Leicester City Fan View: Riyad Mahrez steps up again

Last minute equalisers. Horrible if they’re against you, one of the best feelings in football when they go your way. A Riyad Mahrez free-kick rescued a point for Leicester City against Bournemouth. A home game that had presented an opportunity to try something different, but a plan derailed early on by injury.

When will we solve that right-back issue?

Is Danny Simpson injured? It’s the only explanation for us naming a squad that starts Daniel Amartey at right-back and offers no direct cover on the bench. Claude Puel had spoken of his desire to try a three-man midfield and a 4-3-3. It was a short-lived experiment as Amartey limped off.

AS IT HAPPENED: Leicester v Bournemouth

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Our best option on the bench looked to be to bring Aleksandar Dragovic in to cover. Instead, we appeared to switch to a back three, bringing on Ben Chilwell for left wing-back and asking Marc Albrighton to do a more defensive role.

It’s inexplicable that we only have one actual right-back. Even more so to not include him at all if he is fit. Amartey’s substitution destroyed our game plan for the first half, something we did not recover from. Albrighton’s foul for the penalty was definitely clumsy, but perhaps not his fault when we continue to expect him to play out of position and nail it. In truth, our switch to a 3-5-2 seemed to throw us. There looked to be few successful passes between the team for the remainder and the defending was more than questionable.

Simpson’s age adds to the worry and feel that a right-back must be top of the shopping list in the summer. Then again, it should have been for the last three seasons, for cover if nothing else. In virtually every other position, we have another senior player to cover. It hasn’t cost us often despite this, so it was about time it caught up with us.

4-3-3 is still promising for Claude Puel

It’s difficult to say whether 4-3-3 is a long-term sustainable formation for us. In the brief time we saw it against Bournemouth, it has potential. What I’d ideally still like to see is that three consisting of Adrien Silva, Vicente Iborra and Wilfred Ndidi, something we’ve not yet had a chance to see in action. We had to try something different, though, after the total lack of service we gave Jamie Vardy in previous games.

One player who looked instantly disadvantaged by us having to ditch the 4-3-3 formation was Silva. His class and vision are undeniable, but we saw little of either against Bournemouth. The midfielder struggled, with stray passes aplenty and generally left us chasing the ball. It’s disappointing, because I still firmly believe we need to get him involved to progress, but this was not the game for him.

After the switch, again the notable absentee looked to be Vicente Iborra. Ndidi tried, though he was lucky not to lose us the game completely having pushed a Bournemouth player in the box. His attempts to win the ball back bailed us out several times, but couldn’t disguise our generally woeful passing. Nobody comes out of this game with a glowing review from midfield.

The Foxes settled into the game more in the second half. Yet another second half where we threw everything but the kitchen sink at the opposition and got lucky. Why we can’t do it more consistently for a 90-minute duration is baffling, though that early change can be credited for some of the disruption. That and – yet again – asking Marc Albrighton to fulfil a role he should not be doing.

Riyad Mahrez wonder-strike gives Foxes last kick of the game joy

One man who always seems to step up and provide that moment of magic is Riyad Mahrez. The media obsession over the transfer saga continues. Even some of our own fans spent much of the game berating him, likely the same ones who left without witnessing his last kick of the game strike.

It was a superb free kick, clever in the respect that every Bournemouth player seemed to anticipate him going right and targeting Harry Maguire. His celebrations with not just the players but coaching staff too, displayed a togetherness that’s been questioned of late.

Cruel on Bournemouth perhaps, but celebrated like a winner as far as we’re concerned.

Foxes must leave frustrating February behind

February wasn’t a disaster, we never dropped out of eighth, but it didn’t provide many positive results or highlights, either. There have been the first bumps in the road for Claude Puel and in developing our style. Any talk of replacing him still seems wildly over the top. Summer will be crucial, we kept our business rather low-key in January, but if we are to play the way he wants, we’ll need one or two players to help get us there.

It’s hard to ignore the missed opportunities of recent weeks, too. With Arsenal’s self-destruct button well and truly engaged, Leicester’s home games were the perfect opportunity to put the pressure on for sixth place. A spot us and Burnley should have the target set for now.