Chelsea finishes the season with a trip away to Brendan Rodger’s new look Leicester City team. What can be expected from the character?
Claude Puel was doing a mostly good job at Leicester. They often fell into the trap of being boring but youth were being brought through and the positives were there to be seen. Sacking him when they did seemed incredibly odd considering they were where they were going to finish the season: midtable.
Then the hiring of Brendan Rodgers was even stranger. Not that he is a bad appointment by them, but that he opted to leave Celtic midseason just games away from yet another title. It was a case of now or never but it was still incredibly odd.
But all that strangeness has been left in the past as Leicester have bounced mightily under Rodgers. The foundation that Puel laid down is still very much there, both tactically and squad wise, but Rodgers has activated whatever was dormant and withheld from Puel. Whether it continues next season remains to be seen but Rodgers has done excellently so far.
Formationally, the only real change Rodgers has made is moving from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 like he used throughout his time at Celtic, Leicester, and Swansea. But what makes Leicester’s 4-3-3 work better is the fluidity of roles.
Rodger’s prefers a possession based style but is different in that he is not afraid of having his defense use long passes frequently. The idea is similar as it is to many other teams; launch it long and let the opponent become disorganized, and then take advantage with a counter or by maintaining possession much higher up the pitch more quickly. It is probably because of this faster version of entering the possession phase that Jamie Vardy has flourished after the more methodical and slower paced build up Puel preferred.
The fullbacks and the wingers will play a major role under and Rodger’s team. He wants his fullbacks to rush up high to support the attack and he wants his wingers cutting in. Doing both allows his sides to stretch the opponent while overloading the center. Two midfielders are usually kept deeper to help switch the play, not unlike what Antonio Conte did with N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic.
Defensively, Leicester drop into a 4-5-1 shape but if the pressure is truly on, one of the midfielders will drop in to make the shape a 5-4-1. They mostly look to contain and let the opponent make their own mistakes, something common in systems like this and something Jose Mourinho also loved to do when Rodgers would have been at Chelsea.
Perhaps the best thing to keep in mind is that Rodgers is a student of the game like Mauricio Pochettino. Both loosely have their own way of doing things but both excel at scavenging tactics from other teams (especially the successful ones). That can be important because it means Rodgers is able to adapt to the opponent as well as mimic them.
Maurizio Sarri’s side has little to play for than the bragging rights that come with one higher position on the table. Leicester wrote off what was left of the season after Puel’s sacking and have been in build mode since. Chelsea can be content that they do not need a result out of this match because Rodger’s will make it tricky as he prepares for a summer overhaul at Leicester.