Just a cursory glance and it’s immediately obvious that Leicester are in trouble – deep trouble.
The passing of another week of Premier League football has seen more clubs spiraling uncontrollably into crisis mode, with the Foxes looking most obvious as they squirm uncomfortably in their new roost in the relegation zone.
Leicester have looked abysmal and devoid of all that’s even remotely good in recent times.
What has led to Brendan Rodgers’ team in such uncharacteristic crisis mode with arms flailing as the threatening waters around them encircle even as they are rising rapidly?
The crisis is the horrifying run of results that saw five defeats on the bounce in all competitions since the 3-0 19 February loss to Manchester United all the way to the 11 March match to Chelsea – leading to the Foxes being knocked out of the FA Cup and moving down to 16th in the Premier League table – level on points with Bournemouth, who are in the relegation zone.
To say that it’s bad for the gaffer and his team is really an understatement.
It’s really, really bad. What chain of events has led to them being in crisis?
In that run of five defeats on the bounce, Brendan Rodgers utilized three different formations – all of which were horrifically ineffective.
One of the key reasons behind Rodgers’ tinkering has been the lack of consistency shown from his players, which all adds up to a massive problem for this Leicester team. In a relegation dogfight teams need players they can consistently rely upon to put in decent performances, at the moment the Foxes don’t have enough of those players.
What can they do to rectify it?
To be honest, there’s no easy fix for this.
Leicester fans made their thoughts regarding Rodgers very clear during the defeat to Chelsea, but sacking the manager probably isn’t the answer to the club’s current crisis.
Put simply, who would replace Rodgers this point in the season? A certain man who could probably tighten the Foxes up defensively is now at Everton, and we’d be surprised if a manager like Ange Postecoglou would leave Celtic this late in the season when on the brink of another league title.
Rodgers simply has to work out a tactical set-up that can get more out of the players at his disposal, while also masking their flaws too. It’ll be difficult.