Have we entered the era of the ‘big seven’?
TALKING POINTS FROM THE CHELSEA VICTORY
LEICESTER City no longer have a big-team complex and it could be decisive in the success of their season. The halfway point of the campaign provides an opportunity to compare with the season before, and the biggest difference for City has been their performance against the higher-profile clubs.
While City disturbed the status quo for much of last season in terms of their position in the table, when it came to the fixtures against the “big six”, there was no upsetting of the odds.
Of the dozen clashes with the league’s leading names, City won twice, at home to Arsenal and Spurs, last season’s weakest two. In total, they earned nine points from the 12 games.
In six fixtures this term, they are already on 13 points. They swept aside Manchester City, bagged late against Arsenal, delivered vintage displays against Spurs and now Chelsea, and fought back twice to draw with Manchester United, the deserved defeat at Liverpool the only low moment.
“What we’ve become better and better at, in different ways, is playing with authority,” Brendan Rodgers said earlier this month. “It’s having no fear, not having a complex against the bigger clubs.”
The evidence is there on the pitch. Last season, City bullied bottomhalf clubs, showing no mercy as they plundered hatfuls of goals, only to become timid in the presence of the bigger boys. This year, they have played their way, no matter the opposition.
There is still an element of pragmatism involved to counter the bigger clubs’ greater threats – City changed to a 4-3-3 against Chelsea, James Maddison dropping deeper, to match them man-for-man in midfield – but otherwise they play how they know best, and not within themselves, combining pressing, counter-pressing and resolute defensive displays with patient attacking football, with the possibility for a slick counter too.
From the first whistle against Chelsea, City looked like they would win. They played with initiative and controlled the game throughout,
Last season, City bullied bottom-half clubs. This year, they have played their way, no matter the opposition
performing like a side that knew they were six points ahead of their opponents going into the game, rather than a team wary of the visitors’ quarter-of-abillion pound summer spending spree.
City have been around the top long enough now for the question of a “big seven” to be posed. They perhaps don’t have the revenue to be considered in the elite group yet, but on the field, they are just as good, and they are now playing like they believe it, too.
CITY’S success in the transfer market is renowned across the league for the way they have sold their star players, replaced them at a lesser cost, and still steadily risen up the table.
But they are yet to have the satisfaction of finishing above one of their sold players. It nearly happened last season with Harry Maguire, but he ultimately had the last laugh as Manchester United’s storming second half of the campaign saw them leapfrog City in the final fortnight.
But they have another chance this year with Ben Chilwell and Chelsea nine points behind with half of the matches played.
Even before Tuesday’s meeting, City knew they were not missing the England left-back. Timothy Castagne had made an immediate impact, while James Justin had progressed at such a rapid rate that there is talk of the former Luton man challenging Chilwell for his Three Lions spot.
That’s not to say Chilwell has done badly at Stamford Bridge, he has scored a couple of goals and provided a couple of assists already, albeit there were signs of his deficiencies from his City days on Tuesday night, with the way he looked backwards, rather than forward, for a pass.
But finishing above Chilwell may bring more than just satisfaction for City, it could dispel the idea that success is more likely elsewhere.
Other clubs may be able to offer bigger wage packets, but what players really want is to be where they can win the most medals.
If City finish above Chelsea, it may say to their current crop of stars that the King Power Stadium offers just as great an opportunity for silverware as higher-profile clubs, and they may finally be able to get through a summer without having to say goodbye to a key player.
RODGERS said ahead of the clash with Chelsea that City were planning for life after Jamie Vardy. It wasn’t in the sense that the striker is on the verge of hanging up his boots, but rather the club being prepared for any eventuality. City have targets to replace every player in the squad, Rodgers said.
The notion that City are reliant on Vardy’s goals is a prevalent one, the sort used on talk radio to bash the club’s credentials.
But the evidence shows it is an area they have already improved on from last season. Of the 19 Premier League games Vardy played but didn’t score in last term, City won three. Of the 10 this campaign, City have now won four.
While he has gone five games without a goal since Christmas, it seems his clinical finishing is rubbing off.
Not only did Wilfred Ndidi hit a shot that didn’t trouble row Z, but
James Maddison netted for a third consecutive Premier League game, the first time he has done so since his arrival from Norwich.
It was a different Maddison goal, too, one that he himself described as Lampard-esque. Rather than receiving the ball to feet and working his magic, as he usually does, this was about City’s number 10 reading play to pick up a loose ball and finish.
It looks instinctual, but there is an art to it, and it’s something that Maddison has been working on with coaches and analysts at the training ground.
If it relieves the pressure on Vardy, that’s excellent news for City, if not pundits who have built their careers on controversial comments.
RODGERS could have turned to Caglar Soyuncu. He has greater experience, more maturity, maybe a cooler head than Wesley
Fofana.
But after some words of wisdom were imparted to the 20-year-old Frenchman after his substitution against Southampton, he was given the chance to show he had taken the feedback on board.
And he produced a display that represented another step towards him becoming one of the best centre-backs around.
Fofana has not had many, if any, setbacks to respond to since arriving at the King Power Stadium, but his visible frustration at being withdrawn in the 53rd minute against the Saints was one. He was too rash and was risking a red card. He may not have liked it, but it was a sensible decision from Rodgers.
Whatever Rodgers and Fofana discussed in their post-match briefing worked extremely well.
He was less erratic in his defending, timing his interventions well, holding back rather than rushing forward when there was no chance of winning the ball.
He did the basics – the blocks, the headed clearances, the shepherding opponents away from danger – excellently too.
As he is so inexperienced, he is going to have off-days, but if he can respond to them with that sort of performance, there are no limits to the heights he can reach.
IT’S the golden question, but one that Rodgers is perhaps right not to answer just yet: are Leicester City title contenders? The manager’s go-to response is to say it’s not something he is even thinking about right now, and it’s wise to play a straight bat. If he says yes, they are in the title race, he risks his players taking their eye off the ball. he says no, they are not in contention, it could knock the squad’s belief.
But also, it’s quite a difficult question to answer.
If you reach the halfway stage of the season on top, it seems obvious to say you’re a contender. A significant portion of the campaign has been played and City have been as good or better than every other side in the division, so of course they are a contender.
But then again, the table is so tight that a run of five or six poor results could see City slip halfway down the table. In that sense, it’s far too early to say.
What does bode well are the details of their results. City may be one point shy of their tally at the halfway stage last season, but compare the games with their equivalent fixtures from last term, and Rodgers’ men are 11 points better off.
If they now match their results from last season over the second half of this campaign, they will finish on 73 points, which would very likely earn them a place in the Champions League. Improve by 11 points again and they could be looking at a titlewinning total.