After the latest example of Brighton & Hove Albion relinquishing a commanding lead in the closing stages, Fabian Hurzeler returned to a familiar theme at Leicester City.
“In the end, defences win the championship,” the head coach declared, not for the first time, after Sunday’s wasteful 2-2 draw at the King Power Stadium. “If you want to achieve something, you have to get a clean sheet and we weren’t able to.”
Hurzeler has a point — Chelsea in 2016-17 were the last team to win the Premier League without one of the best two defensive records in the division. Nobody is pretending Brighton have ever been title contenders, even though they fleetingly occupied second place following a deflating 1-1 draw against bottom club Southampton in their last outing at the Amex Stadium in November. But they are legitimate candidates to qualify for European football for the second time in three seasons after finishing sixth under Roberto De Zerbi in 2022-23.
That aim has been undermined by defensive instability. Injuries are the root cause — Hurzeler is yet to name an unchanged starting line-up in the Premier League. The four changes he made at Leicester, in the wake of a 3-1 defeat at Fulham three days earlier, took the total number across the 31-year-old German’s first 15 games in charge up to 32.
Some of these have been significant absentees in the back line. Joel Veltman, first-choice right-back, has missed the last three winless games. Ferdi Kadioglu, who can play in either full-back position, has been sidelined for the last five fixtures. Captain Lewis Dunk was ruled out of the centre of defence for five matches in November and December.
It is no coincidence that with a much more settled back four at the start of the season, featuring currently injured midfielder Jack Hinshelwood in the full-back positions, only two goals were conceded in the opening four league games. By contrast, Leicester was the ninth game in the last 13 across all competitions in which at least two goals have been leaked. Potential wins have been frittered away after leading in seven of those matches.
In the programme for Southampton’s visit, Hurzeler spoke of the nature of the squad he is seeking to establish, split into three groups. He said, “I have this one idea of building a structure, a hierarchy, so there are the leaders, the team players and the individualists.
Hurzeler has spoken of having three groups in his squad (Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)
“The players who have creativity on the pitch, they’re the individualists. They need love, they like being embraced, they need a hug, but sometimes if they do something wrong, they need to know it.
“Then there’s the team player — they did their job, you know what you’re going to get from them — and they’re very important regarding mentality, their attitude towards training and towards the work ethic. Then we have the leaders; they are so important for me as they build the hierarchy. They are the role models, they set the example, so I always demand a lot from them.
“Looking more generally, they’re all players of individual needs, individual wishes, individual motivations, so it’s a process to discover the person and it takes time. I don’t think after four months that I can say I know them all 100 per cent, but I am getting to know them better and better and I think this clear structure helps.”
Hurzeler has plenty of team players and individualists. Nine of the 10 outfielders in the starting line-up at Leicester either registered a shot or created a chance — unusually, assist specialist Georginio Rutter was the exception.
But Hurzeler has been lacking leaders. The absences of Dunk and Veltman have been compounded by James Milner’s spell on the sidelines since August with hamstring trouble, together with the summer departures of Pascal Gross to Borussia Dortmund and Adam Lallana rejoining Southampton.
That is a lot of combined know-how Hurzeler has been unable to call upon to help a predominantly young and inexperienced squad manage games more effectively and see matches out better in the closing stages.
Hurzeler does not get bogged down by individual results, but dropping seven points out of nine in the last three games against Southampton, Fulham and Leicester — when they were all there to be won in the second half — has cast fresh doubts about European aspirations.
There were still pluses at Leicester. Tariq Lamptey is becoming a revitalised option at right-back. He has been involved in three goals (one goal, two assists) in four Premier League matches under Hurzeler after his delicious left-foot curler that opened the scoring in the first half. That is as many as Lamptey managed in his 34 league appearances for De Zerbi (three assists).
Mats Wieffer set up fellow substitute Yankuba Minteh for the second goal in the Gambian winger’s second appearance off the bench since a muscle injury ruled him out for seven matches. Aside from the assist, it was Dutch midfielder Wieffer’s most impressive contribution in place of Carlos Baleba for the second half.
Wieffer came on for Baleba in the second half against Leicester (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Baleba was withdrawn by Hurzeler to avoid the risk of a second successive red card away from home for two bookings by referee Stuart Attwell, having been controversially dismissed at Bournemouth. Baleba collected a silly caution just before half-time on Sunday for waving an imaginary card after a foul by Wilfred Ndidi on Joao Pedro. Nobody epitomises the promise within Hurzeler’s squad laced with moments of naivety more than the 20-year-old Cameroonian.
Hurzeler, speaking before the Leicester giveaway, said, “I hope we focus on our process and development. One thing is clear, if you only try to judge the team every week by one result, you won’t get the development you need, especially with a young squad.
“It is so important we trust the process and keep improving every game and try to focus on our development, not only on improving the players technically or tactically.
“Also, what do they need to do to win games, defend set pieces, what do we need to do to play consistently for 90 minutes? These are all things we can improve and then I am sure the results and place in the table will come to what we deserve. It is not about the end of the season but what we do now to help the end of the season.”
A return to clean sheets, kept in three of the first five matches across all competitions, with only one in 13 games since then, would be a start.
(Top photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
