12 February 13, 2022The Sunday Times 2GS
Football Premier League
Brendan
Rodgers could
pay price for
letting Leicester
rest on laurels
of their
Cup win
There are two ways of looking at the
way the season is unfolding for
Leicester City. You could argue that
to sit in 13th place in the Premier
League is not too bad for a club who
fairly recently flirted with relegation.
Leicester almost went down the
season before they won the title.
Indeed, their swashbuckling escape
formed part of the personality that
propelled them to the top of the
division. It is rare indeed for the
attitude adopted in desperation to be
used in a more rarefied form of
competition but when you think
about it, it’s not so ridiculous.
They were a point above the
relegation zone this time five years
ago, leading to the dismissal of
Claudio Ranieri and they were 18th
when Craig Shakespeare was
sacked eight months later. Claude
Puel might well look at the table
and twitch slightly given
Leicester were 12th when he
was shown the door in
February 2019. Then again, it
might be Brendan Rodgers who
feels twitchy given that the
owners seem to like culling
managers around
Valentine’s Day.Few fans and owners ever look at a
drop in form in a ho-hum kind of
way, however.
The alternative view is that
Leicester are on the slide and on the
verge of repeating their own history.
Just as that scintillating and
unpredictably glorious title win in
2016 led to a short period of
disappointment and lethargy, the FA
Cup win in May, far from
consolidating Rodgers’ reign, has
served to undermine it.
What Rodgers does not seem to
have fully understood is that a
trophy, no matter how much it was
yearned for, is not a stepping stone to
improvement. Silverware is about
what happened before, not an
indicator of what is to come.
What matters is how a manager
feels as his captain kisses the cup and
the fans sing along to We Are the
Champions. He can be allowed a swift
lick of his lips in satisfaction but then
he has to become steely eyed and
ruthless. He must identify which
players rode their luck, which are
likely to rest on their laurels, which
gave so much that their energy is
spent and they need to be rested,
dropped, used sparingly or sold.On Thursday, Leicester lost to a
club managed by a man who
understands the need to handle
glory, not bask in it. Jürgen Klopp is
so avuncular that you hardly notice
his ruthlessness. The German never
once lapped up his good fortune in
having Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino
and Mohamed Salah at his disposal.
Instead, he bought, in 2020, Diogo
Jota for £41 million. There were some
who wondered if such a deal was
entirely necessary but after Jota
scored his 17th goal of this campaign
against Leicester it was clear that
Klopp had in mind the days and
weeks when his rampaging trio
would be missing or out of form. It is
not ridiculous to claim Jota could
prove the bargain of the decade.
As for Leicester, no team have
conceded more goals than them (ten)from corners. In their past 19 games
they have conceded 39 goals, 18 from
set pieces.
Rodgers’ response has been to
move midfielder Wilfred Ndidi into a
centre-back role, which felt like a
means to humiliate Caglar Soyuncu,
who had struggled as Leicester were
humiliated in the FA Cup against
Nottingham Forest.
It is a bit late in the season to pin
poor defending on one centre half.
Any coach will tell you the whole
team needs to buy into the defensive
strategy for it to work. A lack of effort
anywhere on the pitch has a knock-
on effect and this Leicester side have
lost their hunger.
Forest gave a darned good
impersonation of Leicester at their
very best when beating them 4-1.
They are on the up, feeding off upsets
and the prospect of a promotion
push. Leicester are flawed and
without the impudence to succeed
regardless.‘Forest gave a darned
good impersonation
of Leicester at their
very best when
beating them 4-1’
Alyson
Rudd
ON TV TODAY
Leicester City v West Ham United
Sky Sports Main, Kick-off 4.30pmlong-range shots, this had the
makings of the sort of day when luck
just was not on Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
Not that it helped when his Leeds
team showed appalling defensive
organisation at Gordon’s well-taken
23rd-minute corner. Michael Keane
rose high at the far post to head
powerfully past Illan Meslier with a
goal that should have been
considerably more difficult for him to
convert.
The rest of the match became a
question of game management from
Everton and the chance for Lampard
to acquaint himself further with his
new squad.
There was even time for a late
cameo for Dele Alli, who flitted
around effectively and crossed for a
fellow substitute, Salomón Rondón,
whose superb volley drew an equally
fine save from Meslier.Star man: Donny van de Beek (Everton).
Everton (4-4-2): J Pickford 6 — S Coleman 7,
M Holgate 7, M Keane 7, J Kenny 6 — A Gordon 9
(A El Ghazi 81min), Allan 6, D van de Beek 8,
A Iwobi 7 — D Calvert-Lewin 7 (D Alli 72),
Richarlison 7 (S Rondón 85). Booked Iwobi.
Leeds United (5-1-3-1): I Meslier 8 — L Ayling 5,
D Llorente 6, R Koch 5, P Struijk 6, S Dallas
(L Hjelde 8, 6) — M Klich 6 (A Forshaw 46, 6) —
Raphinha 5 (T Roberts 46, 6), Rodrigo 6, J Harrison
6 — D James 6. Booked James.
Referee: G Scott.T
he sound of Goodison
serenading a manager in the
closing minutes of an
emphatic home victory has
hardly been a common
occurrence in recent years
but it was loud enough for
all to hear yesterday. As
Everton coasted towards three
precious points a raucous rendition
of “Super Frankie Lampard”
resonated around the stadium.
For the second successive
Saturday, Lampard had helped his
team to sweep aside Premier League
opponents by a three-goal margin
although, in the context of their
attempt to retain their 68-year top-
flight status, this win far outweighed
beating Brentford in the FA Cup.
In between, of course, was a tame
surrender away to Newcastle United
in midweek that had raised concerns
that, perhaps, Lampard’s
predecessor Rafa Benítez had not
been the problem after all.
But as a response to a potential
crisis situation, this was impressive
by Lampard and his team, not least
because the result dragged Leeds
United firmly back into the relegation
conversation. “I’ve been here two
weeks but it’s only a start, that’s for
sure,” Lampard said. “I won’t get
overexcited but I can enjoy seeing my
team play like that because it’s
everything I wanted.”
After months of negativity around
the club, the only hint of controversy
came in a dispute over whether
Richarlison or the impressive
Anthony Gordon deserved credit for
the third goal after 78 minutes. It flew
in from the Brazilian’s shot from theEVERTON
Coleman 10, Keane 23, Gordon 78 3LEEDS UNITED
0Everton quickly rise to challenge for Lampard
edge of the area, a chance carved out
by Allan’s committed run and pass. It
took a touch off Gordon on its way
into the net; rough justice on
Richarlison but no more than the
England Under-21 winger deserved
for an eye-catching performance.Defender Keane, centre, wheels away with Calvert-Lewin after heading in a corner for Everton’s second goal
Ian Whittell
MARC ATKINSYesterday was
special for the
Keane family with
Michael scoring
for Everton and
twin brother Will,
right, hitting a
penalty as Wigan
beat Charlton 2-1
in League One. “It’s a great day for
the family, I saw they won. I’m
buzzing for Will,” Michael said.TWIN CELEBRATIONS FOR
THE KEANE BROTHERS
“I liked his attributes before I came
here but you never know until you
work with someone,” Lampard said.
“But from day one he’s been
engaging, wants to listen and wants
to learn and has a great work ethic. I
think he can go a really, really long
way in the game and his job now is to
keep his head down and keep doing
that. I’ve no worries about that.”
For a team who had not scored two
first-half goals in a league game for
more than a year, Everton started in
remarkably effective attacking
fashion, doing precisely that before
the period was half-complete.
On ten minutes, a superbly-worked opening featured a clever
through ball from Gordon for Donny
van de Beek to cross to the far post,
where Dominic Calvert-Lewin and
Diego Llorente slid in together. The
ball looped up and Seamus Coleman,
the veteran defender, ended a run of
79 consecutive Everton games
without a goal by bravely stooping to
head over the line.
It was a far from ideal start for
Leeds, who had been forced into a
reshuffle when Stuart Dallas limped
off injured.
And with Rodrigo somehow
managing to strike the crossbar twice
12 in the first half, with almost identicalGames since
Everton last
kept a clean
sheet, a 0-0
home draw
with Tottenham
on 7 November