Leicester City Mid-Season Preview

Leicester looking up

Summer departures and a lengthy injury list conspired to deliver a disappointing start to 2022-23, but a successful January transfer window and senior players regaining fitness should have the Foxes firing on all cylinders for the second half of the season.

While the is work to be done for Brendan Rodgers, the Leicester manager will be confident of allaying any lingering relegation fears early in 2023 – and there remains a very realistic route back into Europe via the FA Cup.

Foxes fans enjoyed success in the venerable old competition as recently as 2021, beating Chelsea at Wembley to claim their first ever FA Cup trophy, and things have opened up nicely for Rodgers’ men again in 2022-23.

A home clash with Championship visitors is all that stands between Leicester and a place in the quarter-finals and with Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle already out, Rodgers will have his eyes on a second FA Cup in three seasons.

Rodgers has earned patience

Any supporters muttering about their manager after a disappointing autumn run of results should take a moment to reflect on the job Rodgers has done at the King Power Stadium.

His three full seasons in charge have brought back-to-back fifth-place finishes in 2019-20 and 2020-21, the club’s first ever FA Cup trophy, a second FA Community Shield success and the Foxes’ debut appearance in a European semi-final.

True, there has been heartbreak along the way. In both 2019-20 and 2020-21, Rodgers’ men spent the vast majority of each season within the top four positions before being pipped to a Champions League spot in the final weeks. And there was an element of frustration in slipping up at the semi-final stage of the Europa Conference League, when injuries undermined the Foxes’ hopes of overcoming Jose Mourinho’s Roma in the Italian capital.

But the fact that Leicester were going toe-to-toe with the vastly better resourced clubs in consecutive top-four pushes – beating Manchester United and Chelsea en route to FA Cup glory along the way – shows how far Rodgers has brought this team.

Of course, Leicester are recent Premier League champions and no manager will ever be able to top Claudio Ranieri’s spectacular success of 2015-16. But that season aside, the club had not finished higher than eighth in the top flight since 1976 and Rodgers took over a team that had just finished 12^th, ninth and ninth before leading them into back-to-back top-four tussles.

Getting the Foxes to consistently punch above their weight has been no small task and Rodgers still has plenty of credit in the bank after an impressive four years of overachievement.

Understanding the slow start to 2022-23

An unusually difficult summer impacted the team’s performances in the early weeks of the season, with several key men unsettled by overtures from other clubs and two defensive pillars removed with the exits of Kasper Schmeichel and Wesley Fofana.

Fofana’s replacement, deadline day signing Wout Faes, was not available for the Foxes’ first six Premier League games and the shock departure of Schmeichel left understudy Danny Ward to be unexpectedly promoted to first choice goalkeeper.

It was a critically undermined backline that faced a daunting early run of fixtures against Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Brighton and Tottenham and early defeats piled pressure onto the players and undermined confidence from the off. Rodgers had been dealt the toughest of hands in 2022-23 and the vicious cycle of low confidence and loss was only made harder to break when a familiar obstacle again reared into view – more dreadful luck on the injury front.

An injury-inflicted leadership vacuum

In the absence of Fofana and with a new centre-back partner to bed in, the presence of defensive lynchpin Jonny Evans was more crucial than ever – but Leicester’s club captain managed just three matches alongside Faes before again succumbing to injury.

Replacements Jannik Vestergaard and Caglar Soyuncu also struggled for form and fitness and such were the injury problems in the centre of defence that midfielder Wilfred Ndidi had to fill in while 2021-22’s fourth-choice centre-back Daniel Amartey became the senior member of the unit.

A lack of established players has also been felt at full-back, with Ricardo Pereira and Ryan Bertrand yet to play a minute this term and the luckless James Justin rupturing his Achilles tendon.

Young Luke Thomas has filled in admirably and right-back has been one of at least seven positions covered by utility man Timothy Castagne but Leicester have lost the brilliant driving runs from full-back that helped propel them to back-to-back fifth-place finishes.

At least they had lost those runs until now – as January brought exciting news for Foxes fans.

New signings offer new hope

The January signing of Victor Kristiansen promises to add real quality at left back, with the Danish youngster an excellent defender and impressive going forward. Rodgers will expect far greater solidity and dynamism on the left-hand side with the former FC Copenhagen man in harness. And on the right, the imminent return of experienced full-back Ricardo Pereira cannot come soon enough, with the 29-year-old a crucial part of Rodgers’ most successful Rodgers teams.

The Leicester manager’s centre-back options have been bolstered, too – not only with Evans closing in on full fitness but thanks to the shrewd January acquisition of Australian international Harry Souttar. The former Stoke centre-back was one of the standout stars of Qatar 2022, impressing against the likes of Lionel Messi as he played a massive role in taking the Aussie underdogs into the last 16 of the World Cup. A man mountain of a player who dominates both boxes, Souttar looks exactly the sort of signing needed to solve Leicester’s defensive problems as well as adding aerial threat from set-pieces.

At the other end of the pitch, fellow January arrival Tete promises creativity, technical quality and goals. The former Shakhtar and Lyon winger possesses quick feet to break lines and draw fouls in and around the opposition box, as well as having an eye for a killer through-ball and a healthy goal return.

But while it is the Brazilian’s attacking flair that will understandably draw the eye of most supporters, Tete’s arrival also has a knock-on effect that could prove crucial over the course of the second half of the season.

A crucial system tweak

Rodgers is unlikely to shift from the back four he has used for the majority of 2022-23 but the arrival of Souttar and Kristiansen – and imminent return from injury of Evans and Pereira – will soon give it a far more solid feel.

Ahead of them, Tete’s arrival on the right flank means the Leicester manager can bring the fit-again James Maddison back behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1, releasing him from his defensive duties on the right of a 4-1-4-1 and allowing him greater influence on matches. And with Maddison closer to Youri Tielemans in the midfield double pivot, the Tielemans-Maddison axis can again start unpicking opposition midfields and dominating the ball as they have done so successfully in the past.

And while Leicester’s unwanted record of dropping the most points from winning positions in the Premier League – an eye-watering 19 – may look a solely defensive issue, the make-up of midfield and availability of out-balls to the flanks and forwards are always crucial when holding onto leads.

The technical excellence of Maddison and Tielemans in the centre – alongside a more traditional ball-winning defensive midfielder such as Wilfred Ndidi – will allow more control of possession to slow opposition momentum when defending a lead.

And Tete will play a crucial role, too, as his magnetic first touch, mazy dribbling skill and direct running will compliment Harvey Barnes on the opposite flank. With Barnes, Tete and one of Patson Daka or Jamie Vardy a constant threat on the break, opponents will be wary of committing too many men forward against a Leicester side who have been prone to getting pinned back in recent matches and buckling under concerted pressure.

Solidity in the backline, increased technical quality in the centre and more threat on the wings will mean Leicester will not only be better set to withstand pressure but will get more chances to kill off matches with a lightning strike on the break. Three astute signings and a little good news from the treatment room has every chance of transforming the Foxes’ season.

Foundations laid for a successful finale

Leicester’s January business was not as headline-grabbing as at some other clubs, but three key pieces have been added that should transform the Foxes’ fortunes.

If confidence can be restored by the defensive improvement expected, then Rodgers’ more creative players will feel the pressure lift and express themselves better across the pitch. A negative spiral can quickly be reverse to see the Foxes return to the form that recently saw them engaged in battles at the top end of the Premier League.

Moreover, a season that seemed torpedoed by poor early-season form now has the potential to deliver both silverware and a return to Europe thanks to a promising road to FA Cup glory that has opened up.

Defeat a second-tier side on home soil in early March and the Foxes will be just two wins away from another FA Cup final appearance. And as they showed when lifting the trophy two seasons ago, Rodgers’ men need fear no-one when silverware is within their grasp.

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