And so city of LeicesterThe fate of this team is in your hands. Certainly not their team. It’s not one of the best teams in the league, nor is it a team with a lot to play. But Bournemouth, already safe, had lost their last three games and returned to a city where they had conceded nine goals on their last visit, if not Everton. And if Bournemouth fail to score at least one point at Goodison Park, Leicester will be relegated whether they beat West Ham or not.
Seven years after the most unlikely championship win in 2019 Premier League history would see perhaps the most unexpected relegation since Newcastle 14 years ago.
A stalemate in St James’ Park It could prove Leicester’s spectacular victory: a top-level first clean page in six months against a Champions League-going team could have delayed the Foxes’ fate by six days.
Perhaps even a newly discovered commitment to defense could be considered a demotion. Holding Newcastle was a brilliant result on its own, but the context can make it extremely damaging.
“If we win ourselves, we have forced Everton to win.” Dean Smith. “If it’s too late, who knows, but we’ve made it to Sunday now. I’m not apologizing for the way we set up today. In this way – five backs, two defensive midfielders, a third midfielder, two inactive forwards – he produced a single shot to Newcastle’s 23. It was sweetly hit by Timothy Castagne and required a good save from Nick Pope. But in a game they needed to win to keep Leicester’s fate in their own hands, they drew almost ostensibly of his own choosing, displaying a passive stance as time went on.
“Did I gamble with Leicester’s future?” He asked Smith rhetorically. “No, I’m a bit of a risk taker but if we’d gone to Newcastle we would have beaten four or five. They’ve smashed some teams here.” Danger is remembered as their defence being Leicester’s equivalent of Manchester City’s Steve Lomas, who took the ball to the corner flag on the final day of the 1995-96 season, drew against Liverpool when they should have won and still lost time with substitute Niall Quinn. . ran down the touchline to tell his teammates they needed to score a goal. The City in question were relegated after an act of self-immolation. Maybe that will happen too.
Broadly speaking, bad decisions have gotten Leicester to this point, but far from the worst. The worse account of the night may have skipped Harvey Barnes and James Maddison, who have scored a total of 22 Premier League goals.
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As a general rule, clubs are not relegated by two players in double digits; With a 10-goal midfielder and a 12-goal winger on the bench, they certainly aren’t. Many teams under the threat of relegation struggled to score. not Leicester; or not until they drop their striker.
But it has been a year filled with questionable choices for Leicester. They could go back to their opening game, where they took a 2-0 lead over Brentford, when Brendan Rodgers makes a solo substitution, as if he’s signaled to the board about the absence of summer signings. A more proactive Thomas Frank made a five and Brentford scored a point.
They may consider the wrong decision to let Kasper Schmeichel go and not replace him. It was a mistake to promote Danny Ward; As questionable as Leicester’s defense was, so was sticking with him for too long as they were undermined by their goalkeeper. They may wonder why signing Wout Faes as Wesley Fofana’s successor: excellent occasionally, spent most of the matches in error-prone mode, forever running in the wrong direction while scoring goals.
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They can look at Rodgers; deleted some of his players and concluded that their hunger was gone. If Çağlar Söyüncü had played more and hadn’t given up on Youri Tielemans, it would have made a difference, but maybe he didn’t. They may consider whether Rodgers should have been sacked earlier; He almost looked like he wanted to go, his fever was extinguished, but the timing of his dismissal was dire as the power brokers had no plan. They lost two home games under two guards and wasted a support chance. While on practice laps in Augusta, they descended on Smith, apparently more out of desperation than inspiration.
The decision to let Maddison take a penalty at Everton backfired, just as Maddison made the mistake of gifting the winner to Bournemouth. Jamie Vardy has played a lot for a season, but at least he’s regressed because of his age: Tielemans and Wilfred Ndidi cannot use that as a mitigating factor.
Leicester conceded too many goals, had too many injuries, too many players; A few years of bad buying and the inability to sell anyone left them with a bloated roster that curtailed their trading last summer.
And here they are, with one win in 15 games, less than half of their total points in 2020-21, and one game left. Smith is betting on Bournemouth. Bournemouth may have a certain logic as the number of away wins is more than Leicester’s home wins. But this highlights Leicester’s failure to win in a season where they could be the biggest losers.
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