When it comes to success in football, the players are often given endless accolades for their performances and perhaps rightfully so. However, when results just aren’t going their way, the manager is often to blame with calls for their job to end.
This epitomizes the story of the East Midlands-based club in the English Premier League. Leicester took the football World by surprise to win the 2015–16 Premier League, their first top-level football championship. The win, therefore, made the club one of only six clubs to have won the Premier League since its inception in 1992.
A number of newspapers described Leicester’s title win as the greatest sporting shock ever; as a result of their triumph in the League, the team was dubbed “The Unbelievables“, a spin-off harking back to Arsenal ‘s undefeated team ” The Invincibles “. The club’s previous highest ever finish was second place in the top flight, in 1928–29, then known as the First Division.
The 2015/16 season under Claudio Ranieri was a massive season for the Foxes as their performance put an end to the hegemony of the big guns in the League at least for a season. Meanwhile, the success didn’t last long for Leicester as they had to terminate Ranieri’s job in February of the 2016/17 season after series of bad results which made them end the season on the 12th position.
Since then, the powers that be at Leicester have been chopping and changing the managerial role of the team. After the departure of the Italian manager, Craig Shakespeare, a couple of Interim managers (Mike Stowell, Michael Appleton) and Claude Puel have managed the team and nothing changed with the Foxes.
Consequently, none of the four could do the magic as it was only Claude Puel who lasted longer on the job (October 2017 – February 2019). Brendan Rodgers was appointed three days after the sack of Puel. He ensured that with his vast experience in the Premier League, he steadied the ship for the Foxes and brought them to the 9th position at the end of the season.
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In this current season, Brendan Rodgers has done some awesome things as a Leicester manager. Some of which the club didn’t achieve even in the 2015/16 season. They currently sit 2nd on the log and are just one goal (39) adrift of Liverpool (40) and are currently trailing the Merseyside giants with 8 points.
Brendan Rodgers rejuvenated the midfield, got the best out of Jamie Vardy and improved the Foxes’ form since taking over in February. So what exactly is Rodgers getting right? The secret behind Rodgers’ transformation of Leicester is what we put together in this write-up.
Making Jamie Vardy His Go-To Man
Claude Puel might have repeatedly insisted that there was no lingering issue with Vardy, but Leicester’s striker likely had a different story to tell. Puel’s demise was death via a thousand cuts, but phasing out a club legend without actually improving the team’s performances is a good way to go about losing all goodwill.
It’s not just that Rodgers has made Vardy feel special (although man-management is clearly a large part of the striker’s improvement). He has also found a system that allows Vardy to be more active and involved rather than being left isolated and frustrated.
It is probably the statistic that best describes Rodgers’ impact at Leicester. In his last eight matches, Vardy has scored at least a goal in all making him the first player to do so after Jamie Vardy himself in 2016 in a total of five games. The logic is practically simple; Make him happy, make Leicester tick, make supporters cheer.
Changing The Shape Of The Midfield
Leicester’s default formation under Puel was 4-2-3-1, with two holding midfielders, two wingers and James Maddison playing as a No.10 behind Vardy. That role for Maddison was referenced by Gareth Southgate when explaining why he hadn’t made the England senior squad for their recent friendlies. England doesn’t play with a No.10, so how could Maddison justify a place despite his outrageous chance created statistics? (In Europe’s top five leagues this season, only one player – Memphis Depay – has carved out more.)
Rodgers has changed Leicester’s midfield shape to a 4-1-4-1 formation that easily shifts to a 4-3-3. Wilfred Ndidi is the deep-lying playmaker who breaks things up but then delivers quick passes when the ball is won, earning significant praise from his new manager. Youri Tielemans has been pushed higher up the pitch and closer to Vardy; a move that has transformed Leicester. The Belgian’s passing has always been exemplary, but now he’s doing his work in the final third.
On the left, Leicester are fluid and hugely effective. Maddison has scope to drift wide and find space, a move that instantly makes him more attractive to Southgate and England. Harvey Barnes is not a natural winger and so drifts infield, but that allows the marauding Ben Chilwell to make forays.
Diplomatic Build-up Play
One of the criticisms of Puel’s tactics was that Leicester too often relied upon counter-attacking football and was stumped against teams that sat back against them. That style of the attack had been so memorably effective in 2015/16 but was undone by Leicester’s defensive deficiency. No team can invite pressure successfully when the team cannot actually deal with it. More so, another factor is Leicester’s frailties and inefficiencies on the break.
Rodgers prefers a different plan; methodical and considered build-up in Leicester’s own half before passing through midfield. That’s the style that he used so successfully at Celtic, honed by the demand from supporters to be proactive rather than reactive.
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Looking at the passing statistics to note the obvious change. In Rodgers’ first five games, Leicester have completed an average of 402 passes per game, and that includes a game against Burnley during which they played for virtually the entire game with 10 men and gave away possession. In the five matches, before Rodgers arrived, the average was 341 successful passes.
There’s more. The average number of successful passes in their own half in the five games prior to Rodgers’ appointment was 149, but that has risen to a whopping 205 (again, including Burnley). Leicester’s top three matches for passes completed in their own half have all come in Rodgers’ first five matches in charge.
Approaching Each Game With Magnanimity
It would be one-sided to pour praise on the ‘Rodgers Effect‘ without pointing out that Leicester’s new manager chose the perfect time to take over. If his departure from Celtic before the end of the season was fuelled partly by his deteriorating relationship with Celtic’s hierarchy, he must have also looked at Leicester’s fixture list and realized that this was the perfect opportunity to generate some easy goodwill.
The Foxes have now won eight consecutive league games for the first time ever in the Top Flight. Their opponents in those eight games are currently ranked 17th(Aston Villa), 20th (Watford), 14th (Everton), 12th (Brighton), 11th (Arsenal), 9th (Crystal Palace), 18th (Southampton) and 13th (Burnley) in the table. It’s not as if Leicester were blowing away bottom-half teams under Puel, but Rodgers has merely done what would have been expected of him in terms of results.
They now face Norwich and Manchester City with the chance to record ten straight league wins for the first time in Premier League history. That would be quite a tedious period for Rodgers.
The Northern Irish manager will be hoping to catch up on the League leaders (Liverpool) after the last season Champions (Manchester City) seem to have lost the League by not doing the needful and are currently sits on the 3rd position trailing The Foxes by 6 points. Liverpool meanwhile will have to play a total of 10 games this month with as they look forward to winning the Club World Cup.
