Two points from six but Leicester look good

Article by e-Leicester Correspondent Jonathan Smith

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Leicester’s unbeaten run in the league was extended to twelve games with a hard fought draw at the City Ground on Wednesday evening. It was the second match running that City had come from behind to salvage a point, having been trailing going into the final ten minutes. Understandably, there are some City supporters wondering if this is the start of a spectacular fall from grace. Like any statistic, you can view it in a positive light or a negative one, depending on your way of thinking. I like to focus on the fact that City haven’t lost in their last twelve league games but some would highlight that they’ve only picked up two points from a possible six.

Sometimes it’s important to look at how the points were won, not just how many. Although officially there’s no such thing as a winning draw or a losing draw in football, the points collected from the Watford and Forest games feel more like the former having been behind at half time on both occasions. The circumstances of the match have to be taken into consideration and it has to be a positive that the players are showing the character to get back into games rather than throw them away.

Towards the back end of last season, Leicester took the lead against Cardiff, Brighton and twice against Birmingham only to end up drawing all three games. Those games all came between the 12th of March and the 12th of April, slightly later in the season than we are currently, and will surely have dented the squad’s confidence at the time. Just to rub salt into the wounds, City were in winning positions in all three of those matches up until at least the 88th minute. Classic examples of losing draws. The mood in the camp should still be positive following the last two games, although draws won’t feel quite as good having developed such an impressive winning mentality in recent months.

The last couple of games, where City have come from behind to earn a point, got me thinking. If Leicester entered two teams in the Championship this season, a first half team and a second half team, how many points would they each have accumulated so far? In my opinion, it’s a good indicator of the strength of character amongst the squad. If they perform well in the first half of games but fade away in the second or if they start sluggishly and up their game after half time may be the key to how the rest of the season pans out. Using the first game of this season as an example, the first half team would have picked up no points as Middlesbrough lead 1-0 at the break whereas the second half team would have won three points having scored two goals without response.

The results make for interesting reading. Leicester’s first half team would find itself six points behind sixth placed Reading on 44 points, with a goal difference of zero having conceded and scored twenty goals. On the other hand, City’s second half team would be in second place with 65 points and a positive goal difference of twenty-four, scoring thirty-six and only conceding twelve goals. It does show that Leicester have been more than capable of upping their game. They have been losing at half time on eleven occasions but have only been on the losing side twice during the second forty-five minutes of games. This could be due to a number of reasons. The superior fitness of the players may play a part or even the half time team talks could have instigated an improvement in performances. It’s also interesting to note that in the last nine league games, four different substitutes have come on and scored. Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Jeff Schlupp, Kevin Phillips and Riyad Mahrez have all made a goal scoring impact with Phillips goal securing all three points against Bournemouth and Mahrez equalising to earn City a point on Wednesday night.

While all of these facts and figures look promising and suggest that the character of the squad may be stronger this season, it must be said that City boasted an almost identical record after the same number of games last season. The second half team would only have been one point worse off than this season’s with the first half team’s form looking identical, apart from the goal difference. It was at this time last season when the wheels came off City’s season, the last fifteen games producing six defeats and only three wins, but I feel the added experience of players such as Phillips, Taylor-Fletcher, Marcin Wasilewski and Dean Hammond will help Leicester over the line this time.

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