Leicester City travel to Chelsea on Sunday looking to arrest a run of defeats that has put their Premier League status in huge jeopardy.
Enzo Maresca awaits, no doubt keen to undo whatever patch-up work Ruud van Nistelrooy has been able to do in the ten days between the trip to Stamford Bridge and their last assault, definitely not the right word, on the capital.
That ended in a 2-0 defeat to West Ham, with Graham Potter’s side barely having to get out of second gear to dismiss the Foxes. Hopefully the free weekend and time on the training ground has been put to good use.
But what can van Nistelrooy do? Change of formation? Change of personnel? Most variations have been tried either by the Dutchman or his predecessor, Steve Cooper.
However, that hasn’t stopped our Leicester City writers from picking one change they believe would improve City’s chances of staying up.
Let us know here what change you’d make.
Jordan Blackwell
It initially looked like a masterstroke from van Nistelrooy when, against Tottenham in late January, he handed Bobby De Cordova-Reid his first league start since August.
The Jamaican set up both goals in the victory, supplying a perfect teasing cross for Jamie Vardy’s equaliser. But he’s not done enough to merit keeping his place in the starting line-up since.
Van Nistelrooy has said he’s looking for the right balance of control and creativity out wide but De Cordova-Reid is not delivering on the latter right now and doesn’t offer enough of the former to justify it.
With City so lacking in the threat at the top end in recent weeks, they need players who can produce pieces of magic. Tidy players aren’t cutting it at the moment.
Stephy Mavididi can frustrate and he does lack consistency. But he does commit defenders. He ensures he’s always an option out on the left touchline and he will try to beat his full-back.
That is what City are craving. It is far too comfortable for the opposition to defend against them right now.
They need players on the pitch who are going to disrupt back-lines and force them to lose their shape, maybe helping the striker to get half a yard of space. Mavididi is a better bet for that than De Cordova-Reid.
Mavididi played with an intensity when he came on against West Ham, like he had a point to prove. If he plays with that sort of urgency going forwards and backwards, he will offer more than De Cordova-Reid.
City have got to be bolder. Van Nistelrooy has to tip that balance more towards creativity than control.
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Josh Holland
In the defeat to West Ham, Leicester never looked like scoring, yet in previous games, the problem has been converting the big chances.
Ruud van Nistelrooy has persisted with Jamie Vardy despite the 38-year-old scoring just one goal in 11 games. It’s no fault of his own, a Premier League club should not be pinning their survival hopes on the ability of a striker who has been faded out in the past two seasons.
It’s been clear that teams have had Vardy’s number in recent games. At some point, you have to mix things up and something different in attack has been required for weeks.
Patson Daka hasn’t caused many problems when he has been used off the bench but he has started just one Premier League game all season and that came away at Liverpool, the imminent champions, because Vardy was unavailable.
Like many Leicester fans, I don’t want to criticise Vardy. He’s a legend and his passion also shines through. But his performance levels are hindering the Foxes’ hopes of collecting points.
It must be said, there’s also the option of Odsonne Edouard. Failure to not terminate his loan means City must persist with him. Problems in the final third mean he must be considered.
Brian Dick
There’s problems all over the pitch and in truth I could probably make a case for swapping any of the XI who started so passively against West Ham – and who were so weak against Brentford.
It would be all too easy to say that a defence that contains Jannik Vestergaard doesn’t stay in the Premier League.
But I’m going in a different direction, for me this is not the right environment for Boubakary Soumaré –and that’s nothing to do with his petulant reaction to Mads Hermansen’s home truths. City lack any control in midfield, with the ball they lack quality, without it they lack energy.
Against Brentford the Foxes were wide open in the middle of the park and Soumare was simply bypassed and the combination of Soumare and Wilfred Ndidi has been shown up as inadequate.
It feels like both of this season’s managers have looked under every rock for a solution and while Harry Winks is hardly enjoying his best campaign, he’d bring more stability and control than Soumare is currently managing.
There was an improvement when he replaced the Frenchman last time out and I’d give him the chance to prove himself to a fanbase he is likely to have to face again next season.
Who would you drop? Have your say here