SEASON’S DEFINING PROBLEM RETURNS AS SHAKY CITY FALL SHORT BY A HEAD
AND so it proved that Leicester City’s biggest problem of the season was their undoing in their biggest game of the season. In a way, it feels fitting that their campaign has been ended by a corner. It is not an overstatement to suggest that had City been moderately good, or maybe even just okay, at defending set-pieces, this season would have been wildly different.
Goals change games and if City concede the opener from a set-piece, the opposition then have something to defend. They will sit deeper and be more compact. Then, the onus will be on City to break them down and that has been something else they have struggled with this season.
Against Roma, this was in plain view. City’s panic at a corner prompted them to give away another cheaply, from which Roma’s 6ft 3in striker Tammy Abraham easily headed in after beating a marker who is six inches shorter than him.
The height difference between Abraham and Ricardo Pereira prompted questions. Brendan Rodgers said there were too many big men to mark, and not enough tall players in his team to watch them all.
But while Abraham has modestly said he is not that good at heading, he needed to be the priority for City. It’s not just that he is tall, but he is a goal-getter. His instincts in the box, his movement and his finishing, make him a bigger threat than any of the Roma centre-backs, so in that sense it should have been Jonny Evans or Wesley Fofana marking him.
There were other possible solutions. Kasper Schmeichel perhaps could have come for it, as it was only just outside his sixyard box when Abraham got his head to the ball. Not long after, the Dane came and got a strong punch on a corner delivered into a similar area.
City could even have selected different players. If it’s such a weakness, and such a strength of the opposition – Roma lead Serie A for set-piece goals – then simply choosing the better players in the air has to be a consideration. Timothy Castagne could have started over Ricardo or
James Justin for example.
Rodgers has said City have done everything to try to solve the issue. They have tried a few different methods, especially since December, when it was recognised, perhaps a couple of months too late, that it was a problem.
City have had a go at manmarking, ditching their usual system which combined that with zonal marking. They have tried putting men on the halfway line to drag out some of the opposition players. So they have experimented.
Rodgers has at times suggested City’s woes are due to a lack of aggression. But while Fofana’s return has made a difference, Abraham’s goal showed he is not the perfect solution. So what now? How do they go about solving this problem so it doesn’t affect two seasons? There is the transfer market in the summer, and with City looking to bring in a number of players in different positions, they could make sure they are of a certain height before they are brought in. It seems extreme, but it would certainly make a difference if all of their new recruits were at least 6ft.
They could, and probably should, bring in an outside coach. They have set-piece experts on the coaching and analytics team, but it seems fresh ideas are needed. Arsenal, who are far from the biggest side in the Premier League, recruited a set-piece specialist last summer and they have conceded once from corners all season, and even then it was a secondphase attack. So experts can make a difference.
City have to try something else, even something radical. Because not only has it cost them in the Premier League, where even a decent record at defending corners would have them 10 points higher and competing for the top-six spots, it has now led to an entirely preventable exit from Europe.
6ft 3in striker Tammy Abraham easily headed in after beating a marker who is six inches shorter than him
IF it takes until the 79th minute to get a shot on target, something has not gone to plan.
Once again, City lacked the cutting edge to accompany their dominance of possession, which made Thursday’s exit all the more disheartening. It did not feel like a valiant attempt to make the final, where they pushed Roma to the brink. Instead, they floundered as soon
as they got within 30 yards of the goal.
It will be remembered as another theme of the season, albeit one that has emerged more recently. Since City tightened up their defence, they have lacked an inventiveness and incisiveness at the top end.
Not only did it take until the final quarter of the match for City to register their two shots on target, they only managed one effort from inside the area. Jamie Vardy’s strike was very unlikely to make it through the sea of bodies in front of him.
Not conceding cheap goals from set-pieces, and therefore not giving the opposition a lead to defend, will help City in their attack. But they still need to improve against these deep-set back-lines.
After corners, it has to be City’s next priority when they return to work ahead of the new season.
They need more ingenuity. They need different ways to pick the lock. Otherwise they will have more games like this where their huffing and puffing leads to little excitement.
FACING a Jose Mourinho side did not help. In fact, of all the teams City could have played in the Europa Conference League, Roma’s style perfectly exploited all of their weaknesses.
They are the best in Serie A at set-pieces, while they prefer to defend deep and play on the counter. Both of those came to the fore on Thursday.
Then there’s the rivalry between the two managers, with Rodgers only once getting the better of Mourinho in their now 10 games against each other. That’s not surprising. Rodgers learned a lot from Mourinho, which only helps the master get the better of his apprentice. But for all of City’s lack of creativity in the final third, Roma did defend very well.
After leaving Tottenham, it felt like Mourinho was yesterday’s man, but he has enjoyed a renaissance at Roma and everyone at the club – from the players to the fans – has bought into the defensive style.
Because of that, they do it very well. City faced a defensive unit where all of the players knew their jobs individually and collectively.
And, with any Mourinho team, they were pretty good at the dark arts too, the referee and VAR officials letting them get away with shirt tugs and manhandling at setpieces, as well as sly fouls in the 50-50s.
They were cunning. It wasn’t pretty, but nobody of a Roma persuasion cared at the final whistle. Sometimes that’s what it takes to get to finals.