When you think of the contributing factors behind Leicester City’s unlikely journey to English champions, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez immediately spring to mind.
However, there was a lot more nous that went into one of sport’s greatest ever achievements, than relying on individual brilliance from the Foxes’ star duo.
We delve into Leicester’s season to unearth the nuts and bolts of what made this fairytale come true.
Consistent lineups
Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri, once dubbed the ‘tinkerman’ by the English press during his reign at Chelsea, had the luxury of being able to field the same players on a consistent basis, which has allowed his players to gel as a unit and develop unstoppable combinations. In fact, this season, Leicester have made just 27 changes to a starting XI, while the average for a title-winning side is 95 changes. This has been a crucial element for a football club which has one of the league’s smallest and most cost-effective squads.
This is not something that has happened by accident. Ranieri has enjoyed this luxury due to the discipline of his players and the fact that they have been injury-free for most of the season. There is an element of luck when it comes to avoiding injuries, but this all comes down to good man-management – from the manager himself and the backroom staff.
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The Foxes have finished a match with less than a full complement only three times this season when Danny Simpson was dismissed at the Emirates Stadium, Vardy sent from the field at home to West Ham a fortnight ago and Danny Drinkwater marched late during the weekend draw at Old Trafford – all three shown red after committing a second bookable offence. The squad as a whole has averaged just 1.33 yellow cards per match, which goes a long way to avoiding a suspension for yellow card accumulation, or even running the risk of accumulating two yellow cards in a match – thus making Ranieri’s job of selecting the team week to week a much easier task.
Shape and personnel
At the beginning of the season, many were uninspired at Ranieri’s appointment, and less so when setting his team up to play in a 4-4-2 formation with a flat back four and a flat four in midfield. As football has tactically evolved heavily over the last decade or so, you could be forgiven for thinking the Italian was stuck in a timewarp back at Stamford Bridge in 2004, as he rolled out this almost-extinct formation when he took charge of a side heavily tipped for relegation. Fortunately for Ranieri, his recruitment was spot on and amazingly found players which not only suit each other, but fit the old 4-4-2 like a glove – which perhaps makes the unlikeliest of sporting triumphs all the more incredible.
It is quite common in world football these days to see wingers transformed into full-backs as managers look to sacrifice a little bit on the defensive side of things in order to gain an extra edge in attack – ‘failed wingers’, if you will, as Jamie Carragher once branded Gary Neville, one of the finest right-backs in the modern era.
There are no ‘failed wingers’ in Ranieri’s lineup, however. He opted to go with traditional full-backs Danny Simpson on the right and Christian Fuchs on the left. Both players still take the opportunity to get forward occasionally, however never forget that defending is their number one priority. As such, whenever a move did break down upfield for the Foxes, they were rarely ever outnumbered at the back.
When Simpson and/or Fuchs were caught upfield, this was rarely a costly exercise, as N’Golo Kante – one of the finds of the season – was sitting next to, or just in front of, centre-backs Wes Morgan and Robert Huth to provide extra defensive cover. On paper, Kante sits next to Danny Drinkwater, however often sits deeper than his midfield partner, snapping at the heels of opposition strikers to assist the more physical Morgan and Huth team up to win the ball back.
Kante does not just sit in front of the back four. Arguably the Premier League’s most mobile player makes the entire back two-thirds of the pitch his domain, as he often breaks up opposition attacks by either winning tackles, or intercepting passes before releasing Vardy, Mahrez et al into open space. Like Kante, Drinkwater is another perfect foil as a fit, mobile midfielder for Leicester’s less mobile, more traditional centre-backs Morgan and Huth.
Tactics
In this day and age to play a 4-4-2, you really need to get it right – or you run the risk of being destroyed, especially down the middle. Ranieri, however, did get it right – and how.
Not only did the personnel fit the formation, but this title win would not have been possible without some thought as to just how this unit would function as a whole.
In defence, it has been seen that the Foxes have not been too fussed to see the opposition cross the ball into the box. Huth and Morgan are your typical, old-school, physical centre-backs who are very strong and very adept aerially. Ranieri backs the duo to defend whatever the opposition can put into the 18-yard box from wide areas. This is the primary focus rather than to try and stop crosses being put into the box. Leicester have conceded among the most crosses into the box this season and also are among the leaders when it comes to clearances.
As soon as the season kicked off, Ranieri had his side playing brave, expansive football – bordering on naïve. This showed straight away as they put four past Sunderland, but conceded twice in the process of dispatching of the Black Cats. This was even more evident – and the naivety was apparent to see in a 5-2 home thumping by Arsenal in late-September. This football lesson served up by Arsene Wenger was a turning point in the season, as this forced the Italian to re-think his philosophy and re-set his tactics. From this point onwards, the Foxes adopted a stealthier philosophy. Kante and Drinkwater would sit deep and work with Huth and Morgan to make the middle of the park somewhat of an impenetrable barrier, forcing the opposition to go wide to try and find some joy. This all goes full-circle as when the crosses came in, Huth and Morgan would win almost everything in the air from a defensive standpoint, thus playing into the Foxes’ hands. As it stands, Leicester have conceded a an average of a mere 0.94 goals a game this season, which has gone a long way to winning 22 matches and losing just three from their 36 games so far.
Although listed as a second striker, Japanese international Shinji Okazaki sits quite deep to fill the gap in midfield left by Kante and Drinkwater, who sit even deeper when the Foxes do not have possession. This is reflected by Leicester’s average possession per game this season – 42%, which is uncharacteristically low for a Premier League champion. Fast forward to when an opposition move almost inevitably breaks down and the opposition have committed numbers upfield, this is where the Foxes are most dangerous.
Vardy, Mahrez, Okazaki and Albrighton commit themselves forward at a lightning-pace so as to not allow the opposition to recover from their numerical disadvantage while they are all caught in the Leicester half. Occasionally, opposition sides commit almost everyone forward which prompts Jamie Vardy to sit either on the last man, or try and find some open space and use his speed and strength to turn defence into attack at the flick of a switch. A classic example of this sucker-punch was in the reverse fixture against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in April. Leicester, who were ahead 1-0 deep into second half stoppage time were penned in, sitting deep against a Sunderland side who had committed everyone forward, except Lamine Kone. Instead of helping with trying to hang on for the slimmest of victories, Vardy backed himself in the event a move would break down. Sunderland coughed up possession to Kante, who picked out Drinkwater and Vardy was on the move. One of the best passers in the League, Drinkwater picked out Vardy with a pinpoint pass who muscled his way past Kone, rounded Vito Mannone and tapped into an empty net to seal the victory with devastating effect.
Unsung heroes
A seldom-mentioned cog in the well-oiled Leicester machine is the workrate which Ranieri gets out of his side. Players like Albrighton and Okazaki are among the league’s most substituted players because they display a quality in modern football which is almost as outdated as Ranieri’s 4-4-2 – hard work. Both players run themselves into the ground both in defence and attack in the first hour, so much so that Albrighton has been substituted 21 times this season and Okazaki 24 times, the latter finishing only three games this campaign. In the same vein, Mahrez has been substituted 22 times this season – another piece of man management from Ranieri which has ensured he has got the best from his hardest working players while keeping them fresh for upcoming matches.
Okazaki’s usual replacement, Leonardo Ulloa generally makes an appearance for the last half hour of matches, with great effect. The Argentine has contributed as many goals this season as Okazaki (six) which is a handy return as a regular substitute.
Critically, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has played every minute of every game this season. His shot stopping abilities, as well as his control of his back four and penalty area have heavily contributed to the fact that the Foxes have conceded just once within the first 10 minutes of any game this season – the 36th, no less – in last weekend’s draw against Manchester United. Anybody will tell you that to avoid conceding early goes a long way to a positive result.
Claudio Ranieri, a true gentleman of the modern game has suffered much disappointment in his managerial career. Second at Juventus, second at Roma, second at Monaco, second at Chelsea and losses home and away to the Faroe Islands as Greece manager in Euro 2016 qualifying. The Italian personifies the adage “anything that is successful is just a series of mistakes.”
How fitting that Ranieri will return to Stamford Bridge on the final day of the season as a Premier League champion, where he was sacked by Roman Abramovich after a champions league semi-final and runner-up in the League behind Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ of 2003-04. This truly couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
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