Football is back, and it’s more important than ever for Leicester
After a tumultous fortnight, the focus returns to the pitch on Friday as Leicester kick off a crucial long weekend away at Ashton Gate. Harry Gregory is looking forward to watching some football again.
It’s never boring, eh?
After a decent four points to stem the bleeding of the promotion campaign before the international break, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks at Leicester, with no football but lots of noise. Absence has made my heart grow fonder. I can’t wait to finally watch some football. It just so happens that ‘some football’ is also the most pivotal game of the season.
Well, the most pivotal game for three days, until the next one. That’s just how it’s going to be for the next month. An all-out sprint to the finish.
The international break provided some respite to a squad which was counting the injuries and should have some players back for this encounter, although Enzo Maresca’s pre-match press conference dispelled some of those hopes. Ricardo Pereira may not be fit enough for the whole game and Tom Cannon misses out with a minor knock.
Enzo was also annoyed with Wilfred Ndidi playing two games for Nigeria after his injury lay-off, which could affect his availability. Despite all that, Jamie Vardy is fit to hopefully continue his recent form, while the lesser-spotted Dennis Praet may make the bench.
Maresca has used previous international breaks as a means to focus the mind and our form has been good in the immediate aftermath. City’s last game before the interruption, at Chelsea, went largely to type but showed some positive signs. It exposed the defence’s lack of pace and weaknesses in transition, but Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Stephy Mavididi put in their best performances in a while.
What version of Leicester City will turn up tomorrow remains a huge question mark. A win would equal the club record for away wins achieved in a single season, a statistic which seems dramatically at odds with the mood around the club. Can Enzo work the magic of previous breaks, silence the noise and use being knocked off top spot as motivation, or are the wheels coming off?
A tale of two Bristols
Friday’s opponents, Bristol City, are similarly difficult to get a read on. The Robins’ season can be split into two halves, ‘Pearson Bristol’ followed by ‘Manning Bristol’. Nigel Pearson’s Bristol City were, unsurprisingly, a team who were more than the sum of their parts and at times knocked on the door of the playoffs.
But after a four-game losing run in October, Pearson was sacked with his contract due to run out at the end of the season. This move was largely met with dissatisfaction by the locals, those four losses were to Cardiff, Coventry, Leeds and Ipswich and their record before those games was Played 10, Won 4, Drew 3, Lost 3.
Jon Lansdown’s comments in the aftermath that the squad was capable of promotion suggested that football knowledge may be lacking in the Bristol City boardroom. The appointment of Liam Manning, after successful spells at MK Dons and Oxford, suggested they wanted to adopt a possession-based style.
That adoption of a passing style has caused headaches amongst the Robins support, often leading to slow build-up and static possession with little pay-off (news to us - Ed). As such it’s extinguished any plans Bristol City had of the top six and it wouldn’t be cruel to say they are the only club with nothing to play for going into April.
Their last result – a 2-0 loss at West Brom – highlighted their strengths and weaknesses. They’re handy on the counter-attack with speed on the wings and midfield, something Ipswich struggled with at times in their recent fixture at Portman Road as well, and which we know can be a danger to Leicester.
They lurk with intent at set pieces too, one of the leftovers from Pearson’s period, rather stereotypically, is a defence which is physically strong and tall. Rob Dickie’s header from a corner provided the winner in their most recent win over Swansea. That physicality is also a curse; their full backs are not the most mobile and teams seem to target this, offering a potential opportunity for Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu to strut their stuff.
The difficulty with any analysis into how an opposition play against Leicester is that they largely alter their tactics to counteract our style. In September, the Robins were extremely negative until they went one down. We’re likely to see those weak full backs given extra support with the wingers tucked in, which might make them more solid but negate their speed going forward.
It’s typical that the the fixtures which play out over Good Friday see each of our rivals at the top playing opposition of similar quality. There are games throughout the day with a bearing on our season, ordered in fateful instalments at 12.30pm, 3pm, 5.30pm and 8pm, which could make for a long and tense afternoon.
Southampton face a resurgent Middlesbrough, who appear to thriving in a more submissive role where they use the counter-attack to great effect. Ipswich travel to Blackburn, whose form has barely picked up with John Eustace taking charge. While Leeds in the evening play Watford, who are firmly in the mid-table quagmire.
Ashton Gate has greatly changed since our last visit, as the stadium has undergone a near complete rebuild, but how badly we could do with a repeat of that trip: a 4-0 win, courtesy of a Chris Wood hat-trick. If someone could provide such an individual performance, that would also greatly assist Bristol’s economy as I sample their fine ciders across the Good Friday afternoon.
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