LEICESTER CITY 2020/2021
After a disappointing end to last season with 12 points in the last 12 games and losing out of the top 4 on the final day of the season, Leicester City are once again having a good campaign in the Premier League hoping to end up in the top 4 and play champions League football. After 26 Premier League games played, they are currently sitting in the third position with 49 points (15W 4D 7L) scoring 45 goals and conceding 30. They are currently in the quarter final of the FA cup and were just knocked out of the Europa League round of 32 by Czech Republic club, Slavia Prague.
Brendan Rogers adjusts his playing style based on the opponent he is playing but generally Leicester city play a high tempo game which is a key contributor to their counter attack. With their strongest team, the main attribute of Leicester city with the ball is a quick and offensive transition because they have the players with high speed and technical ability. Their strength is their counter attack and they are very good at it because they can transition in different ways. On one hand, they can use short passes and through balls. On the other hand, a player can use his speed to carry the ball forward and drag opposition defenders to him before playing a pass to a relatively free teammate.
Vardy is their highest goal scorer scoring 14 goals and 5 assists in all competitions in 27 appearances, 23 starts. Barnes is the second highest and Maddison follows after him with 13 and 11 goals scored respectively.
Transfers in:
· Central defender Fofana from Saint-Etienne: Fofana has been a good signing for the Foxes. With the backline being mostly affected by the injuries and early injury to regular first team center back, Soyuncu, the coach tried many center back pairing options before finally selecting Fofana and Evans. He has provided a good support as Leicester and has added to their center back options whether it’s a back 4 or a back 3. The center back has settled in and paired well with defender, Johnny Evans. The pair have played together 13 times and have conceded 11 goals and keeping 6 clean sheets. Fofana has the highest interceptions for Leicester in the premier League (41) despite playing 16 times out of 25 games.
· Right back Castagne from Atlanta: 1 goal and 3 assists in 19 appearances. Very good with tackles. He has played both right back and right wing back this season. In the beginning of the season, he filled in well for Ricardo Pereira who was out on injury. Unfortunately, Castagne himself has injured twice this season.
· Center forward Under from Roma
· Left back Luke Thomas called up into the first squad
Transfers out:
· Ben Chilwell to English club Chelsea
· Demaria Gray to German club Bayern Leverkusen
· Ryan Bennett returned to Wolves at the end of loan
Injuries
Leicester city suffered early injuries this season. Vardy, Under, Maddison, Amartey, Evans, Soyuncu, Ndidi, Pereira and Castagne have all been injured this season all though some injuries were more serious than others. Currently injured are Praet, Club captian Wes Morgan, Fofana, James Justin and Harvey Barnes.
Tactics
Without the ball, the Foxes usually defend in a 4–5–1 but more times this season they have adopted the 4–4–2 mid-block looking to create ideal situations for counter attack.
With the ball, they prefer to build up from the back with short passes rather than going long (330 longballs-15th in the League). They like to play quick passes and prefer to use through balls to penetrate the opposition defense and to get into the final third. (In the Premier League they have played 18 through balls- 5th in the League). Castagne and Justin have filled in well for Chilwell and Pereira to ensure that the fullbacks contribute to the attack and give width when attacking.
They have scored 9 goals outside the box- 2nd highest in the League (one of which was a free kick Maddison scored). They have scored the most penalties in the League (8). Considering the pace of their forwards and how many counter attack goals they scored last season, we expect them to score a number of goals from counter attack but they have only scored 2 in the Legaue so far.
Leicester have employed different formations this season: 4–1–4–1 which they mostly used last season, 3–4–2–1 in their spectacular win over Manchester City (2–5), and the 4–2–3–1 formation among others. Asides from the tactical aspect, Leicester have used these variations of formations to cope with their injuries. Key players such as Ndidi, Ricardo Pereira have been injured and they have had to cope. Despite these injuries, they have been able to remain top 3 in the League.
Maddison, Barnes, Ndidi and Tielemans
Maddisonis a very key player to the Leicester system. Not only is he good at set pieces, he is a very creative attacking midfielder. He likes to operate in between the lines. Maddison’s pace compliments the pace of their forwards. Maddison has registered 11 goals and 7 assists in all competitions. He also has the highest key passes for Leicester City in the Premier League (37) and has created the most chances for Leicester city (31).
The meteoric rise of Harvey Barnes this season is also worth noting. Harvey Barnes has scored 13 goals and 4 assists in 34 appearances, 29 starts for the Foxes in all competitions compared to 7 goals and 9 assists in 42 apps, 28 starts in all competition for the Foxes last season. He has 21 dribbles completed-highest for Leicester city.
Wilfred Ndidi is another key player to the Leicester system. His ball recovery, ball retention and interception is very key for Leicester in transitions and counter attacks. Youri Tielemans has been a consistent player for Leciester this season appearing 36 times in their 38 games this season. He has scored 7 times and assisted 4 times. He is a good distributor of the ball and he has completed the most passes for Leicester in the League (1372). With Ndidi and the energetic Tielemans present in the 4–2–3–1, Maddison is able to retain his position higher up the pitch and does not have to drop deep to collect the ball. They have the aggression and ability to win the ball and move the ball forward while Maddison operates in between the lines. They also give Leicester more defensive cover in transition.
Since his appointment as manager in February 2019, Brendan Rogers has had a good run with this team and this season Leicester City are once again close to qualifying for the Champions League. After being knocked out of the Europa league, they only have the premier league and FA Cup to focus on. Many teams have suffered injury this season but they have coped well with the injuries so far. With 12 league games to go, it will be interesting to see how the season will end for Leicester city.
