Leicester City Half Term Review

Article by Jonathan Smith

Leicester City started 2014 the same way they finished 2013, with another three points to add to their rapidly increasing collection. The Foxes find themselves on 51 points after 24 games and are four points clear of second placed Burnley.

City won their last fixture in 2013, a 5-3 home win against Bolton Wanderers, but Nigel Pearson decided to freshen up the starting eleven for the trip to Millwall on New Year’s day. Gary Taylor-Fletcher stepped in to make his first league start for the club as Jamie Vardy missed out due to suspension. The four other changes saw both central midfielders, Matty James and Danny Drinkwater, drop to the bench as well as two alterations to the back four with Paul Konchesky and Ritchie de Laet sitting out. It offered an opportunity to a few players who haven’t played many minutes in the last couple of weeks. Funnily enough, all four players who came into the starting line-up were dropped following a 3-1 defeat against Brighton on the 7^th of December and hadn’t started a league game since. Andy King scored, Dean Hammond was substituted after 45 minutes and Marcin Wasilewski and Ignasi Miquel were part of a questionable defensive display that day.

The reaction to the unexpected team selection was greeted with scepticism from a lot of City supporters on Twitter. In the past, Leicester have made changes to the starting line-up and it has had a detrimental effect on the result and performance. City have also been known to find it difficult to win against struggling opposition having already lost at Charlton Athletic, Sheffield Wednesday and Doncaster Rovers this season (they currently occupy 19^th, 20^th and 22^nd place respectively). Millwall started the day in 20^th position so they fit the potential banana skin bill perfectly.

Maybe some Foxes fans need to put a bit more trust in Nigel Pearson and his backroom staff when it comes to team selection. Pearson said following the Bolton victory that this season has been a bit of a project in player workload management with Sport Science playing its part in keeping a fairly small squad of players fit and healthy. Leicester have only used 21 players in the league all season and with Sean St Ledger only managing one game, Zak Whitbread starting just three and Martyn Waghorn making two brief substitute appearances it really has been a core of 18 players that have shared the workload so far.

Either way, the selection paid off with Leicester running out 3-1 winners in the end. The game wasn’t as comfortable as the score line might suggest with the home side having a lot of possession and a few decent opportunities to make it 2-2 before City got their third. Anthony Knockaert got Leicester off to a flyer with a goal within the first six minutes. It was Knockaert’s sixth goal of the season and the Frenchman is well on his way to beat his tally of nine goals from the last campaign. The first half was played in poor weather conditions with rain pouring down and a brisk wind blowing towards Kasper Schmeichel’s goal. The home tried their luck from distance on more than a few occasions but the Danish international ‘keeper stood firm.

Leicester had to wait until the second half to double their lead. A beautiful ball into the box from Gary Taylor-Fletcher was met by the head of David Nugent for his thirteenth goal of the season but his first from open play since his brace at Ipswich towards the end of November. The hosts gave themselves some hope of getting something from the game when Richard Chaplow scored. Millwall piled on the pressure and had a great chance to equalise but Jermaine Easter failed to lob Schmeichel effectively. When the chance to round things off fell to substitute Jeff Schlupp he didn’t falter and fired City to their seventh away win in the league this season.

Attentions now turn to the FA Cup and a third round tie against Stoke City. It will be Leicester’s third encounter with a Premier League side this season but their first away from home. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of team Pearson will go for having come out and said that the league is a massive priority. Some supporters won’t like to hear him say that but you can’t really blame him as the best way of keeping his job is by winning promotion, not the FA Cup.