Leicester City Aiming for the History Books

Article by e-Leicester Correspondent Jonathan Smith

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Leicester City are currently enjoying a 14 match unbeaten run in the Championship. There’s talk amongst some Foxes fans about the possibility of remaining unbeaten for the rest of the season. If that happens, City will have been unbeaten in the league for 27 games. That would be a new club record. The current record stands at 23 games; a run that took place at the back end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 when Leicester found themselves in League One for the first time in their history.

Nigel Pearson and his assistants, Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh, were leading the team back in 2008/09 and are running the show again following a spell in charge of Hull City. Mike Stowell was the goalkeeping coach and Dave Rennie the physio and both are still occupying those roles . Pearson used a fairly small number of players back in 2008/09 and he’s doing the same again this campaign. He used 31 players in league games but three of those only made substitute appearances and thirteen made less than ten league starts. That left fifteen players who played the majority of league games that season. So far this season, only thirteen players have started ten or more league games. With thirteen games still to play, it’s likely that number will rise but it will still be a relatively low one. Pearson has always made it known that he likes working with small squads as they’re easier to manage and keep everyone involved. I suspect that’s one reason why the team spirit is so good amongst the players currently. It will also be partly down to signing players with the right kind of personality; a result of thorough scouting.

The defence during the 23 match unbeaten run tended to comprise of four players from a group of seven. Jack Hobbs, Michael Morrison and Aleksander Tunchev competed for the two slots in the centre of defence. Wayne Brown came in towards the end of the season and started seven league games. Tunchev was a Bulgarian international when he joined the club and he brought experience to the defence along with Brown. He made defending look easy due to his ability to read the game. Hobbs and Morrison were only 20 and 21 years old respectively when they joined. We have a similar situation now with the experienced Polish international Marcin Wasilewski and Wes Morgan competing with England Under 21 defender Liam Moore and Arsenal youngster Ignasi Miquel for a place at the heart of the defence. The 2008/09 team had great pace at right back thanks to Arsenal loanee Kerrea Gilbert. Ritchie de Laet offers very similar qualities but is better defensively than Gilbert was during his time with Leicester. The left back position was taken up by either Joe Mattock or Chris Powell and that has almost been mirrored this season with Jeff Schlupp and Paul Konchesky sharing the workload. Mattock and Schlupp both came through the club’s youth system. Powell and Konchesky are both former England internationals with a wealth of experience.

Much like this season, Lloyd Dyer was a regular starter during the League One campaign. The system that City played saw Dyer play as a winger with Andy King and Matt Oakley playing as central midfielders and a wide man rather than a second winger. It’s a system which Pearson has suggested we’re using again this season as he sees Anthony Knockaert as a wide man rather than an out-and-out winger. Leicester signed Mark Davies on loan from Wolves that season and he made a big impact by drifting into dangerous attacking areas. Tom Cleverley followed in Davies’ footsteps when he signed on loan from Manchester United. Both players played an important role during their loan spells. Just like Matty James and Danny Drinkwater this season, King and Oakley made the central midfield slots their own and that consistency in team selection appeared to help them form a good chemistry on the pitch. They both started all but one league game that season which is a remarkable achievement.

City had a regular strike partnership back then, as they have this season. Matty Fryatt and Steve Howard started most games together and found the back of the net regularly; Fryatt more so than Howard. This season has seen a partnership between David Nugent and Jamie Vardy blossom. The two pairings brought completely different qualities to the team. Fryatt was very comfortable with the ball at his feet and Howard scared defenders with his physical presence. On many occasions, Howard acted as a battering ram and Fryatt seemed to benefit from his teammate’s hard work. Nugent and Vardy have brought energy, pace and an effective pressing style to the front line. Vardy’s ability to take on defenders at pace is one thing that Fryatt and Howard certainly didn’t possess.

City are on course to repeat the success of the 2008/09 season by sealing promotion; this time to the Premier League and not the Championship. Whether or not they can set another record in the process remains to be seen.

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