Craig Shakespeare’s honeymoon period ended last season, with a couple of late games that fizzled out in a rather uninspiring fashion.

The man who took over until the end of the season when Claudio Ranieri was sacked earned the faith the owners showed by appointing him permanently.

Like the appointment of his predecessor though, it did look a little risky. The pressure has been mounting on Shakespeare and after yet another poor display, it’s reached a head. Even as somebody who wanted to see him given a chance, it’s become near impossible to defend him now.

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A point gained, but one that looks entirely stolen

On paper, a 0-0 draw away to Bournemouth wouldn’t seem so bad. Leicester City don’t have a great record there and goals are not common between the two. The age old saying in football tells you to win at home and draw away. Given the Foxes haven’t been doing much of the former, this point doesn’t offer much comfort. It simply piles more pressure onto our next home games. The point at Bournemouth looks like daylight robbery when you look at the statistics and the chances the home side had. Shakespeare appears to be the only one happy with it. The rest of us feel more like pulling our hair out.

We’ve become a team who look utterly devoid of the ability to structure more than two consecutive passes. We failed to register a shot in the first forty-five minutes. Once again, we started poorly, it’s been a common factor of the season, one we can’t or won’t address. Shakespeare’s insistence on sticking with a 4-4-2 formation that’s not been working is now impossible to defend. Yes, we’ve had injuries nobody planned for, but we do not have to keep playing the same tactics. We have players available who can support other formations and perhaps give us a much needed lift.

Shakespeare is looking more and like a man who is still getting to grips as a number one, something we’d hoped to avoid. With a two week international break upon us, something needs to change and quickly. He’s running out of time to change things and we’re facing the winter period in another relegation battle. Considering the squad we have, I genuinely didn’t expect us to be contemplating this as October begins.

No shots and no service

Having failed to register a shot on target in the first half, we managed just one in the second half. Possession statistics aren’t usually a concern, away from home, but only add to the undeniable fact that Bournemouth dominated us. They’ll be furious not have to gone home with three points. Post-match Shakespeare said he knows we can do much better. It’s unclear when we’ll acknowledge this and show it, because so far, there have been no improvements.

Jamie Vardy spent much of the game as a frustrated spectator. We’ve had issues in the past where service to him has been non-existent and it’s not been any better in recent games. The striker, playing with an injury, was not a threat in the slightest, through no fault of his own. Calls for him to be dropped seem wildly over-exaggerated. You could replace him with any of our other options but it won’t address the key issue. Without service, Islam Slimani or Kelechi Iheanacho would also have little chance of scoring.

Shakespeare may have appeased some fans by starting Demarai Gray ahead of Riyad Mahrez, but if we struggle to hold possession and get forward, Gray can’t offer much. Bringing on the Algerian for the last quarter did help us a little, but we still looked goal shy. Shinji Okazaki had what was the Foxes only moment of the game to score, his miss summing up how it is to watch us currently.

Back to the drawing board, again

Depending on how patient our owners are, there’s two weeks for Shakespeare to work on tactics, passing and everything else we need to improve on. We finally saw Vicente Iborra make his Premier League debut, in a full second half performance. It’s a question as to why didn’t he start. We looked slightly better with him there, but it looks more and more like we have to at least try a midfield three. With a two, we keep getting overrun and the demands on the central two are huge.

Kasper Schmeichel and his defence will be happy to have kept a clean sheet given the barrage of changes Bournemouth had. It’s small consolation though. There really was very little else to be excited about or to feel positive about. We’re a side living dangerously right now and while it may still be early days, if we don’t improve, it’s going to a long, hard season.