It has been a season to forget for Leicester, but do their fans have any faith in the Foxes halting Liverpool’s Premier League title charge?
The Reds are now just two wins away from being crowned champions – in fact, they could even win the title at Leicester on Sunday if Arsenal lose at Ipswich beforehand.
Ahead of the game, This Is Anfield spoke to Foxes fan and journalist Jamie Thorpe (@thorpie54) to discuss a tough season at the King Power, Sunday’s key battles and more.
What has gone wrong for Leicester this season?
It will be easier if I just write what has gone right this year. It has been an absolute unmitigated disaster from start to finish.
The appointment of Steve Cooper was a mistake. As a fanbase, we had a bit of criticism for rejecting him, with some accusing us of bias due to his Nottingham Forest connections.
But this wasn’t the case.
Cooper was given good backing and a fair level of patience from the Leicester fanbase. He did pick up a few points, but I have to say these were largely misleading.
We were disjointed and lacked anything approaching a clear style, and Cooper’s refusal to play the popular and brilliant Abdul Fatawu didn’t help.
The club acted fast to dismiss Cooper, but that is where their positive management ended.
Ruud van Nistelrooy has taken things from poor to bordering on unbelievable. He has the unenviable record of being the first manager in the top four leagues to lose eight successive home league games without scoring, which is just the tip of the iceberg.
I won’t rant too much, but to summarise, this is the most disconnected I have felt as a fan since I started watching them 30 years ago.
This may sound disloyal, entitled or whatever you want to call it, but I can promise you this is not as simple as “we are losing so I am struggling.”
Even in our darkest seasons, we retained something approaching hope, at least. But this season the writing has been on the wall for months.
We were subjected to nearly 13 hours without a goal – I mean, I’ve not seen them score at home in the league since December 8!
But more than that, this season has shone a stark and incredibly depressing light on where we are as a club and the need for a serious overhaul from top to bottom, which is hard to come to terms with.
Is the gulf between the Premier League and Championship a concern now?
Yeah, it’s not been a good season for promoted teams, but I will say that we all present anomalies in certain ways.
Ipswich have fought admirably, but after back-to-back promotions, this season was always going to be tough. Southampton‘s stubbornness has cost them big time – why they refused to alter their system for so long is a mystery.
But we are arguably the most frustrating in that if we had managed our transfers better, I genuinely don’t think we would be in nearly as precarious a situation.
Our financial issues with the PSR constraints were well documented, so to spend £25 million on Oliver Skipp and subsequently never play him is baffling.
Jordan Ayew and Bobby De Cordova-Reid would have been fine as squad rotation options but have started several of our games this season, and Caleb Okoli has also not been able to get a run of games either.
But the cherry on the cake is the debacle surrounding Odsonne Edouard. We are paying 100 per cent of his £90,000-a-week wages, making him one of our highest earners, and forked out a handsome loan fee.
He has played 26 Premier League minutes since he signed at the end of August – a full 90 minutes fewer than he has done for Crystal Palace!
Bilal El Khannouss has provided a rare glimmer of positivity since his move from Genk, and if we had brought in a centre-back and a better striker instead, we would be far better off.
Added to this, one of our best players from last season in Fatawu has been injured since November and was joined on the sidelines by the likes of Ricardo Pereira and Mads Hermansen, who are both important players.
Having said that, the gap is growing, not just between the leagues but within the Premier League, too. It is becoming harder for clubs to compete with the elite.
Is Ruud van Nistelrooy gone this summer?
Unless he pulls off the miracle of all miracles and somehow keeps us in the league, which simply isn’t happening, I don’t see how Van Nistelrooy’s position is tenable.
He has been incredibly disappointing and has made many mistakes throughout.
It’s not the sort of record we need to oversee a rebuild.
Who have been Leicester’s three best players? Who has struggled?
It is difficult to pick out someone who hasn’t been poor, to be honest.
Hermansen single-handedly kept us in games and is not going to be with us next season. He is excellent with his feet and capable of big moments.
El Khannouss has shown serious promise, but sadly hasn’t been as consistent as we need.
He is a confident player with the ball – silky and technical – and equally tenacious off it. He could potentially be off in the summer.
Facundo Buonanotte, on loan from Brighton, has played well in flashes, but again not consistently enough.
The entire defence has struggled. All of them. And Wilfred Ndidi has not built on a return to form in the Championship.
How do you assess Liverpool’s season? Worthy champions?
Despite a rough week back in March, it must surely be viewed as a successful season. The Premier League title is still firmly in Liverpool’s hands and must surely be the main goal.
Arne Slot has done better than many probably predicted, given he had such gargantuan shoes to fill.
Liverpool have been fun to watch, with a distinct style that when it clicks is irresistible.
I like a lot of your players and the development of Ryan Gravenberch, in particular, has been brilliant to see.
You are thoroughly deserving of the title.
If you could take one Liverpool player at Leicester, who would it be?
Good question. Basically, which fire do we need to put out the most?
The obvious answer is Mo Salah, but I bet everyone says that, so I will go for Virgil Van Djik. We have lacked solidity at the back and his leadership and influence could steady any ship.
But I think we might’ve needed more than one player!
What is your favourite and worst memory from games against Liverpool?
The Jamie Vardy volley at the King Power back in 2016 is hard to beat.
It was one of those moments when we started to believe the title win could actually happen – everything he touched turned to gold, but that finish was something else.
The worst was Boxing Day in 2019. It was first vs. second at the time – could we really shock the footballing world and do it again?
No, emphatically no. We got absolutely battered. I can still see Trent scoring the fourth.
An honourable mention goes to Wout Faes scoring two own goals at Anfield in a 2-1 defeat back in 2022.
Looking ahead to Sunday, where are the key battles?
In the middle. Harry Winks has fallen out with the manager and hasn’t made the squad for weeks, so we are lacking someone to progress the ball through the midfield.
The defensive screen in midfield has also been poor, which against a side like Liverpool would present a real problem, as we don’t want our centre-backs exposed.
We need to step up if we are going to provide anything approaching a test.
If we can get El Khannouss on the ball, well-supported by the likes of Stephy Mavididi and Kasey McAteer, then we can threaten.
But we have to be realistic and acknowledge that it’s going to be tough for us.
Finally, what’s your prediction?
We were much improved last week, frustratingly, but I can see our revival being short-lived.
I will go for 3-1 to Liverpool, with our relegation emphatically confirmed.
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