Mercury rising on Planet Rodgers: Leicester City 0 Crystal Palace 0 (15 October 2022)
Perhaps he was misquoted. Perhaps there was a weather phenomenon in Leicester on Saturday lunchtime and a microclimate formed around the home technical area. Or perhaps he’s genuinely feeling the heat as his side laboured to a goalless draw in the latest must-win game.
Whatever the reason for Brendan Rodgers referring to this vaguely mild October day as ‘hot’, it was merely the latest in a long line of post-match interviews that make you wonder whether he’s on a different planet to the rest of us.
It was a big, big, big game for me, Clive
Crystal Palace were the latest side to board their spaceship and set course for Planet Rodgers, presumably in extra-protective astronaut gear given the constant threat of a toxic atmosphere.
Despite appearances, this was a big game. What Paul Merson might describe as a big, big game. Or Jamie Redknapp might describe as a big, big, big game. The problem is that Saturday lunchtime kickoffs don’t really have that feel, so it was all a bit sleepy in the first half - a far cry from the big games we’ve had in recent years, filing into the Stadio Olimpico or strolling down Wembley Way.
This is our new reality, in fear of the bracketed R at the end of the season.
Leicester have turned a visit from a team like Crystal Palace into a huge game because of an inability to win any other kind. We don’t win away and, as we’ve learned from dropped points at home to Brentford and Southampton, suddenly you can find yourself wondering where the next victory is coming from. We’re now more than halfway through the run of five supposedly winnable fixtures and the pressure continues to build.
The montage of great moments from the club’s recent history shown on the big screen prior to kickoff, which previously felt stirring and rousing, has a sadly nostalgic feel in current circumstances. This is what we used to be. You should have been there. It was the best.
Talk of the spine
Cast your mind back to the early summer and you’d have reasonably expected the team for the season ahead to include Kasper Schmeichel in goal, Jonny Evans alongside Wesley Fofana at the heart of the defence and Wilfred Ndidi patrolling the area in front of the back four.
With Schmeichel and Fofana gone and Evans and Ndidi injured, the spine of the team looks very different right now. For the visit of Palace, Danny Ward retained his place in goal despite widespread calls for him to be dropped. Wout Faes was partnered by Daniel Amartey at the back. Boubakary Soumare took up the position Ndidi has made his own since joining. To be frank, they all look like they’ve got an error in them. That’s not to say Schmeichel and co were always perfect, but their successors don’t scream solidity.
However, once Amartey had got all of his shaky moments over in one terrifying period early on, everyone seemed to do their jobs relatively well. The performance of Faes a particular high point, the Belgian seeming to step into the role of senior centre-back with enthusiasm in just his fourth game for the club.
Most importantly, Ward kept his second clean sheet in two home games and even though that was again largely due to the poor opposition attack, he did make one crucial smart stop just after the hour mark. In truth, this was the kind of game he needed - one where he had little to do - meaning he won’t be the reluctant star of any viral clips for at least a few days.
Where are the goals coming from?
While there was plenty of promise, particularly in the second half, Leicester didn’t even muster one whole expected goal from 14 shots. Timothy Castagne wasted a header. James Maddison’s miskick after good work from Harvey Barnes was the best chance of the lot.
Otherwise, the only times Leicester looked even remotely like scoring was when someone gave the ball to Barnes and he did his thing, driving towards goal on the diagonal from the touchline. There was some over-elaboration in one or two of the one-twos with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Patson Daka but it generally seemed like our best idea all afternoon. Why that meant Barnes was substituted ahead of the likes of Dewsbury-Hall as Leicester chased a crucial win was unclear, other than on Planet Rodgers.
It still feels like there’s an imbalance in the squad and the team, and as soon as a clean sheet arrived it was no surprise there was little threat at the other end. There’s a huge emphasis on the front three for goals. Since the opening day, the only goal scored by a defender or midfielder is the Youri Tielemans penalty at Tottenham.
Whether that’s a problem is up for debate. After all, Kane and Son score nearly all of Tottenham’s goals. It’s perhaps more that the opening day, when Castagne and Dewsbury-Hall netted against Brentford, was a false dawn not just in the 2-0 lead but in goals coming from defenders at set pieces and central midfielders from long range.
Waking the positives
At the final whistle, there were a few muted boos. They were the kind you often get at the end of a game like this, where the performance wasn’t terrible but people are just frustrated that the team didn’t win. Rodgers, who decided not to take the plaudits on the field after the win over Forest, again headed for the tunnel after a quick handshake with Patrick Vieira.
It makes sense. He doesn’t want to be the story. He just wants the team to get back on track. Yet it also feels odd, another symptom of the zombie club sleepwalking to relegation, and it makes you wonder whether he would have fronted up on the pitch if things had turned toxic. Maybe we’ll find out on Thursday.
As a section of the crowd called for the manager to be sacked, one lone voice responded that they were ‘all f***ing idiots’ because ‘who else would we get? Sean Dyche? Steve Bruce? Yeah that’d be great, wouldn’t it? F***ing idiots.’ This led to an exchange of sorts with one fan who asked if it was okay to be bottom of the league. The lone voice then suggested we’d played well against Palace and a couple of wins would see us up to mid-table.
Perhaps he’s got a point and we’ll all look back on this period and laugh by the time the World Cup comes around. Or perhaps he’s just basking in the sun, enjoying the heat on Planet Rodgers.
The week ahead
Get your sunglasses and your Hawaiian shirt out because Leeds are in town on Thursday and it’s going to be hot, hot, hot.
Sadly even a win won’t take us out of the bottom three, which tells you just how important three points would be. After that, it’s a trip to Molineux on Sunday - the scene of Forest’s latest defeat. We’ll end on that pleasing note. Why the glum faces? It’s not like we’re bottom of the league.
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