Frantic opponents exposed a worrying lack of urgency
LEEDS United are deliberately frantic and for a side facing them there are two options: roll with the chaos and beat them at their own game, or fight against it with poise and composure. Leicester City did neither.
They did not match the intensity of Leeds’ game, Marcelo Bielsa’s side ferocious in their pressing and speed of attack. Nor did City keep their cool to retain possession, their 71 per cent pass completion rate their secondlowest this season after the 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace (70 per cent).
Leeds were well placed to bring more energy to the game having had four more days to prepare, but that does not excuse the lack of movement off the ball from City players, which was as much a part of their downfall as the sloppy use of it.
The local Leeds press suggested this was one of the hosts’ best performances of the season. But did City just make them look good?
On the few occasions where City players did keep calm under pressure to keep the ball, they would lift their heads to find their team-mates static, showing no urgency to receive a pass.
Invariably, that led to a backwards ball, or a highly-ambitious pass, neither of which helped City in their aim of progressing into Leeds territory.
This has been an issue since the season started and it needs to be something that is corrected over the coming weeks.
City have talented, technical players who can work the ball brilliantly, but they need to show a greater desire to receive it.
City have players who can work the ball brilliantly, but they need to show a greater desire to receive it
Two of City’s best players on the ball were Jonny Evans and Wilfred Ndidi, both unflustered by the bedlam around them.
Due to their individual injury problems, they were starting a Premier League game together for the first time since April.
That’s a long while for a team to go without their best centre-back and defensive midfielder in partnership – and it should mean that injuries can no longer be used as a reason for City’s under-par performances.
City went to Leeds last year on the back of a Europa League game, just as they did this term, but without Evans and Ndidi, who were both injured. Caglar Soyuncu, Ricardo Pereira and Timothy Castagne were also out. And yet City won 4-1.
Last autumn, City coped very well with their injury crisis, which was worse than it has been this season.
There is no doubt that injuries affect a team’s ability to perform, but the spine of their team now in place again, City can no longer feel sorry for themselves.
The introduction of Daniel Amartey for Harvey Barnes on the 70-minute mark brought questions of Brendan Rodgers from some fans: why was he making a defensive substitution in a game in which City should have been going for the win?
But the switch does not automatically mean Rodgers was looking to guard the point City had, rather than seek two more.
It was simply a way of changing shape in the hope of making City perform better. And they did.
Over the first 70 minutes, they had played 31 successful passes into the final third, less than one every two minutes. In the final 20 minutes, they played 18, nearly one a minute.
Three of their nine shots came in the final 20 minutes, all good chances as Youri Tielemans was smothered by Illan Meslier after Jamie Vardy robbed Liam Cooper, and then two more that fell to the wrong player, Caglar Soyuncu and Wilfred Ndidi both attempting to score with their weaker left feet.
At the back, City slowed Leeds’ rate of fire, conceding four shots, two wild efforts from Dan James on the edge of the box, and then two from Raphinha in quick succession, the second a follow-up to an initial effort blocked by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
It was a substitution and a change of shape that worked. While City did not deserve three points, they looked more likely to net a winner in the closing moments.
Of Leeds’ 18 shots against City, 10 came from set-pieces. The best chance of the game came from a
Leeds corner as Kalvin Phillips flicked on and Jack Harrison somehow thighed the ball over from two yards.
It should have been a goal and City supporters would then have been lamenting another set-piece disaster.
City now have two weeks off and it should be their focus. They have not kept a clean sheet in the Premier League since the opening weekend and a big part of that is their inability to deal with set-plays.
Should they correct the issue and become even a middling side at defending corners and free-kicks, rather than the worst in the division, they could rocket up the Premier League.
Compared to last season, City are six points and eight places worse off after 11 games. Compared to two seasons ago, they are eight points and nine places worse off.
It feels like enough of the campaign has been played to give an indication of whereabouts in the table City might be competing, but the Premier League is so congested this time around, it’s not yet possible to say if they are destined to be alsorans or European football contenders.
Sitting 12th after 11 games is below where City should expect to be. Sitting two points off sixth after 11 games seems pretty good. When both of those are true, it feels like more of the season needs to be played out to get a better handle on where City are as a side.
What is undoubted is that City have improved over the past month since the last international break. They are creating more chances and conceding fewer.
On a ranking of clubs by expected goals difference across the whole season so far, City sit seventh, a surprise, perhaps, to anybody who has watched them this term.
After playing leaders Chelsea in their next Premier League fixture, they then have four games against bottom-half sides, providing them with further opportunities to progress up the table.
That run could help define which part of the table City will be competing in this season.
TALKING POINTS FROM CITY’S DRAW WITH A TYPICALLY FIRED-UP LEEDS UNITED