Leicester City’s promotion race with Leeds and Ipswich took another twist on Saturday, and it is completely unjustified.
Leicester City are still in contention to win promotion from the Championship and return to the Premier League this season. Despite losing back-to-back games to Millwall and Plymouth Argyle in the recent week, the Foxes are still in first and second place.
The majority of the 1,600 fans who made the nearly 500-mile journey booed Enzo Maresca and his players after Friday night’s poor performance at Plymouth. Outsiders find it difficult to understand why a club with 88 points and 28 wins out of 42 is receiving so much criticism. For Leicester supporters, the decline has been awful.
The writing had been on the wall for everyone to see. After thumping Stoke City 5-0 at the start of February, Maresca’s side has won only five of their past 12 league games, kept just one clean sheet in their last ten Championship games, and wasted an astounding 72 huge opportunities this season.
The two carbon duplicate defeats to Millwall and Plymouth – deep blocks with a clear game plan of catching City on the counter – had led many (including myself) to believe automatic promotion was no longer a possibility. However, Saturday’s results gave Leicester an unfair opportunity to seize control of the promotion race.
Leeds United, who have had in terrible form when under pressure, lost 1-0 at home to Blackburn Rovers, who had been thrashed 5-0 at Bristol City three days before. Ipswich also failed to profit on their dismal week, failing to defeat Middlesbrough at Portman Road.
Leicester remain in the top two, one point ahead of Leeds and one behind Ipswich. With one game in hand and three home games on the horizon, their fate is still in their control.
For hundreds of supporters, the performance and result at Home Park has left many doubting this Leicester side. For others, Maresca has lost their faith after yet another example of his complete inability to change games when all is going wrong. No plan B when the going gets tough.
However, this current situation isn’t just on the head coach. Eight of the starting 11 at Plymouth have played Premier League football but have constantly proved their inability to perform when they are needed the most.
Speaking on The Big Strong Leicester Boys Podcast, I attempted to explain one of the biggest factors to mentality issues at the club. “There is a feeling of arrogance with certain players where it almost felt as though they thought they could just turn up and turn Plymouth over.
“After failing to beat Millwall, you just knew Plymouth would turn up and give a fight with them in a relegation scrap. It’s clear now that every team knows how to play against Leicester.
“I did say that the run-in for Leicester was a good one because they had beaten all of the remaining seven sides but it seems they’ve all worked out how to counter the quality in the attack.”
For someone who doesn’t like to get on the manager’s back that often, doubts over Maresca have entered my head, for the first time, after the last two performances. The Italian is under pressure and he has questions to answer to relieve the pressure on his job.
“I’m not Enzo out and I won’t be for the rest of the season,” I explained on the podcast. “If Leicester don’t go up automatically and play-offs follow, I’ll still back the manager.
“If that does happen and the first leg ends in defeat and the players don’t turn up, that’s on the players not turning up to another big game.
“My biggest concern is the Premier League. When teams like Crystal Palace come to the King Power Stadium and go ahead, is he going to stick with his slow-tempo approach and no plan B? Leicester won’t be able to afford to lose them games next season.”
Predicted lineups for next Saturday’s game against West Bromwich have already begun to appear. Two changes are required, with Conor Coady replacing Patson Daka as centre-forward.
The striker has been branded the scapegoat in recent weeks, and he simply needs a breather from the spotlight after squandering two good chances against Plymouth. Coady has enough qualities to earn a spot in the starting XI. It’s no accident that his past two starts, against Sunderland and Bournemouth, resulted in clean sheets.
Following a hectic end of March and beginning of April, Leicester now has a week to rest, recoup, and prepare for the following week. The players have the opportunity to demonstrate their mentality, and Maresca will keep an eye on
s on him after the last two games.
Saturday had a better feeling about it, certainly after the distasteful feeling on Friday night. As the headline of this story says, Leicester have a golden opportunity to turn their promotion chances around and return to the Premier League.
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