Leicester City have only managed to accumulate 14 in non-penalty xG+xA versus their opponents total of 18.1. Compounding this, from seven fixtures (21 points possible) the King Power Club have gained 12 points landing them in 5th place, five points behind league leaders Middlesbororugh. Although not catastrophic, a lot was expected of the former Premier League team.
We know that Marti Cifuentes’ team should be capable of doing more with the team they have available. With three clean sheets, we could do with improving our resilience at the back to help convert a couple draws into wins, and with only three games with more than one goal, there is more work to be done in creating chances.
3 Leicester City team tweaks
At the back, the Spaniard has recently favoured Jannik Vestergaard and Wout Faes, alongside Luke Thomas and Ricardo Pereira. For the most part, that is a decent backline with a mixture of more attacking and more defensive oriented players. However, there is always room for improvement when we are struggling to stop goals.
Honestly, I would take Vestergaard out to play Caleb Okoli, and I would arguably want to see Ben Nelson getting an opportunity to shine at some point. Although, that would be better from the bench rather than trying to oust the Belgian or not play the Italian.
In midfield, what we have seen since Aaron Ramsey was immediately suspended for a red card challenge, is a rather flat assortment of three similar players. Boubakary Soumare, Harry Winks, and Jordan James are all No.6/No.8 hybrids that like to start deeper. In that context, though progression is brilliant - getting the ball to the final third is great - there is little support for attackers when we reach that final third.
Partly, this is due to Leicester’s use of Jordan Ayew over a more focused striker: Ayew drops back a lot, meaning we entirely rely on Stephy Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu to both bring the width and make the final movement. With three flat midfielders, one hold-up striker, and a lack of aggression on the left flank, it is clear where the next two changes ought to be: up front.
Drop Soumare, start Winks and James as the pivot in midfield to have a balance between progressing through technical and accurate passing as well as through carrying the ball. Then, the Foxes remove Mavididi and Ayew, this leaves us needing three players. All three should be in the front: Jeremy Monga, Patson Daka, and Julian Carranza.
By switching to two strikers upfront Cifuentes would have a mixture of a link-up striker in Daka and a more traditional forward in Carranza. This should help the Foxes when their progressive midfield and fullbacks manage to bring the ball into the final third. Monga has proven himself to be a creative and explosive character: yes he can be wasteful, but that bit of waste is worth it for creating chances in the Championship.