Leicester City Fan View: Aiming for that first league away win at Sunderland

A normal, Saturday kick-off in early December, away at Sunderland, shouldn’t feel like a crunch match. It’s surely still too early for blind panic over league positions, or to even contemplate sacking the manager. Particularly if you’re Leicester City and have Champions League football to resume in the New Year coming off the back of a surprise title win. Yet this game, and getting a win from it, feel vital.

Much has been said, and written, of expectations for this season. In truth, I’m not sure most Leicester fans would have had any. Last season surpassed many our wildest hopes, the kind of thing you dream of if you’re part of the majority of football fans. It doesn’t render anything else pointless, but it does change the goals a little. It should relieve pressure really and I don’t think a true defence of the title was ever expected. However, it doesn’t seem entirely unreasonable to expect at least a degree of the determination we displayed last year. If you’ve been watching average to poor football for more years than the occasional seasons of consistent winning, chances are you’re familiar with losing. Familiar with travelling far and wide to see poor showings that feel utterly unrewarding. Though perhaps less patient with poor performances now.

Some Foxes fans have been at odds with one other following the draw to Middlesbrough, even now still debating the side, the formation and even Claudio Ranieri’s position. This last point only in extreme cases rather than being a majority shared opinion. Most acknowledge that, while we gladly took the point that Islam Slimani’s penalty rescued for us, we really hadn’t earned it. Booing had once been an expected outcome at home games should Leicester not have won, but we’d moved past that prior to last weekend. There were even a few boos at half-time when things were still 1-1. While I cannot partake in any of that, I yet again found myself walking away from the King Power stadium unable to put my finger on exactly what it is that’s going wrong for us at the minute and why. The side need that fantastic atmosphere and support back.

It’s not just a lack of depth and options in certain areas, though that’s playing a part. We’ve tried resting players during three games weeks, but have little choice with Wes Morgan and Robert Huth, the latter struggling more with the demands it appears. We may be in need of a new central midfielder who can take up the mantle and role that N’Golo Kante fulfilled, but that alone doesn’t explain why so many players who were firing on all cylinders last season look shadows of themselves right now. It certainly doesn’t answer why our key men cannot connect a pass to one another and why our defenders suddenly feel it appropriate to frequently leave our goalkeeper in a vulnerable position.

Hopes for fixing at least one of our problems keep coming back to that central midfield area though. We may well have a solution in the form of Nampalys Mendy, our only glimpse so far was a promising forty minutes alongside Drinkwater. We’ve played too many games where Drinkwater has had the pressure of carrying that area of the team. Our opposition have overrun us in midfield on several occasions, little support offered to our back. There’s a sense that if we can’t get the existing personnel to fit our 4-4-2 system, we need to change that system and shore them up with three in the middle.

The start to the league campaign hasn’t been one to remember and is reflected in the lack of confidence amongst the side right now. Half of our attacking moves last season were brave, about trying something our opposition weren’t expecting. This time around those moves may not be a surprise anymore but we’re struggling to even string a pass to our forwards. The statistics look grim when you look at how many passes from midfield went backwards, not forwards and the supply to our front line has been sub-par in almost every league game.

On Saturday, we may try the next piece in the central midfield jigsaw; Matty James. It’s fantastic to have him available again, but we should be wary in laying all of our expectations on him given the length of time he’s been absent. The last time he played a match, Nigel Pearson was still in charge, a large portion of the squad around him were not yet at the club and the club were celebrating having avoided relegation, not having qualified for the next round of the Champions League. This isn’t to suggest that he’s not capable of being the answer, but the priority should really be getting him through his first forty-five, or ninety, minutes back and then we can see what options he offers.

Could James offer us the solution we need, and the partner that Danny Drinkwater desperately needs? It’s certainly a hot topic for the week. The answer to part two of that question will remain on ice until the latter’s suspension finishes, ready for a midweek trip to Bournemouth. He was playing the best football we’d seen from him in a Leicester shirt at the point he got injured. Having played a big role in our promotion from the Championship, James found himself the preferred partner for Esteban Cambiasso in Pearson’s side. It was actually his misfortune that allowed Drinkwater to take that spot and well, we all know how well that’s turned out.

He and Drinkwater certainly have a good understanding of one another. Signed for the Foxes at the same time from Manchester United, the pair are long-term friends and using to playing together. That kind of unspoken understanding of where one player will be and what kind of pass they want has certainly been lacking in several games this season. We have seen them in a midfield pairing before, back in the Championship. Drinkwater has certainly evolved as a player since then, becoming more of a play-maker, a hand in several goals last season. This could suit the pairing more, James previously acting as the anchor and more of the box to box player.

Ranieri’s had a full week to watch, to speak with his players and to derive a plan to defeat Sunderland away from home. If Leicester can pull that off, it would be the first win away from home of the season and a very welcome three points. Right now, a fighting performance would go a long way.