If Brendan Rodgers leaves Leicester City, he probably will not be offered a post as an ambassador for Europe’s newest tournament. “I’ve got to be honest, I don’t even know what the competition is,” he said after Leicester dropped into the Europa Conference League.
He has had two months to find out. As Leicester have exited the League Cup and the FA Cup in the intervening period, while only winning two of seven Premier League matches, it assumes a greater importance. Leicester’s chances of rescuing a season gone wrong could depend on the Europa Conference League. Their only plausible route back into the Europa League flows through such footballing backwaters.
It can nevertheless claim to be the most representative competition of the continent as a whole. Red Bull Salzburg are the most easterly side left in the Champions League. The Conference League contains the Azeris of Qarabag, plus Maccabi Tel Aviv, Fenerbahce, PAOK Salonika, Partizan Belgrade and Sparta and Slavia Prague. The Champions League has no Scandinavian representatives. The Conference League has three from Denmark alone.
On Thursday Leicester host the lowliest, fifth-placed Randers, who will be playing their first game in any European knockout stages. Rodgers’ side are overwhelming favourites: indeed, only Roma are more favoured to lift the trophy.
Yet awarding them that status seems to ignore the reality they were among the favourites to win the Europa League before only coming third in their pool and can appear at odds with Leicester’s self-destructive streak.
They are a team with an unfortunate tendency to concede late goals and from set-pieces, two damaging trends which coincided against West Ham on Sunday.
Goals in the last 10 minutes have cost them six points in their last three home games; those in stoppage time have denied them five. They have been breached 14 times from dead-ball situations in the Premier League; they have conceded from corners in their last three games, including the FA Cup humiliation at Nottingham Forest. ”
Leicester 2 West Ham 2: player ratings
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LEICESTER RATINGS: Kasper Schmeichel – 6: Dependable shot-stopper had very little to do for much of the game, but will be extremely unhappy to have conceded after having been unable to keep out Dawson’s header. Reuters -
Ricardo Pereira – 7: The Portuguese international marked his first league start and return from injury with a header at the far post to put the Foxes ahead for the first time in the game. An encouraging defensive display. Reuters -
Daniel Armartey – 6: Played Bowen onside and was beaten in the air by Dawson in the closing stages for West Ham’s equaliser. Getty -
Caglar Soyuncu – 6: Returning to the starting line-up having been dropped against Liverpool, Soyuncu took a heavy hit early on, was then caught out by Diop’s long ball for the opener, and didn’t look comfortable overall. AP -
James Justin – 6: Justin started his third game in three but pulled up early in the first half. Reuters -
Wilfred Ndidi – 6: Busy defensively, but the Nigerian should have done better with a shot in the final few minutes of the game. Reuters -
Youri Tielemans – 8: Woke up a quiet King Power Stadium just before half-time with a shot that hit the side-netting after a neat one-two. He then made no mistake from the spot after Leicester were awarded a penalty. Curled another left-footed shot just over the bar. Reuters -
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – 7: The 23-year-old started his eighth league game in a row and looked one of the more lively City players, demanding the ball and trying to make things happen in attack. PA -
James Maddison – 6: After a relatively quiet first half, the in-form playmaker had a good chance but fired a shot well over the crossbar. EPA -
Patson Daka – 5: Too quiet and too often anonymous. On one occasion, he came sliding in at the far post a second too late as Barnes crossed a dangerous ball into the goalmouth. AP -
Harvey Barnes – 8: The rare attacking threat in a Leicester side struggling to make much happen in the first half. He came out after the break with plenty of energy down the left wing, causing trouble for Coufal. Getty -
SUBS: Luke Thomas (On for for Justin 31’) – 6: The 20-year-old played a neat exchange with Barnes on the wing just after the break. Reuters -
Ademola Lookman (On for Maddison 73’) – 6: Carried the ball into the box in the closing stages but shot well wide of the post. EPA -
Jannik Vestergaard (On for Tielemans 89’) N/A. PA -
WEST HAM RATINGS: Lukasz Fabianski – 6: Had very little to do in first half, but he was unable to keep out Tielemans spot-kick, despite guessing the right direction. Reuters -
Vladimir Coufal – 5: Beaten down the left as Barnes grew into the game and proved to have the pace on the right back. Subbed in the second half. EPA -
Craig Dawson – 7: Marked his 50th start for the Hammers with a 90th-minute equaliser in a crowded box. Reuters -
Issa Diop – 7: A late change for the Hammers after Kurt Zouma was unable to start game due to illness, he opened up the Foxes defence when he launched a great long ball to Bowen, who put his side ahead 10 minutes in. Reuters -
Aaron Cresswell – 5: The full-back gave Leicester a lifeline in an otherwise poor half for the Foxes when he cleared a corner with his elbow giving away a penalty. Saw a bobbling effort on the half-time whistle go just wide. EPA -
Declan Rice – 6: Excellent work by the Hammers captain in the closing stages as he managed to dispossess Dewsbury-Hall on a storming run. Booked. Getty -
Tomas Soucek – 6: Dominated in the air, Soucek couldn’t quite make anything happen anywhere else. Getty -
Jarrod Bowen – 7: The in-form winger scored his fifth in five games when he read Diop’s long ball and slotted past Schmeichel. Reuters -
Manuel Lanzini – 6: Started instead of Said Benrahma, but he was unable to make anything happen before making way for the Algerian. AFP -
Pablo Fornals – 5: Could have helped his side retake the lead before half-time when Antonio managed to get his cross away, but the Spaniard completely misjudged the ball. Reuters -
Michail Antonio – 5: Held the ball up well, which helped to move his team out of their own half. But was kept quiet for much of the game. AFP -
SUBS: Ryan Federicks (On for Coufal 67’) – 6: With Coufal struggling to live up to the task of keeping Barnes quiet, Federicks came on early in the second half, though didn’t see much of the ball. Getty -
Nikola Vlasic (On for Fornals 80’) N/A. Getty -
Said Benrahma (On for Lanzini 80’) – N/A: David Moyes will likely be regretting dropping Benrahma, as he made in immediate impact and could have scored. Reuters
This season has been difficult,” accepted Caglar Soyuncu, one of the defenders to have a troubled time. Rodgers has admitted Leicester have “struggled all season” at centre-back: the loss of Wesley Fofana to injury in pre-season has proved crucial, while Jonny Evans has often been absent and rarely fully fit.
A meeting with a club from his homeland shines a particular light on Jannik Vestergaard. The centre-back played in Denmark’s Euro 2020 semi-final against England in a month that enhanced his reputation.
It has fallen at Leicester since his switch from Southampton. He has slipped to sixth-choice centre-back, behind the midfielders Daniel Amartey and Wilfred Ndidi. A 6ft 6in figure was brought on in the 89th minute on Sunday to help Leicester defend corners. He had one job to do and failed, heading thin air when Craig Dawson levelled for West Ham.
While Rodgers has hinted at a clear out, saying some of his players have been at Leicester for too long, a problem is that two of his summer signings, Vestergaard and Ryan Bertrand, have floundered so far.
Another is that, rather than being a one-off, this season threatens to lead to decline. The sort of players he would want to form the basis of a new team may be eyeing the exit: certainly Youri Tielemans’ talents could belong in the Champions League.
For a couple of years, it was easy to imagine those ambitions would be realised with Leicester. They spent 567 days in the top four over the last two seasons, before finishing fifth each time. Then they were so near and yet so far. Now they simply feel so far away, embarking on a voyage of discovery that they wish had never been necessary.
