Champions Last Campaign, Relegation Strugglers This Season; How Claudio Ranieri Can Change The Fortunes Of Leicester City.

Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City had a fairytale season last campaign winning the Premier League despite having waited until the last two league games in the 2014/2015 season before securing their Premier League status under Nigel Pearson.
This season, Leicester topped their Champions League group despite losing 5-0 away to Porto, with a round of 16 game with Jorge Sampaoli’s Sevilla in February. In the Premier League it is quite the opposite as Ranieri’s side are a shadow of their old self as they sit 15th in the league, three points clear of the relegation zone despite earning a spirited last minute 2-2 draw at Stoke City ( Leicester played more than 70 minutes of the game a man down as star striker Jamie Vardy saw red in the 28 minute). To buttress further, Leicester are the worst defending champions travellers in the history of the Premier League as well as one of the worst travellers In the league this season having gained just two points in nine away games so far. Also to be noted is that Leicester’s decline hasn’t been sudden judging from their loss in the season opener against newly relegated Hull City at the KC Stadium.
“It was a fantastic performance because we were 2-0 down, one man less and we drew the match-similar to last season. I hope this is our turning point and we can produce other fantastic performances,” were the words of Ranieri after the draw with Stoke last weekend.
While Jamie Vardy, Danny Drinkwater and Riyadh Mahrez are no longer the attacking force they used to be last season, it should be noted that many defenders have become conversant with Leicester’s style of play which relies more on a quick transition from defence to attack, relying more on the pace of Mahrez and N’Golo Kante who left for Chelsea in the summer coupled with the intelligent runs of Vardy who is perfect in timing his runs and finishing when one on one with the goalkeeper. Leicester’s greatest problem however lies In their defence which has been run haggard by opposition attackers this season. Central defence is Ranieri’s greatest problem with Morgan and Robert Huth lacking the protection they once enjoyed from Kante, which allowed them to play deep leaving no space for attackers to exploit . This season new signing and former Nice captain (Mendy) has rarely featured disappointing before being injured coupled with the fact Amartey has been unable to provide such cover as the Ghanian’s tackling, positioning and ball interception are not up to grade with a title chasing side. As a consequence, the immobility and static play of Morgan and Huth has been exploited to great lengths with the combined age of both defenders more than 62 years. The purpose of this writing isn’t to suggest that Morgan and Huth are suddenly bad players after a spectacular season last campaign , rather what the writer is trying to explain is that both centre-backs are better when played with a top notch defensive midfielder as this allows them the opportunity to utilise their aerial ability and physicality to harass opposition attackers as both centre-backs are known to be more reactive rather than pro-active , encouraging attackers to run at them hence providing a goal threat for the opposition.
Though Leicester were never realistically expected to retain their Premier League title this season, they Midlands club were expected to challenge the traditional big clubs or at least finish in the top 10 rather than battle relegation . Vardy and Mahrez might not be at their best, yet this should not overly worry Ranieri come the winter transfer as the Italian has other capable players like Okazaki, Ahmed Musa, Islam Slimani and Ulloa. Ranieri should rather make the signing of a top class centre back to relieve either Morgan or Huth and also a top quality defensive midfielder to reduce the burden on the defender as the likes of Mendy, Andy King and Amartey have failed when expected to deliver. Failure to do this might see Leicester dragged into the relegation zone towards the end of the season in May.
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