Leicester City’s disappointing and inevitable collapse against Bournemouth on Saturday effectively rendered the previous weekend’s win over Nottingham Forest as meaningless. The Reds have since re-consigned the Foxes to the Premier League basement, and the pressure is squarely back on City manager Brendan Rodgers.
Good as the performance against their East Midlands rivals was, the defeat to the Cherries signifies it was nothing more than a flash in the pan, with players who were productive and effective unable to maintain that level on the south coast. The concerning part for the supporters who made the long journey to Dorset isn’t merely the performance, but that after their side took the lead, it was clear what was to follow.
City fans have seen that performance far too many times this season (and last), with the tally of points dropped from winning positions now at 14 from a possible 18. Their side have taken the lead in six of their opening nine fixtures this season and still sit rock bottom of the division, and the once minority of supporters voicing their dissatisfaction with the manager is getting louder by the week.
‘We want Rodgers out’ was the chant at full time, from spectators who deserve much better – people who boarded a supporters’ coach at 7.30am and wouldn’t expect to arrive home long before 10.30pm. Any momentum or belief that the Forest triumph yielded has been eroded immediately, and it only took five days for the target on Rodgers’ back to be resurrected.
The atmosphere around the club couldn’t be more different just over 100 hours apart, from one of excitement, hope and optimism, to one of haplessness, misery and despair. Harvey Barnes proved a week ago that he is capable of putting in wonderful performances, but when he doesn’t operate at anywhere near a moderate level, his inclusion serves no purpose nor function.
Danny Ward showed glimpses last week that he could be a competent goalkeeper, and many thought a clean sheet and some decent stops could be the turning point for the Welshman, but no, back down to Earth we are. His Schmeichel-esque attempt to spread himself in a bid to stop Bournemouth’s eventual winner just didn’t work, and was genuinely cringeworthy.
City’s former sticksman is rumoured to be on his way out at OGC Nice, there must be thousands of Foxes followers begging him to come home given the comedy act that has replaced him. As good as the club’s recruitment has been, serious questions must be asked about the fee Leicester shelled out for Danny Ward – which was over £12.5million.
It was telling that during Schmeichel’s heavy decline in productivity last season, that his deputy could only get a look-in against already-relegated Watford, and even then his side still conceded a goal from a set piece. It’s likely now that many have lost count of how many of City’s 24 goals conceded can be pinned on their No. 1.
Goals have never been the issue, amongst their fellow Midlanders in the bottom three, the Foxes have scored five times the amount of Wolverhampton Wanderers, and over double that of Nottingham Forest. The issue is that they’ve shipped twice that of the former, and somehow two goals more than the latter.
Wout Faes has looked a genuine upgrade on Daniel Amartey, but after getting away with one on Monday night when Taiwo Awoniyi managed to only hit the post, he could’ve absolutely done more to stop both Bournemouth goals. The Belgian’s miscued back pass allowed Dominic Solanke to surge forward in the build-up to number one. Before chasing a ball he would never reach allowed Ryan Christie free space in the box to fire in the second.
It’s clear that the Nottingham Forest win helped to paper over some pretty wide cracks, and you’d assume the lack of threat from the opposition played a part in that. It’s all well and good scoring in a flurry against a disjointed side who barely know each other’s names, but as soon as you come up against an even semi-organised and competent Premier League team, you must be at a level, both mentally and technically, to deal with them – City absolutely are not.