Brendan Rodgers has endured a difficult spell at Leicester City of late
February 26 will mark three years of Brendan Rodgers in charge at Leicester City. In that time, he’s guided them to back-to-back top five finishes and delivered the trophy that all Foxes fans have long craved – the FA Cup.
But the mood around the King Power Stadium has dropped off significantly this season. Performances have been lacklustre, recruitment has been questionable and fans are beginning to lose their patience.
There’s a growing consensus around sections of the fanbase that Rodgers has taken the club as far as he can. Coupled with doubts from the Northern Irishman himself about whether Leicester have overachieved, or as he puts it “reached their peak,” supporters are also becoming frustrated by an apparent lack of ambition.
So where does Brendan Rodgers go from here? Why are fans so annoyed and most importantly, is his job on the line?
Poor recruitment
After the success of winning the first FA Cup in the club’s history, there was expectation for Leicester to kick on and really challenge the hierarchy of the Premier League. However, that hasn’t gone to plan.
The first issue lies with the recruitment. Normally an area where the Foxes excel, this year has seen gaping holes.
Signings such as Patson Daka and Ademola Lookman have proved to be a success, but Boubakary Soumaré has failed to hit the ground running – though there are still hopes he will live up to his price.
Jannik Vestergaard and Ryan Bertrand have been less than impressive.
Furthermore, the latter two go against the club’s recruitment model but as revealed by The Athletic, the two defenders from Southampton were signed by Rodgers himself – who overlooked the recruitment team’s advice not to bring them into the club.
Lacklustre football and disappointing results
There has also been big disappointment in performances on the pitch. When Rodgers first arrived at the King Power Stadium, fans were treated to a wave of exciting football.
Displays including the famous 9-0 away to Southampton and the annihilation of Manchester City last season made the Foxes one of the most exciting teams in the league to watch.
This season though, it’s been quite the contrast. The football has arguably been as bad, if not, even worse than it was under Claude Puel.
A slow, ponderous style of play with an unwillingness to divert from plan A (remember how long it took them to move away from zonal marking?) as well as a failure to beat lesser sides are cause for concern.
There is a growing feeling that some players do not have the required hunger to succeed under Rodgers’ leadership, as well. For evidence, you only have to look back to their most recent fixture, a 4-1 battering against East Midlands rivals, Nottingham Forest.
For a game that meant so much to the fans, it couldn’t have looked further from that for the players and Rodgers on the side line – much to the annoyance of those who travelled to the City Ground to watch the FA Cup holders barely lay a finger on the Championship side.
European football has also been a major problem. At the start of the season, Leicester were made one of the favourites to win the Europa League. Instead, they crashed out of a straightforward group and now face Europe’s new third-tier tournament, the ‘prestigious’ Conference League.
Rodgers’ lack of ambition
More than anything, Rodgers’ recent comments on the expectations of the club are what have left a sour taste in the mouth of Leicester supporters.
In recent weeks, the manager has been heard questioning whether Leicester have gone as far as they can. This is a far cry from the words he said after his arrival from Celtic in 2018.
Back then, Rodgers said the sky was the limit for the Foxes and that they were more than capable of toppling the league’s status quo but his continuous observations of the lack of resources to compete with the ‘big six’ (they have just opened a state of the art training facility, remember) when it comes to finances have angered supporters.
But as proved by Leicester in 2016, anything is possible. A famous quote from the club’s late owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha says it better than anything: “Our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”
It seems that Rodgers doesn’t quite agree with that ideology.
Where do Leicester go from here?
Brendan Rodgers knows he is under pressure – just not from the board. Having signed a lucrative five-year contract just over two years ago, it would cost in the region of £23m to sack him from his contract.
It’s unlikely they would be able – or willing – to fork out the excessive fee requited to terminate his deal early but Rodgers is running out of time and if improvement isn’t made swiftly, he will be in danger of ruining a wonderful legacy at the King Power Stadium.
