KING POWER STADIUM — Why do Leicester City only ever start to rush when they fall behind? A soporific first half was followed by a shock headed goal from Victor Moses that threatened to plunge Brendan Rodgers’ team into Europa League emergency.
Cue a Leicester team playing at least 50 per cent quicker than before, and a continental campaign potentially saved. The lasting, galling sense as supporters left the King Power on a freezing night? They should have done more to warm us up.
Napoli’s teatime victory over Legia Warsaw made things simple for Leicester. Beat Spartak and Legia at the King Power and they could fly to Naples with qualification for at least the play-off round guaranteed.
And yet they passed up that chance against the bottom-placed team in the group. Given the strengths of the starting XIs selected in this competition, Leicester are making damn hard work of it.
Brendan Rodgers‘ decision to make changes was facilitated by Leicester’s last groggy start, during Saturday’s defeat against Arsenal. He would probably have rotated anyway; in his programme notes Rodgers pointed out his team must play 14 matches between yesterday and the end of December. This is a squad high on talent but low in depth in certain areas.
But fresh faces did not bring enough fresh energy. The accusation against Leicester under Rodgers is that, at times, they can be a little too cautious in possession. The ball is exchanged between defenders and midfielders with composure, and it all looks very pleasant, but Leicester spend so long looking for an opening that they don’t quite react in time when one appears.
To some extent, this has always been Rodgers’ Achilles heel. “When you’ve got the ball 65-70 per cent of the time it’s a football death for the other team,” was his infamous 2012 missive. He has compromised on that mantra a little in the nine years since, but the basic principle remains.
It’s also not always a problem. When you have two of Jamie Vardy, Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho making darting runs for the ball over and over again, and Youri Tielemans servicing them, one pass will eventually be directed in the perfect area. But against a deep-lying defence that is intent on closing the space, an opponent must look to stretch them.
Ayoze Perez is a case in point. He was regularly given the ball with five yards of space ahead of him. You clamoured for him to take on a defender, run full-pelt rather than at a jogging half-pace. But more often than not he would slope down the left wing, turn back and play a 15-yard pass into central midfield. And so the whole process starts again.
Spartak did make life difficult, but only through deliberate one-dimensionalism and defensive dourness. “Win or die” read the banner held up by several of the 150 supporters who made the trip from Moscow – if nothing else, the decisiveness is undoubted.
Spartak’s players decided not to barely try and yet still took a lead. They defended with 10 men behind the ball, had 25 per cent possession but produced one opening that Moses took beautifully.
The same fans celebrated their draw with the players after the game; let’s call it a happy compromise. Leicester did have chances, of course. Boubakary Soumaré hit the angle of post and bar with his left foot from 25 yards. Both forwards went to kick the same ball and contrived to spurn a chance shortly before half-time. Vardy came on to save the game but missed a penalty. They merited victory on almost every statistic. But you have to seize your opportunities, not wait for them to land.
And they did eventually play with urgency, the final 30 minutes witnessed in double speed as if to atone for the wasted first hour.
They should have won the tie, by rights. But if you consistently shrink your window of opportunity by limiting the pace of your play, you will occasionally fall short. A smattering of boos greeted the full-time whistle. They had grown used to better than this under Rodgers.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3bKa8s4
Post a Comment