The end is near for the former FA Cup Champion. Brendan Rodgers is going to be sacked as it’s now a question of when, not if, after Leicester City’s humiliating 6-2 loss to Tottenham Hotspur.
Is there really any doubt in anyone’s mind now, especially after Leicester’s 6-2 battering by Spurs? How can Brendan Rodgers stay when this team obviously has tuned him out and are now fighting for themselves, not for each other?
Well, in truth, the simple answer is that he can’t. Brendan Rodgers is a dead manager walking, so to speak, and the Tottenham game proved it.
Leicester City should never have lost that game in the fashion they did, going up 1-0 only to then concede 6 of the next 7 goals of the game, even though they were playing against a traditional ‘Top-6′ side. The players lacked belief and confidence in each other as soon as Harry Kane equalized only two minutes after Youri Tielemans put Leicester City up 1-0 from the penalty spot.
A team with confidence and self-belief in each other and the gameplan the manager set them up with would have been able to clamp down and defend the lead from the simple cross that led to Harry Kane’s equalizer, and Eric Dier’s go-ahead-goal fifteen minutes later.
In my opinion, this extreme incompetence is down to Brendan Rodgers stubbornness with wanting to play out from the back. Without Wesly Fofana and Çağlar Söyüncü, this team just can’t move the ball from the defense to the midfield without a high risk of the opposing team counterattacking.
And, of course, when the opposing teams counterattack as well as Tottenham did today, they can practically score at will on Leicester. A central defense of Johnny Evans, Wout Faes, and goalkeeper Danny Ward is a championship caliber defense at best, especially with Danny Ward in goal.
Every shot on target practically goes in with that guy in net. He’s such a MASSIVE downgrade on the departed legend, Kasper Schmeichel, and will cost Leicester their place in the Premier League if he’s not replaced soon.
Anyway, the deficiency of Ward, Evans, and Faes wouldn’t be so profound if Leicester wasn’t in the midst of their worst start to a Premier League season in 8 years. Not since their Great Escape under Nigel Pearson of the 2014-15 season has Leicester been condemned with such a poor start.
When you’re being compared to a team that narrowly avoided relegation, that’s not a great sign for how your season is panning out.
However, I can’t just attribute this result down to Leicester City’s incompetence as Spurs were just as great as Leicester was bad.
Heung-Min Son’s second half hattrick was the stuff of fairytales as he proved all of his doubters wrong over his ability to adjust to Antonio Conte’s new system by breaking his 8-game goal-scoring drought with three goals in under 13 minutes. Many Spurs fans and media pundits were writing off last season Golden Boot winner as if he was some journeyman player.
Did they forget how vital Son has been to Tottenham these past few years?
Without Son, Tottenham would never have finished in the Champions League spot last season.
He’s truly a fantastic player with an inspirational work ethic and determination.
Unfortunately for Leicester, Son decided to run rampant on them, which has only further added more pressure on this team and Brendan Rodgers to pick up a win. With the international break now underway, I’d be shocked if Brendan Rodgers was still with the Foxes come their next game against also struggling Nottingham Forrest.
If the Foxes’ owners sack Rodgers now, a new manger should be able to utilize the attacking talents, who have actually played well thus far, while also tightening up the defense with a simpler style of play to get Leicester out of the relegation zone.
Leicester is too good to go down, right?
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