As Chelsea continued to cut through the heart of Leicester’s midfield with consummate ease, Wes Morgan’s high praise for N’Golo Kante only became more pertinent. “If any team didn’t have him, they would miss him and that goes for us,” the Leicester captain reflected on Kante’s departure to Chelsea over the summer. “We do miss him, but we have to move on.” Unfortunately for Claudio Ranieri’s side, moving on has proven harder than they would have liked.
Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea ensured Leicester became the first defending Premier League champion to lose their opening four away matches since Blackburn Rovers almost two decades ago. Not only is this their worst start to a league campaign away from home in 13 years, but they have already lost twice as many games on the road this season than in the whole of the last campaign.
To make matters worse, their latest defeat came with Kante at the heart of it. Only this time he wasn't wearing the blue of Leicester, but the blue of Chelsea. The Foxes were relieved to have only lost one key member from their title-winning side over the summer, but Kante was arguably the one player they couldn't afford to live without if they wanted to continue with the style of play that won them the title.
Their decision to pay £30m to sign Islam Slimani from Sporting signaled a slight shift in style and that has already been evident. Since the start of last season no Leicester player has scored more headers in the Premier League than their club-record signing, managing that in just four appearances. However, the essence of Leicester’s philosophy has largely remained intact, particularly away from the King Power Stadium.
Implementing a slightly more pragmatic style has been easier at home, where they remain unbeaten, but they are experiencing less of the ball on the road (42.5%) this time around than when they won the title last season (43.7%). It was outside of Leicester, where home sides are expected to take the game to their opponents, which brought out the best in Kante. Of the combined 331 tackles and interceptions he completed last season - the most in Europe's top five leagues - 60% of those came on the road. Only PFA Player of the Year and teammate Riyad Mahrez recorded a higher WhoScored rating away from home in the Premier League than Kante (7.74) and his relentless ability to break up play, enabling Leicester to catch their opponents out with lightening counter attacks, was key to their success. Indeed, no team scored more goals as a result of a counter attack in the Premier League last season than Leicester (5).
Averaging just 44.8% of the ball and completing just 70.5% of their passes, it was a title triumph that went against everything we thought football has become in a period dominated by the influence of Pep Guardiola. Jose Mourinho lost his job as Chelsea manager after a 2-1 defeat to Leicester in December and perhaps summed it up perfectly before watching his new team, Manchester United, trash the Foxes 4-1 at Old Trafford last month. “I think they are a very easy team to analyse, a very easy team to understand,” he said. “Their defensive process is clear, their attacking organisation is very easy to understand, too, but it is very difficult to cope with it."
While their approach does not require serious thought to comprehend, it’s proving almost impossible for Leicester to replicate without the heart of their system. Antonio Conte’s decision to squeeze up the pitch with a three-man defence against Leicester at the weekend would have been tactical suicide last season. By partnering Ahmed Musa with Vardy in attack, Ranieri intimated they would look to hurt Chelsea with pace in behind, but without a player like Kante regaining possession in midfield, that was rarely an option. As a result, Vardy and Musa were limited to the fewest touches of any players that started at Stamford Bridge (27 and 28 touches, respectively).
Ranieri used to regularly say he had three central midfielders on the pitch in his 4-4-2 formation last season. “We play three in midfield," the Italian joked. "We play Danny Drinkwater with Kante either side.” In fact, Kante to Drinkwater was the second most common passing combination for Leicester in the league last season (208). However, Kante's departure has been so devastating that it feels like Leicester are now only playing with one central midfielder. They've got from averaging 22.8 interceptions per game away from home to 11.5 and from 25.3 tackles per game to 16.8.
Nampalys Mendy was signed from Nice as Kante’s replacement, but the 24-year-old has been sidelined since picking up a knee injury 53 minutes into his competitive debut at the end of August. Daniel Amartey, who only played in 104 minutes of league action last season, has partnered Drinkwater in midfield for six matches, but failed to have anywhere near the same impact as Kante.
Instead, Drinkwater has been forced to take on much of the responsibility left by the dynamic Frenchman. The England international completed more tackles than any player on the pitch at Stamford Bridge at the weekend (7 - 4 more than Kante) and only Idrissa Gueye (43) has made more in the Premier League this season (Drinkwater - 37). Having averaged 3.4 tackles per game last season, he is now completing 4.6 this time around.
While Kante’s departure cannot be understated, there are also few caveats to consider. Sir Alex Ferguson always used to preach sustained success was the hardest part of football and there was no expectation that Leicester would repeat their title triumph this time around. The fact that all of Leicester's first-team regulars have suffered a drop in their WhoScored rating suggests Ranieri's players are struggling to match last season's heroics or that other teams have simply cracked how to counter Leicester's style. It's a natural decline not too uncommon with any title winning side, but perhaps more so at Leicester where they peaked last season.
Secondly, Ranieri's side already appear to be prioritising the Champions League and are using UEFA's elite competition as a welcomed distraction from their league woes. They have already seized the initiative in their group after wins against Club Bruges and Porto in their opening two matches and Ranieri's decision not to start Slimani and Mahrez at the weekend was made with one eye on their match against Copenhagen on Tuesday.
It must also be said that as far as opening fixtures go Leicester have endured a tough start away from home. Nevertheless, losing away to a newly promoted Hull side that barely had enough senior players fit to make a team on the opening day of the season was not part of the plan. They also earned draws in their corresponding away fixtures against Chelsea and Manchester United last season but shipped seven goals in those fixtures this time around. Liverpool were one of only two sides that beat Leicester home and away last season but it wasn't as straightforward as their 4-1 win at Anfield in September.
“Last season we were not in this world, we were out of this world,” Ranieri reflected after their latest defeat. “And now we come back into the world and we have to react. Now we are normal. We are the normal Leicester, who have to fight.” While it’s true that usual service has resumed to some extent, it still shouldn’t legislate for the fact Leicester have conceded the most away goals this season (13). As Morgan admitted, the Foxes are missing Kante but they need to find a solution quickly if they want to put an end to what could prove a disastrous away campaign this season.
What can Leicester do to turn their away form around? Let us know your thoughts in the comments
