Leicester City are massively improved - so why do I still feel so conflicted?
Let’s be honest, writes Jamie Thorpe, and acknowledge that on the whole there has been massive improvement at Leicester City since the sacking of Brendan Rodgers.
That ‘Foxes Never Quit’ attitude has returned both on and off the pitch, and it would be unfair to say that we have meekly resigned ourselves to our fate.
The system is more adventurous. Three strikers on the pitch against Wolves, an attack-minded central midfield pairing in Youri Tielemans and Boubakary Soumare and a willingness to mix up approach during the games by playing into the strengths of Jamie Vardy - all of these things have elicited an improvement in attacking output for sure, one that has brought a grateful response from the Leicester faithful.
There has been huge uplift in some individuals too, as Smith offered a clean slate to his squad.
Daniel Iversen has been excellent, Vardy has proven that you write him off at your peril, Soumare finally resembles the player we all thought we were signing and Caglar Soyuncu has been nothing short of a defensive behemoth, albeit one that is tinged with regret – I mean, how was it possible that a player of this obvious quality has been languishing on the bench for the best part of 18 months?
Mental resilience
Where there has also been a key, and much needed change, has been in the mental resilience of this team.
The sacking of Rodgers came after a disastrous run of 9 games without a win in all competitions, with each game sharing a similarly concerning trend.
Take the Manchester United, Chelsea and Southampton games for example. Despite starting these games somewhat brightly and creating some pretty good chances, Leicester conceded a soft goal and then, for whatever reason, simply could not get ourselves back into it, whether through a lack of ideas or profligacy in front of goal.
In fact, in the 7 games following the win against Tottenham in which Leicester picked up a dismal single point, our xG was significantly better in 3 of these matches, implying that we were both missing presentable chances and conceding soft goals.
This speaks greatly to the mentality, or lack thereof within the squad,
At Southampton, in a massive match against fellow strugglers, a missed penalty for the opposition actually spurred on the team that had fluffed their chance rather than the opposite. You could just never shake the sense this team were fragile and utterly bereft of confidence.
Shout out to my xG
Yet, in just 2 games Leicester displayed more character than we had in the previous two months, and allowed supporters to rekindle just the faintest ember of hope.
Against Manchester City we were cut apart in the first half by a rampant side with an embarrassment of attacking riches at their disposal. 3-0 down inside 25 minutes and I, like many others, began to fear the worst. The thought most definitely crossed my mind that we could be on the wrong end of our own 9-0 scoreline.
But instead, we rallied, stuck diligently to our task and actually pressed the defending champions to the end. On another day we’d have nicked a point. We actually had a higher xG than Manchester City - positive signs indeed.
Initially, these trends continued against Wolves. A bright start followed by a soft goal due to an individual mistake felt all too familiar.
Previously, Leicester would’ve folded but what we actually saw was a team full of grit and quality carving out a number of good chances against an in-form Wolves side. The winner, when it came, felt deserved and marked only Leicester’s second win from a losing position this season.
Too little, too late?
However, my optimism, while improving, is definitely tempered.
The Manchester City game was a free hit, Wolves started the game as heavy favourites, but the results against fellow strugglers Leeds and Everton, while not a complete disaster, were not what we needed.
For all our attacking intent, and the great improvement in the Faes-Soyuncu axis, Leicester remain all too easy to create chances against.
Sean Dyche has attracted criticism from some sections of the Everton fanbase for his approach of trying not to lose, rather than going for the win. But their 23 shots on Monday night is their best in a single game in years.
Everton have only scored 27 goals this season, yet caused us all sorts of issues at times - with only an inspired Iversen maintaining parity.
Leicester’s wait for a clean sheet now stretches to 19 games, with our last shutout coming in the 2-0 win at West Ham back in November.
Converting just one of these results into a win would have made a significant difference, not to our position in the table but in terms of our mentality. A two-point gap would have left Everton, Forest and Leeds needing to better our results by a win at least, piling the pressure on those teams.
And herein lies my conflict.
On one hand, we are unbeaten in three, have our fate entirely within our own hands and know that there are potential match winners still within our squad.
On the other, our last four games are by no means straightforward, and we are simply one upset from our rivals away from slipping straight back into the mire. It is hard to shake the truly unnerving feeling that these draws, while positive, ultimately won’t be enough to save us.
