The King Power side go into the Ipswich Town fixture on 34 points, second bottom in the EFL Championship table - not that I needed to remind you. Our opponents? 63 points, third place. Gary Rowett has a tough task ahead of him to get something out of this game, and get the Foxes out of the relegation zone.
To understand what needs to be done, it is important to know the context of where Leicester are coming from, and how that compares to Ipswich Town. Our form is abysmal, even with the new head coach coming in, we have seen no bounce-back after sacking Marti Cifuentes: in our last five matches, we have three losses and two draws. Our opponents? Four wins and one loss.
Across those five fixtures, Rowett’s Foxes have scored seven goals and conceded 11; compared to Ipswich who scored nine, conceding six, although five of those came from one fixture, and they have conceded none in their last three games. Clearly, Leicester city will struggle to get something out of this fixture when our main problem is keeping a clean sheet.
How Leicester City can secure points
Gary Rowett will need to try something a little different, but not too dissimilar to our current set up to give the Foxes the best chance they can. For example, in the previous fixtures, there are individual talents who have proven themselves more than capable of bringing a bit of creativity, flare, but also defensive resolution, and therefore the side must be made up of those players.
Currently then, the two most important areas of the pitch which need to be strong will be midfield and defence. At the back, there are few options realistically available, with Jamaal Lascelles being particularly poor and and questions around the fitness of Caleb Okoli. However, despite challenges, the backline should be formed from Victor Kristiansen, Caleb Okoli, Ben Nelson, and Ricardo Pereira. The hope is that Hamza Choudhury could be back, but he has only been training so is unlikely to start the match.
The strategic goal of our backline has to be containment first, width second. Two players particularly need to be tightly marked, and if needed, challenged continuously throughout: Jaden Philogene and Jack Clarke. These pair have been electric for the hosts, representing a large portion of goals, although very few assists between them. In that context, the primary role of the backline must be to ensure these two cannot get into strong positions or get a clear shot at goal, they have to be blocked.
That is where our centre-backs and Pereira must focus: create a compact line which blocks clear opportunities on goal, although it will not prevent shots from outside the box, which will need to be the role of our midfield and tracking back wingers to provide that more active defensive presence outside the box. On the left though, that is where I feel we need to strike hard: Ipswich’s right-back is more aggressive, having an equally forward-looking left-back on our side gives us the chance to add immediate width to a transition should we leave our left-back in a left-midfield position during intense challenges.
So, in this case I suggest Kristiansen as being a better attacker than Thomas, although Thomas is a marginally better defender. As such, his role will specifically be to receive the ball on the counter and run it as far as possible, with Abdul Fatawu on the right and likely a more ‘hold-up’ style striker in the middle as a pass back option instead. This mixture of an active defensive midfield, a width-based swift counter-transition, and compact blocking defence, should minimise our faults and maximise our pace strength.
In midfield, the situation is simpler. Oliver Skipp was lambasted initially, but after Harry Winks was withdrawn from the side for a short while, the English midfielder showed much greater promise in tracking back, getting a challenge in, and actually trying to disrupt play. This is a side of the game Winks does not portray. It is vital we see Skipp play in that DM role, again tasked with tracking back, putting in challenges from behind attackers, and forming part of a back three when our backs are up against it.
Alongside him, if available, Jordan James must play at least the first half, giving the East Midlands outfit a strong starting XI in terms of both progression and creativity. The passion, energy, and hunger to perform shown by James has placed him as our most important talent, our best player on form, and if able to play safely, could be the difference maker. Divine Mukasa has also shown to be an astute bit of business, the attacking midfielder already having scored two goals and three assists, clearly he has to play if we want any chance of scoring goals.
Up front, the main role has to be a balance between tracking back and creativity, with a smaller amount of lethal finishing, since we are not going to get many chances, we need to try and create more against a side who concede little. In that vein, we need three roles: a fast-paced runner who can get in behind, a middle man who can hold up the ball, and a more creative talent who can come more narrow in an essentially attacking-midfield position.
As I have already mentioned, this means Fatawu on the right. As our fastest, most creative, although a bit wasteful at times, player, we need that showmanship and energy to pierce the defence with the support of only few players and a couple midfielders running up to support late (Mukasa and James). Additionally, Bobby De-Cordova Reid would be my pick on the left, since he naturally drifts inwards anyway; in the middle, we do not have much choice, but I would go for Jordan Ayew, since Patson Daka will try to get into attacking positions, where realistically we need someone to get into a supportive position, and leave the finishing to better placed talents.
Although difficult, a team acting collectively to defend actively, pressure continuously, transition quickly, and retain the ball higher up the pitch, is the only way Leicester City can possibly secure any points against Ipswich Town. Gary Rowett has a hard job, but not an impossible one.