On an afternoon notable for the minute’s silence before kick-off, the story of Leicester’s 6-2 capitulation at the hands of Tottenhamhe was informed by the noise in the following 90 minutes.
There was the point where Leicester fans chanted “How shit must you be, we’re winning away” after their early opener, Youri Tielemans’ retaken penalty.
There was the point when Leicester’s defence headed away a Tottenham corner and those same supporters ironically cheered, their side finally managing to defend a set piece properly.
The Tottenham supporters made taunts towards Brendan Rodgers and threatened to sack him in the morning.
That must now be a realistic consideration — if not in the morning, then at some point in the next fortnight. This international break comes at a handy time if Leicester’s board are looking for a change. Rodgers, Who was dismissed from his Liverpool position in 2015, at the beginning an international break.You will be able to assess the situation. “It’s probably come at a good time to reset everything,” he said, slightly ominously.
Leicester’s 6-2 loss was not deserved. A couple of extraordinary players had exaggerated the magnitude of the defeat. Son Heung-minBefore he scored his hat trick in the final stages, he had already scored goals. 6-2 felt possible even though Leicester went ahead and Leicester was 2-2 at break.
They conceded their first two points from set pieces, which Leicester struggled with last season. A third set piece was almost conceded by them when Wilfried Ndidi made his own net. However, after much deliberation, it was decided that the referee had to give the final verdict. Danny WardHad been fouled.
Ndidi is one of the Premier League’s outstanding defensive midfielders a couple of years ago, looked wretched here — asked to cover too much space in a side lacking compactness, certainly, but that doesn’t explain how easily he was caught in possession by Rodrigo BentancurThe third goal was scored. In fairness, it arguably wasn’t as embarrassing as Boubakary SoumareBeing completely outpaced Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for Son’s hat-trick goal.
Rodgers looked dejected at full-time (Photo: John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Rodgers’ problem isn’t simply that Leicester are bad — although they are — it is that they’re bad at all the collective things. Their defensive structure is constantly poor. They can’t defend set pieces. There’s no obvious pattern in attack.
Individual brilliance is the key to their promising moments. James MaddisonHe scored a fantastic goal here, as well as against. SouthamptonHis crossing towards Patson DakaThis was very dangerous. Maddison is a great No 10 on a bad side, like a Georgi Kinkladze and a Juninho.
Leicester have scored eight times in seven games this season, but as well as two Maddison individual efforts, there’s been a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall long-ranger against BrentfordThanks to ArsenalYou can see the retaken penalty here. In other words, Leicester aren’t really creating chances. In attacking terms, their xG score (expected goals) is the second-worst league. Bournemouth. Their xGA (expected goals against) figure isn’t as bad as their simple goals against figure, although that’s partly because Ward has looked somewhat hapless at times and has conceded goals he shouldn’t have, which can’t be taken as much of a positive.
A common feature has been Rodgers’ inability to use his bench effectively this season. The two teams looked dry and at home on the first day against Brentford. Thomas Frank’s sudden change of shape changed everything and completely changed the game. Rodgers couldn’t respond and it finished 2-2. This set the tone. Rodgers is the only manager to have made more substitutions per game this season than Rodgers. It felt right that Antonio Conte was at Tottenham. Yves Bissouma and switched from 3-4-3 to 3-5-2, with Bissouma immediately instigating the move for Spurs’ fourth goal. All of Spurs’ final three goals, of course, came from Son, a substitute.
OK, so Rodgers can’t introduce the current joint-holder of the Golden Boot like Conte can. However, he can introduce him to the Golden Boot winner up to two years in advance. Jamie Vardy. This bench also featured his name Kelechi Iheanacho, Marc Albrighton, Ayoze Perez Dennis PraetThey all looked good in the top-half and have been since then. Others, like Soumare Luke Thomas Daniel AmarteyThese squad options are also decent.
Maddison raises Leicester to the top with a magnificent finish 😮 pic.twitter.com/KaF61PkYHu
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 17, 2022
This isn’t a bad squad. For all the discussion about Leicester’s lack of activity in the transfer market, ultimately they only lost two key players in the summer. One, Kasper Schmeichel, is a big miss, but losing your goalkeeper doesn’t explain such outfield disorganisation. The other is, Wesley Fofana, played only seven games last season because of injury, so his absence shouldn’t be considered a novel issue.
Rodgers partly explained Leicester’s underperformance by pointing to some tricky opponents in the first seven games. “There’s no doubt, in the seven games, we’ve had a tough start. After the summer we’ve had, we’ve had Tottenham away, Chelsea away, Arsenal away, and Manchester United at home.”
That’s fair enough.hey’ve actually been given gifts in a couple of those games. ChelseaDuring the last hour, they were reduced to just 10 men. Conor GallagherLeicester won 2-1 after being dismissed at 0-0 Davinson Sanchez’s crazy challenge on James JustinLeicester had a one-goal lead here but lost 6-2.
Rodgers is essentially a very good manager and even if he leaves Leicester, he should be considered to have done a very good job at four straight clubs — Swansea, Liverpool, CelticLeicester. It is rare for managers to boast such a track record.
But there’s always been a sense that his sides have had some level of mental fragility. It was a remarkable feat for his Liverpool side to be even in contention for this title. They were 33-1 outsiders at start of 2013-14. They lost the title, once favourites.
Similarly, twice with Leicester City, Rodgers’ side haven’t been expected to finish in the top four, but in an extremely strong position have then faded late on. Even the FA CupThe 2021 triumph, which Leicester will forever remember as an exceptional day in their history and Rodgers as his most famous moment, was a bit fortunate. Leicester were awful on the day and were bailed out by Tielemans’ stunning long-range drive, Schmeichel’s heroics and a late VAR decision.
You don’t become a bad manager overnight and the likelihood is that if Leicester keep faith with Rodgers, he will guide them to survival. But the fact we’re even talking about survival illustrates how desperate the situation has become.
Rodgers is an excellent manager. Leicester have a great squad, and they will both be fine without each other. Together, however, things just aren’t working, and Rodgers seems to accept it. “The owners will do what they need to do,” he said, which almost felt like he was encouraging them.
(Top photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images
