Leicester City 0 Bournemouth 1: You’re not fit to wear the shirt
A few minutes after the full time whistle in a defeat that left Leicester marooned in 19th place, James Maddison wandered over to the remaining fans at the King Power, his arm held up in apology for the mistake that cost his team the game.
He was met with a cascade of boos, which didn’t abate as he did a small lap of the corner.
We have reached the endgame. With Brendan Rodgers no longer there to bear the brunt of the frustration, the players are now squarely in the firing line, their confidence shot and their ties to the club weakening by the day.
The decision to replace Rodgers with nothing has failed, serving only to waste two more crucial games. A run of Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Bournemouth has yielded no points. Now the board are in full-blown panic mode, scrolling through free agents and flinging money at names until they find someone desperate enough to say yes.
Into the atmosfear
The routine for Leicester players and managers all season has been to demand fealty from the fans, deflecting any criticism with calls to stay united. On Saturday they got what they wanted. A full house, a Union FS tifo, loud support from kick off.
It was enough to generate a hint of energy from the start. Leicester forced a couple of corners, a few almost-chances. But the problem is that despite being a team full of internationals, with one of the largest wage bills in the division, packed with players who finished 5th twice in a row, we are absolutely rubbish. And there’s nothing the fans can do to help.
The early promise descended into nothingness. Bournemouth won a free kick on the edge of the area and hit the post, then before long, the visitors were dominating the ball. Daniel Iversen was forced into a couple of smart saves.
The other thing Leicester players are getting very good at is apologising after the game. After 38 minutes, Maddison ghosted into his own right back area and sent Phillip Billing clear to round Iversen and score. Against the team with the worst defence in the league, that was the end of it.
Saddle up
There’s not a lot of point eviscerating Adam Sadler, a man patently unqualified for the job he’s trying to do. But reading a description of him in a TalkSport article as “Leicester caretaker boss Adam Sadley” rather summed it all up.
What Leicester needed post-Rodgers was someone to deliver some home truths to players who have been living in a bubble for too long. Someone to realistically assess the strengths and weaknesses in the squad, who would come in without preconceived ideas.
Instead all we did was cut off the head of the coaching staff and leave the rest of the body flailing around helplessly on the sideline. Sadler has offered nothing new, he’s just rolled out the same thing twice in a row and got the same result.
The side that started this game was absurd and his explanations afterwards were even worse. Harry Souttar, it appears, was rested for the most important game of the season. Boubakary Soumare was in for his energy. Insert punchline here.
Soumare is one of those players the crowd has completely lost patience with. It’s still not clear what his best role is meant to be. He’s been tried as a holding midfielder, as a ‘number eight’, and here he was almost like a box-to-box player. Suffice to say, it didn’t work.
To be fair to him, he was one of the few players who seemed to react positively to the stick he was getting from the stands. He had a brief spell of 15-20 minutes after half time where he was winning the ball and driving forward. But ultimately his most memorable contribution was immediately after Bournemouth’s goal, when he received the kick-off and smashed it straight off for a throw.
Last orders at the Vardy party
Sadler wasn’t even asked about Jamie Vardy. A man who couldn’t play two games in a week a couple of years ago, in again from the start as reward for his latest vacant display against Villa.
There is surely no chance that any new manager - presumably Jesse Marsch - would ever start Vardy again. At least for our remaining Premier League life. It would be shocking if Vardy didn’t retire in the summer, as it must be painful when you know your body has given out on you.
Vardy’s negiglible contribution did at least give us a beautiful moment of life coming full circle. When Sadler finally acted to make a change, 10 minutes into the second half, Kelechi Iheanacho’s introduction in place of Leicester’s number nine received the loudest and most sustained cheer of the day.
Iheanacho is not a perfect player. Nor is Patson Daka. But a lot more tends to happen when they’re on the pitch. Leicester created a few more opportunities after their introduction, many of which were halted by somewhat mysterious free kicks awarded to Bournemouth defenders.
The same was true of Tete, who made a belated appearance in place of the injured Harvey Barnes. In the dying stages a few players did seem to at least try to make something happen, and frustrations within the team started to bubble over.
Tete was repeatedly furious with Daniels Amartey and Iversen for taking too long to release the ball when he came back to get it. For a team built on short, crisp passing, the inability to pass out from the back is a glaring weakness and it was on display again here. Too often, Leicester would get a hint of a move going, then someone would misplace a simple pass, or turn back.
Wout Faes was another who didn’t wilt under pressure. He snapped in the first half at Crystal Palace and you could see his anger boiling over again on Saturday. He made one brilliant last ditch tackle to keep it at 1-0, and was visibly getting in people’s faces to try as the defence was overrun. As time drifted away, he made a marauding run forward, laid the ball off, and surged on.
When he turned around, the ball was back with Amartey and he had to trod sadly back into position.
U-S-A
Sacking Rodgers was clearly the right move, but it’s a strange experience watching a team that’s so unmoored from any long term vision. Leicester are a team with a caretaker manager and caretaker players. We exist purely for the here and now, yet the here and now is dreadful.
It seems like the first shoe is about to drop in a rebuild that has been promised for more than a year. Jesse Marsch may not be a particularly good or exciting appointment, and it’s one made out of desperation, but it is something new.
The big question is whether he has been left enough time to make an impact. Leicester have wasted months clinging to a forlorn hope that doing the same thing over and over again would bring different results. Top and the board were largely shielded from blame by the fact that Brendan Rodgers existed.
When the players came over at the end they were on the receiving end of pretty universal anger from the stands. The ‘sack the board’ chants came from a much smaller group and got far less support. It’s still a fringe position, the close relationship between Top and the vast majority fans still holds.
That is the case for now. But crises open the floodgates for ever more radical positions. There are still eight games to go. Four of them, including the final one, are at the King Power. Marsch is not going to get any kind of honeymoon period but if he can’t turn the ship around, he won’t be the man in the firing line.
Viewpoint
Via @IainW198