4 problems which Leicester City must fix immediately
By Drew Pells
Losing to lesser teams
Tuesday’s loss to the Villans made it three losses in five across all competitions. To add insult to injury, all three of those losses came against teams the Foxes had already beat this campaign.
Leicester embarrassed Southampton at St. Mary’s 9-0 in October. Yet somehow, at home, they only managed one goal, blew an early lead, and lost 2-1 in the end.
In Leicester’s first meeting with Burnley this season, which ironically preceded their thrashing of Saints, they fought back to win by a goal. But in the reverse fixture, Jamie Vardy missed a penalty for only the fourth time in his top flight career as they lost 2-1.
As for Villa, Leicester easily dispatched them 4-1, only conceding a well struck one-timer from Jack Graelish, in the Premier League earlier this year.
But in both EFL Cup semifinal legs, Brendan Rodgers’ side fell behind in the first half only for Kelechi Iheanacho to bail them out just after 70 minutes. Tuesday, he gave his team a lifeline, but they spoiled it by allowing a stoppage time winner to Mahmoud Hassan.
There’s no shame in Leicester losing to Manchester City or Liverpool over the Christmas period. But Southampton, Burnley, and Aston Villa, teams they already beat this year? Unacceptable.
Plus, losing to Aston Villa, arguably the worst of the bunch, over two legs with heightened pressure as a semifinal? Very disappointing they couldn’t win when it mattered most.