Bristol City 1-0 Leicester City: Three Foxes Negatives in Dismal Defeat
Leicester City fell to a late defeat against Bristol City. Such a dismal display leaves title and promotion hopes in the balance. The Foxes will be hoping to reverse course in their next tie. These are the positives and negatives post-loss.
The King Power club were meant to be record breakers, history makers, the leaders of the most competitive and enthralling EFL Championship campaign in the history of the competition. Now then, after 17 points were gained between the Foxes and the rest of the leading pack, that has slipped and Leicester are now behind. Not by far, but they are behind.
The hope is that Leicester City will improve drastically in their final eight matches. A draw for Leeds United and Southampton, and a win for Ipswich Town. The battle is not over, teams a dropping points, but none more than Enzo Maresca’s men.
Leicester City’s frightful dance
Leicester now stand two points behind Ipswich with a game in hand, one against Leeds, eight ahead of Southampton who is that game in hand. The final fixtures will be dizzying and frightening for the Foxes: any further losses risk taking the title and automatic promotion out of Maresca’s hands and into the hopeful wish of others losing points.
The pressure on the team to win that game in-hand is absolutely perilous. On the one hand, the players need to understand the need to win, on the other, too much pressure leads to mistakes and poor choices, reckless challenges, and trash defending. A dangerous combination without proper leaders being on-pitch.
A lack of leaders
Conor Coady, Marc Albrighton, even Harry Souttar. Leicester City have leaders who get no minutes, at a time when they have another battle to save themselves from utter despair. Instead, we pray on the technical quality and evident ability of the players to carry us. Complacency seeps in and individuals on the pitch think they can get away with just playing well.
With Enzo Maresca betting on quality over mentality, the King Power side are struggling when they are not performing to overcome the mental block and improve, instead just continually hoping they are able to beat teams. The Foxes need a winning mentality, they need leaders to play.
An inability to finish
In too many games of late, Maresca’s men have created plenty of chances to bury an opponent. However, they have failed to take those chances, they have failed to score, they have failed to hit on target. It has been embarrassing wondering when the next slip up would come. Patson Daka’s in front of goal misses, Jamie Vardy against Bristol City, and many many more chances from the wings. Our usually clinical team have provided no semblance of challenge to tightly packed teams.
The King Power side must remedy this frightful situation if they are to have any chance of beating the teams ahead of them and gaining the points to get the title. They need leaders and experience to guide that more clinical team, and better game management from Enzo Maresca to gain points from losing situations. Only then can we be sure this frightful dance at the top will see the Foxes emerge on top.
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