Enzo Maresca knows what is wrong for Leicester City but transfer issue blurs troubling trend
Enzo Maresca didn’t explicitly say Leicester City drew with Ipswich because they’ve not signed a midfielder but he very clearly implied that’s what he thought.
City were tired in midfield in the final 15 minutes, he said, and it was from a central area that Ipswich forced their 89th-minute equaliser. He expressed his surprise that Cesare Casadei had been recalled by Chelsea and hoped for a replacement in the transfer window. He spoke of needing “something different in the middle”, a “solution” to refresh his team.
All of the pieces of the jigsaw were there for those reading and listening to his comments to come to the conclusion that, had City been active in the transfer market before now, they’d be sitting 10 points clear at the top of the Championship table having just beaten one of their promotion rivals.
Maresca is right that a loss of control in midfield made a difference. City’s possession in the first 75 minutes stood at 58 per cent. For the final 15 minutes, it dropped to 48 per cent. The game was being stretched and the defenders were having to make last-ditch blocks and clearances.
When on the ball, the midfielders weren’t making themselves an option for the back four, meaning City were finding it more difficult to break out of their own half. In the first 75 minutes, 29 per cent of City’s passes were to men in their own defensive third. That figure rose to 38 per cent in the final 15 minutes. It’s a subtle difference, but one that shows why Ipswich were able to build more pressure late on.
Maresca recognised all of this, but his point seemed to be that he could not do anything about it. Ipswich had made a raft of changes to freshen up their side, Kieran McKenna having changed four of his front six with 20 minutes still to play. Maresca didn’t make a substitute until the 81st minute.
Even then, it felt like he reluctantly brought Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall off. The midfielder, who had been an injury concern prior to the match, was allowed to reach a point where he was totally flagging before being withdrawn. Without Wilfred Ndidi or Casadei to call upon, Maresca brought on Yunus Akgun, a tidy player who scurries around with enthusiasm, but who doesn’t impose himself on matches. That perhaps explains why Maresca took so long to make the change.
City could still win enough games to get promoted even if they don’t sign any players before the month’s out, but to win every match, as many expect them to, they need to have a manager who totally trusts his squad and feels he has the players to cope with any scenario. Unless they sign a new midfielder – and it’s Stefano Sensi that Maresca really wants – then they don’t have that.
Concerning trend blurred – but no definitive explanation
But is this all a convenient excuse, designed to blur the fact it’s another late goal conceded? Maybe. Certainly, there’s a concerning trend, one that has come out of the blue.
In the first 15 Championship games of the season, City didn’t concede a goal in the final half-hour of matches, never mind the final 15 minutes. When it came to the latter stages, their dominance of the ball only grew, and the tiredness of the opposition allowed them to profit.
In the 13 league fixtures since then, nine of the 13 goals they’ve let in have come in the final quarter of an hour. In five of the past six matches in which they’ve led by a goal going into the 75th minute, they have conceded an equaliser. It equates to nine dropped points.
For Maresca, this time was different. After the late goal conceded at West Brom (a game in which City were able to score an even later winner), he said his team needed to be more “gritty” as the final whistle approached. Asked on Monday night if that was again the problem, he said not. At Sheffield Wednesday, at West Brom, and in the reverse fixture against Ipswich it was the issue, but Maresca reiterated that midfield tiredness was at fault this time.
That seems fair. All of City’s back four put in a flying block in the latter stages. They could not have been accused of wilting or lacking determination.
Maybe game management is the issue. Supporters have been expressing concerns with how Maresca has handled the late stages of games in recent weeks. The style of play has been called into question, with frustrations over a lack of attacking endeavour and a seeming preference for seeing out victories with incessant passing at the back that has led to joy for the opposition when they press high.
But there’s no suggestion Maresca wants his team to play that way. Yes, he would rather them keep the ball than punt it up the pitch, but he would also rather his team move it into forward areas.
It’s not as if City sat back on their lead for the whole of the second half. They had six shots to the visitors’ eight after the interval, but they had a higher number of big chances. Both teams had three shots on target in the second half, and that doesn’t include the James Justin header that was cleared off the line.
There have been concerns too about Maresca’s substitutes. While he may not have the trust in his squad he would like, and the Ipswich equaliser may have only come after the subs were made, it did feel like he could have been more proactive in his changes.
Yunus is not the ideal man to bring on in midfield in a battle like that, but he was only introduced once the momentum had swung Ipswich’s way. Maresca was reacting, rather than anticipating. That’s not always a problem, but it was here.
Kasey McAteer of Leicester City
Maybe Marc Albrighton could have been introduced earlier. Kasey McAteer had gone down with cramp and still played on for more than five minutes before he was taken off. What about Dennis Praet? Could he not have been called upon?
Maybe it’s all psychological. Having conceded a last-minute equaliser at Sheffield Wednesday at the end of November, perhaps the ghosts of seasons past are now haunting City players and nerves are getting the better of them.
Perhaps it’s arrogance. Maybe City have won so many games this season that they feel they can confidently sit on a one-goal advantage and get to the final whistle unscathed.
There’s not any one reason that stands out as being the definitive explanation, but that it’s become a trend does suggest it’s a problem that needs addressing. Maresca and his players do need to look inward and analyse themselves.
Late goal shouldn’t overshadow very good performance
All of the above should have been irrelevant though. Because City deserved to be out of sight before they wobbled in the final 15 minutes.
They produced one of their best opening halves of the season, controlling possession and territory, crafting a lovely goal, and pushing for more. The narrative appears to be that City dropped off completely in the second period, but for half an hour, they were still the better team. Justin and Stephy Mavididi had efforts blocked near the goal-line, Tom Cannon volleyed over and stung the fingertips of Vaclav Hladky, the man-of-the-match goalkeeper diving at the feet of McAteer to deny the winger as well.
They did go for it. To say they took the lead and then thought one goal would be enough ignores the 45 minutes after Leif Davis’s own goal where City pushed for a second.
It did feel like deja vu and a repeat of events at Portman Road. But on Boxing Day, City were second-best throughout the second half. They allowed Ipswich to build pressure over a longer period. Here, they were comfortably the better team for 75 minutes, when it all then got a little ragged and a little frantic in midfield and at the back. Even then, they only conceded two shots on target in the final 15 minutes, the goal and the effort that led to it.
Analyse the whole match, and this was the good performance in a big game that fans have been craving. It just didn’t end in victory.
No need to analyse City by Premier League standards
So often when City have failed to win this season, and even in some cases where they have grabbed three points, there have been suggestions that they will get torn to shreds in the Premier League playing the way they are. But that’s a worry for another day.
City’s performances in the Championship cannot be considered on Premier League terms. If City do go up, there are likely to be a good handful of transfers that will mean the line-up looks rather different next season. With a full summer to work with his players, Maresca may tweak his gameplan for a more difficult league.
Right now, the objective is to win the Championship, not to get ready for the Premier League. There’s three months to do that if and when they do have a P next to their name in the standings.
City still in charge of table despite dropped points
And it still looks rather good for City. Yes, the cushion to Southampton in third has been cut by five points in the space of two matches, but across the whole of the Saints’ 20-game unbeaten run, they have only picked up three more points than City have. If both teams record the same results over the final 18 matches, City still finish above them.
The gap to Ipswich remains at seven points. That’s one more than it was after the Boxing Day draw with the Tractor Boys.
Even with the nine points City have dropped in the final 15 minutes of games since late November, they have still comfortably held on to top spot in the division. There is definitely no need for panic.