Leicester’s surprise high-fliers must get better, says Rodgers
Manager relieved tired squad get winter break Lampard concerned by more missed chances
For all that a keenly-contested draw was a likely outcome when third-placed Leicester City hosted fourth-placed Chelsea, a smorgasbord of the unlikely lay just beneath the surface, especially for the visitors. Antonio Rudiger, who had bagged only one away league goal in his career, scored twice.
The world’s most expensive goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, sat glowering on the bench, ousted by the eternal understudy, Willy Caballero. And when Tammy Abraham, their only central striker, was hooked with the game delicately poised, he was replaced by midfielder Ross Barkley.
For Leicester perhaps the most unlikely thing of all after the 2-2 draw is that this morning, following a transfer window in which only backup centre-half Ryan Bennett was recruited, they lie 12 points above the Europa League slots.
Their manager, Brendan Rodgers, pondered the suggestion that his team, who finished ninth last season some 20 points behind Chelsea, may be overachieving.
“At the start of the season we were classed with Everton, West Ham and Wolves as four teams that could maybe – maybe – break into the top six. So, for this group of young players to achieve what we have up to this point is remarkable,” Rodgers said.
“But we’re not settling: we know there’s a lot to improve; it will always be a challenge against the Chelseas, Arsenals and Manchester Uniteds, and we need more quality going forward. All the same, to get where we want to get to, we had to win today’s game, we had to.”
For Rodgers, Leicester’s winter break cannot come soon enough and they will not return to work until Sunday. Some of his exhausted troops looked to be running on empty during their ninth game of 2020: Wilfred Ndidi pulled out on Saturday morning; James Maddison has lost his joie de vivre and Jamie Vardy has not scored since Christmas.
As Rodgers noted, the only chance Vardy did have – which Caballero saved with his legs – was one the striker would normally have gobbled up. But they still had twice as many shots as Chelsea. Harvey Barnes’s deflected effort hauled them to parity before Caballero’s recklessness allowed the much-coveted, not least by Chelsea, Ben Chilwell to put Leicester ahead.
“A lot of my players are experiencing the pressure of consistently challenging at the top of the table for the very first time,” Rodgers argued. “They need to go away, recover and come back revitalised for the final push.”
Having successfully appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have their transfer-window ban halved, Chelsea sat out the January transfer window. Their youngsters need a rest too and Abraham, far from fully fit, will recuperate in Dubai. “Mentally and physically we all need this,” he said. “People are starting to get leggy. It’s time to recover and get our bodies back to normal.” Book-ending Leicester’s goals, two Mason Mount set pieces met by two Rudiger headers secured Chelsea’s point, but their manager, Frank Lampard, remains uneasy. “We know we’re missing opportunities and it’s costing us points,” he said.
Aside from Rudiger, Chelsea’s brightest spark was Reece James. The right-back was defensively solid and his surging overlaps were Chelsea’s most potent attacking threat. “He was something else wasn’t he?” purred Lampard. “We need to get on the end of those crosses more, for sure. He’s someone to get excited about. As a coach, I’m not going to improve his crossing, he’s a natural, but we can talk about his covering and making sure he takes correct positions. He’s very open to that, as he should be. All the young Chelsea players are sponges, they want to learn, they want to listen and they want to get better.”
On the decision to drop Kepa, the coach added: “You make decisions every day in this job. No decision is easy. When it comes to a goalkeeper you probably do give it a bit more thought, especially if someone seems to be the designated number one. “We have to be competitive. Willy trains well, he acts well and he played well against Hull last week. I decided to stick with him,” Lampard added. the week before