The injury situation
Most observers conclude that Leicester’s prospects for the rest of the season depend, to a large extent, on getting key injured players back and avoiding any further absences. On that note, the return of Abdul Fatawu to the bench on Tuesday, and the return to training of Jordan James and Jamaal Lascelles, is welcome news. Other, less key, players – such as Victor Kristiansen and Jannik Vestergaard – remain side-lined, however, and that means the squad has only three fit centre backs and one left back.
Leicester’s squad on Saturday reflected the easing injury problems. Fatuwu started and James and Lascelles were on the bench. Unfortunately though, Asmir Begovich, who has been doing well since coming into the side, was injured in the warm-up and was replaced by Jakub Stolarczk.Â
Identifying the problem
Just when we thought Leicester had turned the corner under new boss Gary Rowett, the Foxes came up with a very poor performance. Norwich were the better side throughout and cantered, really, to a 2-0 victory.
In the first half, at least the Foxes were compact and didn’t concede. Norwich had the bulk of the possession but didn’t create much. Leicester were restricted to one long-range shot by Harry Winks which was comfortably saved by Vladan Kovacevic in the away goal.Â
In the second half, City were under the cosh for much of the time and it was no surprise when Anis Ben Slimane opened the scoring for the East Anglian side and, sadly, also no great shock when they doubled their lead ten minutes later. The home team offered little in response and, by the last part of the game, playing to a half-empty King Power Stadium, the result was never in doubt.
Explaining what went wrong, particularly after two encouraging away performances, is difficult. Was it a lack of spark, a lack of confidence or just a lack of ability? All three, I think, played their part. The team did look jaded, and a strenuous trip to the North East in midweek, took its toll to some extent. Not winning games for a long time, too, inevitable has an impact on the psychology of the players. Top players like Fatawu and Stephy Mavididi, in particular, have looked well below their best for a long time now.
As we have had cause to say before, there are also serious weaknesses with this Leicester squad. Defensively, they are fragile and the front players offer little. Patson Daka continues to struggle, his first touch is poor and he doesn’t offer much of a threat. Jordan Ayew, by contrast, is too slow and, coming on as substitute on Saturday, spent most of the time trying, and usually failing, to win fouls by falling over.Â
Records galore
This season is likely to be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Leicester, for instance, haven’t lost four successive home games, outside of the top flight, for many decades. Similarly, it is now an astonishing 29 league games since they last kept a clean sheet. Above all, this campaign could well go down as the worst in the Foxes’ long history. In 2008, City were relegated to League One with a total of 52 points, conceding 45 goals in the process. This term, they have already conceded 56 goals, and they will need another 18 points from the remaining 11 games to even match the final tally achieved 18 years ago. At present, few can see that happening.