We have already noted some of the worst signings made under the Khun Top era, but even more important are those King Power decided should take the reins of the Foxes and guide their star-studded side. The chronicle has seldom seen stability since the termination of Brendan Rodgers’ prolonged stint with Leicester, but that does not stop us considering who performed best.
To reduce the amount of times I throw the same sources down over and over, stats have been collated from FBRef and Understat. Expert opinions from the Athletic, Total Football Analysis, Coaches’ Voice, Sports Mole, and Football League World were used to inform the opinions given below. For critical parts, I will directly source.
The Story: The Good, the Transformative, and the Ugly
Leicester City have seen several managers come and go with varying success during the Khun Top era. If we exclude caretakers this is the full list: Claude Puel (head coach at the time Top became Chairman), Brendan Rodgers, Dean Smith, Enzo Maresca, Steve Cooper, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and currently Marti Cifuentes. The current dire situation is illustrated by the sheer volume of changes sine the departure of Rodgers.
Puel was not an exciting head coach. However, his groundwork laid the foundations for a possession-based style of play. Although sterile and devoid of creativity, the organisational structure of the Foxes was a standout feature, and signings were simply superb additions. Puel was relieved of his duties in February 2019 and a negative xG/90 difference.
The Northern Irishman holds the longest tenure of the crop, controlling the Premier League’s ‘best of the rest’ from 2019 to April 2023. Building upon Puel’s possession-based style, Rodgers injected tactical flexibility in his early years, built a strong system around a strong core of players, and gave the King Power Club their best years since winning the Premier League. However, a startling collapse after key players were not replaced left the side in tatters before his departure.
Smith was brought in as a firefighter. The hope was with the combination of himself, Craig Shakespeare, and John Terry would bring some defensive resolve and creative gusto to the beleaguered East Midlands outfit. Despite some promising performances, Smith’s tenure saw the fragile team unable to recover from their previous losses.
Maresca was transformational. He did exactly what Rodgers had done: built an identity, signed smart players, and focused around that core system, core players, and recovered confidence while eliminating lethargy. It is fair to temper our comments here reminding ourselves that Maresca found himself leading a Premier League team with more hungry players in a weak Championship. Of course, the manager left on his own accords when Chelsea came knocking.
Cooper was brought in to ‘steady the ship’ and ensure a defensive solidity ahead of a difficult return to the top-flight. Obviously, this period was utterly disastrous: a total collapse in confidence, worse results than Smith and Rodgers, and a total inability to find an identity. His tenure would last until November 2024 when Nistelrooy would take over.
Nistelrooy still hurts me today. I was extremely excited when we brought the ‘big name’ experienced striker and youth promoter in. Realistically, looking back at it, the former head coach would have been better placed with a pre-season and transfer window to build upon. I digress. The offensive performances were pretty good, but defensively the team were shocking with less clean sheets and more goals conceded.
The Candidates Analysed: The Best & Worst Manager
Statistical analysis is possible for the most part, comprising a mixture of results-based and performance-based stats to underscore how successful the head coach was in getting results or creating strong performances. However, there are limitations. Without a plethora of paid subscriptions to myriad sites all with varying quality of data, and even some historical limitations in the type of data collected during matches, we will never get a full picture.
This is why I have opted to also consider what supporter sentiment and expert opinion considered at the time these coaches were at their respective peaks. It is equally important to remember that transfer windows and individual player performances could have immense impacts on the supposed performances of managers (remember that unfortunate Ayoze Perez miss which could have got the Foxes Champions League football), so not everything is the fault of the head coach.
Regarding results, three of the King Power’s managers got less than or equal to one point per game (PPG): those being Ruud van Nistelrooy (around 0.86 - if all comps considered), Steve Cooper (1.00), and Brendan Rodgers’ final partial season (1.00). Maresca of course dominates with over 2.00 PPG slightly ahead of the Northern Irishman’s 1.75-85 PPG (excluding his final partial season). Results-wise then, it is clear who the best and worst were, but this is not the whole picture.
Notably, Claude Puel’s pragmatic and uninspired approach to developing a consistent vision was not realistically the worst approach. Including his full 56-match tenure we saw -0.20 xG difference and 0.29 clean sheets per game played. After November 2018 Puel’s time actually improved a small amount, with higher PPG and low xGA. This underlines a slowly developing defensive organisation, we were stable but not creative.
Rodgers is perhaps the most interesting one to look at. In the beginning there was excitement at a coach with European pedigree taking over, offering his ‘Ajax and Barcelona’ inspired tactics, all while applying a flexibility to tactics to help tackle differing opponents. This rocketed the Foxes from outside to challengers to regular Top 6 fighters. The only negatives were a seeping mental drift which saw Leicester crumble the opportunity of Champions League football twice, and a destructive fragility with set pieces.
The former Celtic boss also had high expected goals and clean sheets per game (0.35 before the final partial season). However, he left the King Power side one point adrift from safety, and into the hands of Dean Smith’s team. A short period which saw slightly better creativity (reliant on Jamie Vardy), slightly better defending (Terry’s influence), but less clean sheets. A disappointing season really. Expectedly, Smith’s failure was an inability to turn draws into wins, and an attempt to rely on a more direct style of play.
Maresca was a whole different level. Heralded as a Pep Guardiola-inspired thinker, capable of using intense well-considered positional plays to expose weaknesses and impose possessive dominance during games. He solidified a new identity for football in the East Midlands: the highest PPG, the best xG90 difference, and the most clean sheets. He had it easier, but he also completely transformed the confidence and destroyed the lethargy.
Maresca did show an inflexibility tactically, unprepared to harness his larger crop of players and relying heavily on a small clique with a specific system tailored to them. This left the King Power Club open at times to heavily defensive and counter-attacking sides which thrived on building robust, compact defensive lines to minimise ball-time and thinking-time for the Leicester players. We won, but whether this would have immediately translated to the EPL is unknown.
I will keep the next season shorter. Cooper and Nistelrooy. The two worst defences, no creativity, heavy reliance on Vardy for goals, and nothing to shout about. From a pragmatic stabiliser who could did nothing but stagnate, to a transitional ‘big name’ who’s results went from good to almost immediately bad. Losing supporters and players alike, confidence at rock bottom, and an inevitable relegation followed.
It is clear that the Khun Top era saw two good picks with the rest either being given too little time or simply not being good enough to manage a club of our expectations. Rodgers stands above the rest as orchestrating the Foxes’ rise into the upper echelons of the Premier League, although his startling falloff is perhaps tempering. Maresca’s transformation of Leicester in the Championship was certainly impressive and exciting, but he did have a Premier League team in the lower division.
Based on all the data we have, Ruud van Nistelrooy was by far the worst head coach Leicester City hired under the Khun Top era. With essentially no clean sheets, few goals, zero confidence, and a major disconnect between players and supporters as well as the board, this period awoke anger, frustration, and created a toxic environment. The identity Enzo Maresca brought us was battered by Cooper’s pragmatic lethargy, shattered by Nistelrooy’s inability.
Marti Cifuentes is currently tracking ahead of the Dutchman, but heavily behind Rodgers and Maresca. In fact, ranking based on PPG and observing xG90 difference, the Spaniard is roughly on par (with slight improvements in xG) with Steve Cooper. We have seen where pragmatic lethargy and incompetent man-management gets us, we do not need another whole season of it.