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It is inarguable that Leicester City have dropped off this season. After two consecutive fifth-placed finishes they have failed to qualify for European football next season and slipped back in the Premier League.
In a domestic context at least, this has been a near-copy of 2018-19, when Leicester suffered an early FA Cup exit, reached the League Cup quarter-finals and finished ninth with 52 points – eighth this time. Claude Puel was sacked in the February of that season.
We cannot ignore the European adventure; Leicester supporters wouldn’t change the victories in Moscow and Eindhoven for the world. But even then, enjoyment ended in ultimate disappointment. Leicester were eliminated from the group stages of one competition and then missed out on the inaugural Conference League final after defeat to Roma.
Juggling European (Leicester played 14 Europa League and Conference League fixtures) and domestic football clearly took its toll. If the new training ground was intended to improve recovery and aid with the avoidance of injuries, it hasn’t worked out that way yet. Ryan Bertrand, Wesley Fofana, Ricardo Pereira, Jonny Evans, Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi might all claim to be part of Leicester’s best XI – those six players were limited to 75 league starts between them.
Rodgers reacted to that workload by using a policy of almost constant rotation and that probably hampered them too (although the manager had little choice). Leicester didn’t win more than two league games in a row until mid-May. Between October and March, they had a frankly ridiculous run of 16 different league results from one game to the next: WLDLWDLWLWLDLDLW. It is impossible to generate any momentum in those circumstances.
More than anything, Leicester’s season – in all competitions – has been dominated by their inability to defend set pieces, particularly corners. It is the micro issue that has become a macro problem through repetition. Up until the final day, Leicester allowed their league opponents to have 96 shots from dead-ball situations; no other team in the league allowed more than 82. Supporters joked that you might as well award a penalty instead of a corner, but dark humour covered serious frustration. It has begun to seriously impact Rodgers’ standing in their eyes.
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Leicester have become one of the best cup teams in the country in recent years: five quarter-final exits, two semi-final exits and an FA Cup win in the last five seasons beats everyone but Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea. But even here, it came laced with regret. The 4-1 FA Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest was the low point of Rodgers’ tenure to date. The manner of the exit to Roma – goal conceded from a corner and only two shots on target in the second leg – also left a bad taste.
We should not ignore the brightest points of the season. The home wins over Manchester United and Liverpool were raucous. James Maddison has returned to form over the second half of the season while the rise of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall into a key player and fan favourite has been joyous.
But all the evidence suggests that this is a big summer for Leicester and Rodgers. Youri Tielemans is likely to leave, Kasper Schmeichel might well need to be replaced, Jamie Vardy is also 35 and Jonny Evans is 34. The manner in which the new signings of last summer – Boubakary Soumare, Jannik Vestergaard, Patson Daka – have struggled to greater and lesser extents suggests that they need to do two summers’ worth of business in one and potentially need a new spine of the team.
But then that is the lot of the non-financially elite club. Your performance is never written in stone and you can never settle for anything other than the relentless pursuit of improvement or others will pass you in the fast lane. At times, Rodgers has made overachievement feel like the norm at the King Power. So when you have a normal season, you fight to avoid the sense that it is comparative failure.
Player of the season: James Maddison
Best signing: Patson Daka
Breakout star: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
The Score is Daniel Storey’s weekly verdict on all 20 Premier League teams’ performances. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning next season
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