After their dominant run in the Championship last season it almost seemed as if Leicester City would survive this season in the Premier League based on their spectacular team cohesion alone. Of course they had immense quality, but, by far and away they looked the team with the most chemistry. In addition, they did some fabulous business this summer by signing Leonardo Ulloa, from Brighton, for eight million pounds and the veteran Esteban Cambiasso, who has won everything in the game, on a free from Inter Milan. As someone who has been watching Ulloa since his early days at Brighton I was surprised not to have seen him move up a league earlier.
However, before tonight at home to Liverpool they were rooted at the bottom of the league. At the final whistle, they remained there. So what exactly has been going on since their flying start to the season?
For one, their offense has sputtered, especially since their 5-3 home win against Manchester United on September 21st. That was the last time Ulloa scored, when he scored twice, to date. But, even so he remains the clubs top scorer at five with his next closest teammates, Cambiasso and Jeff Schlupp, level at two apiece. But, Ulloa is not the only one to blame as his strike partners David Nugent, Chris Wood and Jamie Vardy each only netted one goal to date. Wood has not scored since the first game of the season, a late equalizer against Everton, while Vardy, like Ulloa, has not scored since the Manchester United game. Overall, their total tally of 14 leaves them joint fifth worst in the league.
Leicester’s defense is the worst in the league having let in 24 total goals from 14 games. It has to be said that their away form is much to blame for this. Pearson, although an incredible manager, has them playing like the home side in almost every game. Since the Manchester United game they have lost five away games from five and have a record of two draws and seven losses. So, in the form that they are in it is worrying that some players have not gotten a look in. Anthony Knockaert, such an important player for them as they won the Championship title last season, has started just one game and made a further three substitute appearances. Marc Albrighton has started just once and made four appearances from the bench and Nick Powell, who scored 12 goals for Wigan last season has started just twice. Why take a player, deemed good enough for United to buy, on loan if he is not going to be used?
All of this has culminated into the Leicester fans growing very weary, and after their 3-1 home loss to Liverpool they vented their frustration, which led to a swift response from Nigel Pearson in his post match interview.
“I had a spat with a fan towards the end," Pearson, 51, said. "If they cannot see the players are having a proper go maybe they need to stay at home."
It still looks like Leicester have the quality to stay up, but, with their flying start to the season long gone, Pearson, the fans and the players seem a lot less confident.
Source: DSG
