6 days Ago By [email protected] (Jordan Blackwell)
Officially, Leicester City registered just two shots against Manchester City, and even that is generous. Ricardo Pereira’s 87th-minute header, which looked from the stands like a knock down into the six-yard-box, was recorded as an attempt at goal. It means, in the history books, the match stats will be slightly less embarrassing than they should be.
In fact, the scoreline as a whole is not embarrassing at all. A 2-0 away loss to the reigning champions is pretty forgettable. It won’t live long in infamy.
But it seems as if that is now the point. City are playing not to be embarrassed. It’s become an exercise in saving face.
They’re set up defensively and work hard enough at the back to restrict the number of chances the opposition can create so they can leave with a scoreline that won’t be remembered in a year’s time. It’s the best way to avoid association with this rotten campaign. But for the fans there, it was totally embarrassing to watch.
Their team and their manager are not providing any excitement. There’s no attempt to win the match. Yes, City need a miracle and nobody is expecting them to pull it off, but it would be nice if they had a go.
It would be nice if they did actually try to score one or two goals before the end of the season. Instead, it was yet another game where they conceded early and accepted the defeat. For a team that has now conceded the first goal in 25 of their 30 Premier League games, a record for the division, you would think they have a plan in place for that possibility.
But no, at the first sign of adversity, they give up on even claiming a point and instead focus on avoiding embarrassment. It means, right now, there is no reason for fans to keep turning up. Whether it was one or two shots, that is not enough to justify supporters spending their time and money on following this team.
They were having to make their own fun. After watching their side concede inside two minutes, they knew there would be little to cheer, so immediately started celebrating completed passes. The form and the performances are driving fans away already.
City’s allocation of 3,000 at the Etihad Stadium was cut in half because of the lack of take up. The stands will get emptier from here to the end of the season. They know this team can play better than this.
They did pretty well against Man City at home a few months ago and were unfortunate not to earn a result. The way they’re playing now, the way they’re accepting these defeats and the way they’re accepting the fall back into the Championship, they don’t deserve anybody to turn up to watch. That’s now a club record of seven league matches without scoring.
It’s safe to say the attack has become even worse since the change in formation. The switch to a five-at-the-back set-up was with the idea of solidifying the defence and creating a more solid foundation to build on. Given the lack of clean sheets, it was not a terrible plan.
But if they’re going to stick with this shape, which it seems they will, then they have to improve their build-up. Even after two-and-a-half weeks off to work on it, they don’t know how to progress the ball into attacking areas consistently. “You have to look at the bigger picture of the season, not just this system that we’ve used for three games,” Ruud van Nistelrooy said.
“I don’t think you can take into a discussion of a system or not. “We’ve tried different options in different moments with tweaks in the way we’ve played, also different personnel in different positions. “Overall you can take the conclusion that we struggle to score in any system.
It’s not down to a system.” But is that conclusion fair? City scored in 12 of the 13 Premier League games before van Nistelrooy’s arrival. It’s five in 17 since the Dutchman took the reins.
They were finishing at an unsustainable rate earlier in the campaign, but they are better than what they’re currently showing. Again, it feels like City are just accepting the idea of not scoring rather than trying to find a solution as to why they aren’t. If that’s the case, it’s going to be a very sad end to Jamie Vardy’s career at the club.
It feels increasingly likely that relegation would mean his incredible run at the King Power Stadium is over. If City keep playing like this, he’s not going out on a high. There was not even the tiniest speck of a chance being created for him on Wednesday night.
It feels like the one man who is on his wavelength, Bilal El Khannouss, is now too deep to send passes through to the number nine. And Vardy’s frustration showed. After another bad touch in coming deep to link play, he clattered into Omar Marmoush and was rightly booked.
He was taken off at half-time as a result. If there’s any reason why City should be striving to do more in attack, it’s so the club’s greatest-ever player doesn’t depart on a whimper. Ricardo dribbled through a couple of players to win a free-kick 35 yards out.
He won a header in the box and nodded into a dangerous area. He fizzed in a cross that required Ederson to claim. These are all minor positives, but those are some of the very positives there are to cling on to.
When he made his comeback from a four-month lay-off at Chelsea, Ricardo then had to sit out a game. Let’s hope that this time he retains his fitness and is able to contribute in the remaining eight games. That would allow him to go into the summer in a better place and with the sense that he would be able to play a big role next season.
Looking to next season in the Championship, van Nistelrooy has always said he would honour his contract and not walk away from the club. But will the club want him? There will be an element of sympathy for the situation the Dutchman inherited, and maybe a sense that, with a full pre-season to work with the squad and a summer transfer window to bring in players that fit his plans, there’s potential for success. However, the way this season is ending, would City be harming their chances of coming straight back up by not giving themselves a fresh start? Would van Nistelrooy and the squad be able to put this dismal campaign behind them so that there is no hangover? Those are the questions the hierarchy have to consider as they prepare for life back in the Championship.
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