (1999/00), Portsmouth (2009/10), Sunderland (2013/14), Crystal Palace (2017/18) and Sheffield United (2020/21).
Exactly half of those eight teams mentioned got relegated. The only ones to beat the odds and turn things around were Southampton, Newcastle, Sunderland, and Crystal Palace. Three out of those four teams that survived opted for a managerial change. Such a pattern of entrusting the same manager after a considerable drop in form has got established rather negatively by comparing the statistics.
Leicester City is in a pathetic state, there’s no denying that. Issues are prevalent on and off the pitch.
— Akash Roy (@thewreckedjoker) August 31, 2022
Being at the bottom without any significant signings is an alarming sight. We must prepare for the worst, there’s a solid chance of us being in another relegation dogfight.
Adding significant concerns with how business-oriented English football has become, there needs to be an immediate change to prevent an institutional cataclysm. Sheffield United in the 2020/21 season lost 15 games out of the first 17. Despite having a modest squad, they suffered until Chris Wilder got sacked. But it was already too late to implement something new, and they finished the season, suffering demotion, with 23 points.
Taking 30 previous seasons into account, Leicester Mercury states:
"“21 of the 32 teams (two seasons have had two teams on the same points tally), have been relegated at the end of the season – a 65.5% rate. Only 11 have survived, with only three teams having one or zero points at the same stage as City now”."
It’s a frightening comparison. The way the club is still investing in its projects doesn’t add up with their chances of survival. The odds of an unmitigated disaster are increasing quite rapidly. The fixtures will start coming thick and fast, and nobody knows from where the immediate points will come.
The East Midlands derby against Nottingham Forest is next. Then if Rodgers stays, he has to deal with Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Leeds, Wolves, and a scary encounter with Manchester City- all in October. LCFC has 34.5% of surviving the season.
Nobody wants to imagine a relegation to the Championship. If that happens – it could be the worst thing for the club. All of it was because key decisions were delayed at a critical time.