Leicester City Review: Views from 17th

Premier League 2017/2018 review

Review

Thanks to rap artist Drake for the inspiration for the title of the piece- if you don’t get it, don’t worry.

Putting this bluntly, Leicester have been below par in all aspects of the season; Transfers, results, defending, you name it.

The 2017/2018 campaign hasn’t exactly been a thrilling ride for Foxes fans. Five points from a possible 21, means ‘Shakey’s men sit one place above the drop zone, two points off 16th placed Everton, who themselves haven’t exactly hit the ground running under Ronald Koeman.

On paper, Leicester’s early season run-in was arguably the hardest in the league, and so this proved to be. Arsenal away from home was the first game, a game in which Leicester should have grabbed at least a point from, but ultimately came away from the Emirates with nothing…thanks, Olivier Giroud.

So a defeat to start, but not the worst of results in a performance sense. Everything was there, bar the game know how to see it out until the full-time whistle.

With this being the very first game of the season, and no other team had played, Leicester were bottom.

Next up Brighton at home. A potential banana skin for the best part; a newly promoted team who tend to do well against Leicester.

Luckily we avoided that outcome and came away with a well-earned 2-0 victory in front of a packed-out King Power Stadium.

Could we continue the form in the cup competitions? I know many Leicester fans who would take a good cup run over anything. In relation to my question, yes we could, and convincingly too.

A 4-1 victory away at Sheffield United, we all hoped, would kick-start our season. Two games unbeaten, scoring six goals in the process.

Next up- Jose and his new-look Manchester United side. A side tipped for the title and a team with bags of quality running through the heart of it. Could Leicester find a way to take a point from Old Trafford?

In the end, the answer was a categorical no. A 2-0 defeat was in fact quite a generous result from a Leicester perspective, with United ruing missed chances in the second half; who instead had to settle with just two goals in the final 15 minutes.

This left the Foxes in 16th place, with three points from three played at the end of August.

September

New month, change of fortunes?

September, unfortunately, continued on from August, with Leicester only picking up a point from the next two games. A 2-1 defeat at home to Chelsea was a followed up by a point at newly-promoted Huddersfield, who themselves were playing at this level for the first time in their history.

Four points from five played and time for a break- EFL Cup time. A home tie against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

Having seemingly weathered a Liverpool storm for 45 minutes, Shinji Okazaki and a wonder goal from Algerian Islam Slimani capped off a real snatch and grab performance to book Leicester’s place in the fourth round.

The inconsistencies of Leicester so far this season continued in the next Premier League fixture, against guess who? Liverpool.

Only a few days on after the EFL victory, the Foxes once again played host to the Merseyside club, however, the result was to go against the home side.

A Coutinho free-kick masterclass helped Liverpool secure a much-needed victory for the Reds, meaning yet again Leicester were so close, yet so far.

Have you noticed a pattern yet?

The final game before the first International break of the season came down on the south coast against Bournemouth.

It was already being spoken about as a ‘must win’ this early in the season, which says a lot about the state Leicester have been in up until this point.

It was vital Leicester took all three points away, to try and get their season off the ground. Bournemouth had other ideas and really should have won the game. A below-average performance from Leicester, but somehow came away with a point. A point they clearly didn’t deserve, but a point that felt like all three. Desperate times, eh?

So, to round up this week’s piece, I leave you with this.

Leicester currently sit in 17th position, with just one win in seven, including four defeats. A -3 goal difference to boot, is quite clearly not good enough and this international break could be seen as a godsend.

Time to re-group and go again, next up- Tony Pulis’ West Brom.

Monday 16th October, 8pm kick off.

Funnily enough my birthday is the 15th October, so a win on the Monday would be a lovely birthday present.

Bring on October I say, come on you Blues!