45 minute football
It's becoming an increasing concern for followers of Leicester City this season that the team seems incapable of putting in a 90 minute performance. This time, against Hull, the Foxes improved massively in the second half. In the first, Hull were by far the better team, scoriing twice. The away team offered very little in response. In the second, City pinned the Tigers back for much of the half, scored a very good goal from Aaron Ramsey and could so easily have won a point when Winks' shot cannoned off the crossbar.
Which raises the question: Why is it that the Foxes cannot put in a 90 mnute performance? Against Portsmouth, I put it down to fatigue but no such explanation is available this time. Marti Cifuentes team selection, it can be argued, is part of the reason why the first half on Tuesday evening was so poor. After Saturday's game the Leicester boss claimed that his team failed to adapt to Portsmouth’s more aggressive and more forward-looking second half performance. Rather than building slowly from the back, the Leicester boss brought on Patson Daka on the hour mark with the intention of utilising his pace with quicker and more direct attacks. The message, it seems, didn’t get through to the players who persisted with their short passing from the back tactic.
Against Hull, Cifuentes started with Daka but it was clear this was a mistake. Not only is the striker in terrible form but the game, with Hull sitting back and trying to hit the Foxes on the counter attack, was not suited to his game. In the second half, Jordan Ayew went up top and his ability to hold the ball up and play in the running midfielders was much more successful. In turn, Jeremy Monga, on at half time, was much more effective than Ayew out wide had been and Aaron Ramsey, too, offered more than Jordan James had in the first half.
More rotation?
With so many games coming up in the next three weeks, the Leicester boss would be forgiven for rotating his squad. With Bobby De Cordova Reid suffering a hamstring injury on Saturday, joining Stephy Mavididi on the sidelines, some changes were inevitable for the visit to the MKM Stadium. In the event, though, Cifuentes largely went with his tried and trusted players.
That, in my view is a mistake. Surely, for instance, particularly with the strikers misfiring, there is a case for utilising players who have not featured this season. Jake Evans, for one, is deserving of a step up to first team duties having scored five goals in as many matches for the Under 21s and the promising Ben Nelson is another who deserves a run-out.
Mid-table mediocracy
This season is in danger of being a write-off for the Foxes. The top end of the Championship is becoming very congested. With the defeat on Tuesday evening, and their recent run of resuts - one win in seven games - Leicester have slipped down to eighth. With the looming points deduction added, it could prove difficult for City to make the play-offs. Where that leaves the manager, and the club as a whole, is anyone's guess. But there could be further blood-letting if the club cannot even manage to compete for promotion.. It's a long season, though, and all is not lost just yet.