Team Focus: Input of Leicester Support Cast Just as Vital as Vardy Goals

Goals help. When a club assumed to be mid-rank at best is bothering the top of the table at the beginning of December, it tends to have a goalscorer in great form.

Sunderland in 1999-2000 had Kevin Phillips, who went on to score 30 goals in the season and was the last Englishman to win the European Golden Boot. Wigan had Amr Zaki. Swansea had Michu. Leicester have Jamie Vardy. But it’s also true that a goalscorer alone isn’t enough. Vardy, understandably, has taken most of the headlines with his 14 goals this season, but it’s telling of how important the structure behind him is that he’s not even the highest-rating Leicester player by the WhoScored.com rankings.

That honour goes to Riyad Mahrez, the rapid Algerian right-winger, who has seven goals and six assists this season. Only Mesut Ozil has set up more goals this season. His 2.3 key passes per game put him level with Erik Lamela as the eighth best in the league, a ranking topped, perhaps not surprisingly, by Ozil.

Mahrez is a classic example of the winger as playmaker, but he is also a dangerous forward in his own right. He averages 2.8 shots per game; Ozil, by contrast, creating from a deeper, more withdraw position, averages only 1.6. Looking at a listing arranged by key passes per game, it’s telling that the first player who has had more shots per game than Mahrez is Alexis Sanchez, down in 28th. Partly because of the way Leicester play, the way their roles are clearly defined, Mahrez offers an unusual combination of creativity and direct threat. It says much for his energy that he also averages 1.8 tackles and 1.1 interceptions per game.

The contribution of Marc Albrighton on the other flank has been slightly overshadowed by Mahrez, but he has set up four goals this season and scored one, while averaging 1.9 key passes and 1.4 shots per game. It would be unfair to say that he is there to work while Mahrez is there to create, for they both do both, but it is true that Albrighton’s game is slightly more skewed to defensive work, averaging 1.9 tackles per game and 1.5 interceptions.

Those figures for the wide men give an indication of how Leicester play, sitting deep, allowing the opposition possession and looking to spring counters down the flanks. Against Manchester United on Saturday, they had just 32.6% possession but looked for most of the game the more dangerous side, something born out by the fact that although United had ten shots to Leicester’s seven, three of the home side’s were on target as opposed to two from the away team.

Key to that way of playing has been the centre of midfield, which has functioned so well that Gokhan Inler’s failure to break into the side doesn’t seem odd any more. Danny Drinkwater is averaging 2.6 tackles and 1.4 interceptions per game and has also managed three assists, but even more important has been N’Golo Kante, a 24-year old signed from Caen in the summer who has been a revelation.

He has made 3.9 tackles, the fifth highest figure in the league, and 4.3 interceptions per game, the highest, and has the best pass completion rate of any player in the Leicester side. Admittedly that is only 82.8%, but that’s because of Leicester’s style of play. They get the ball forward quickly and play a higher percentage of long passes than any side in the division other than West Brom. Pace is privileged over accuracy.

That might not seem a typical Claudio Ranieri way of paying but he deserves credit for not tinkering with a successful method. For Leicester, it’s still working.

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