Club who showed fans how to dream regress by standing still
Two years ago this week Leicester City lifted the FA Cup for the first time in their history and it seemed as if the fairy tale would never end. From winning the Premier League title in 2016 to those glorious European excursions, Leicester have enjoyed a remarkable period of success that taught football fans across the country how to dream.
Yet it now appears inevitable that Leicester are hurtling inexorably for the Championship, with their nine-year existence in the top division coming to an end. Hope is draining away, with misery intensifying, and this latest capitulation leaves the club two points adrift of safety.
When Trent Alexander-arnold bent in a sumptuous free-kick 19 minutes from time, chants of “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” were directed at Leicester’s shellshocked players by the home supporters. It is now 22 defeats this season and relegation could be confirmed with a 23rd at Newcastle United next Monday night.
Quite how a team containing the likes of James Maddison, Youri Tielemans, Jamie Vardy and Harvey Barnes can be staring down the barrel is a shocking tale of underachievement.
These players have been sleepwalking towards the abyss for months and even at this point it seems the penny is yet to properly drop. The club’s “Foxes Never Quit” motto has been tarnished. It is a masterclass in negligence and the inquest into this nightmarish campaign will be painful and extensive. With eight players out of contract, and the futures of Maddison and Barnes uncertain, it will be a different squad next season.
Nobody symbolises the malaise more than Tielemans, who has ignored contract offers for over two years and is leaving as a free agent this summer. Tielemans’ decline has been as sharp as that of his club, and the Belgium international – who scored the winning goal in that 2021 FA Cup final against Chelsea – endured another poor evening.
It is impossible not to feel some sympathy for Dean Smith, the interim Leicester manager, who was parachuted in last month with just eight games left to play. The time had clearly come for Brendan Rodgers to leave, but his dismissal so late in the season was another poor judgment call by the board.
You also have to wonder why Leicester deliberated in two home games against Aston Villa and Bournemouth, hoping that caretakers Mike Stowell and Adam Sadler could mount a revival. Those games both ended in defeat and it now appears like a missed opportunity.
Smith must pick up his players for their final two games and hope
for a repeat of the 2019-20 season when he guided Aston Villa to safety on the last day. On the evidence of this limp defeat, it appears a forlorn task. The boos at the end of both halves seem to have been the soundtrack at the King Power Stadium to this sorry season.
“I wouldn’t question our fight or attitude and if you’re losing 3-0 at home when your team is in a relegation battle, supporters aren’t going to be happy,” Smith said. “That is only my third home game and it’s the first home defeat we’ve had. They were magnificent in the first two against Wolves and Everton. No football fan wants to see their team get beaten.
“I still think we can stay up, of course. I’d be stupid if I said no. It’s pretty simple, we need to win our next game. It will be tough at St James’ Park but we don’t get out of the bottom three if we don’t get points ourselves. It’s a tough time but we have to keep believing.”
Smith disclosed that defender Caglar Soyuncu would miss the game at Newcastle after sustaining a hamstring injury, and Leicester’s failure to keep a clean sheet has defined their season. It is now 21 Premier League matches since the 2-0 win at West Ham in November – before the World Cup break – and that is an appalling statistic, their longest sequence without a clean sheet since 1994. The two goals scored by Curtis Jones were both avoidable and exposed Leicester’s defensive frailties once again.
Leicester are a painful reminder that standing still in the Premier League can be fatal. For years they were the disruptors of the “Big Six” and a model club for others. It only takes a couple of poor decisions, or duff signings, to steer the vessel off course. The warning signs are there for Brighton and Brentford.
Now it appears Leicester’s dream is over, and some fans will argue that it has been coming for some time. Before every home game, a video montage including those magical moments from recent history flash up on the screens. The highlights reel from this season will be virtually non-existent.