Leicester’s Focus Turns Back to the League

Last night at Hull didn’t quite go to plan for Claudio Ranieri and Leicester as they lost 5-4 on penalties after extra time. I could say that exiting the Capital One Cup is fine because I’d rather we concentrate on the league. That would be somewhat predictable though and also a little bit of a lie. When it comes to penalty shoot-outs, I’m not alone in feeling nervous in our ability and i don’t think anybody wanted it to come down to that on Tuesday. The last few we’ve been involved in have left sour memories and with our most prolific penalty takers now elsewhere (Paul Gallagher now with Preston North End and David Nugent with Middlesbrough), single penalties in games have been tense enough.

Although going out on penalties is not disgraceful and winning from them becomes somewhat of a luck game, it’s still disappointing. No club likes losing and Claudio Ranieri certainly doesn’t. Especially when you consider that two of the early favourites, Chelsea and Arsenal, went out. Clubs like ourselves without European ambition would have been looking at that and seen a real chance at getting to the final. Eyes turned to Wednesday night’s ties, though most of the big players aside from Manchester United made it through in the end.

There were certainly some points that will have given Claudio Ranieri some food for thought, even after his pizza earlier in the week, as well as some positives too. Young Ben Chilwell got a start at left-back on Tuesday night. It was a good chance to rest Christian Fuchs and with Jeffrey Schlupp serving a one-match suspension for picking up five yellow cards, it paved the way for the England under 20s player to create an impression. Chilwell has been training with the senior squad regularly but we haven’t rushed to play him, giving Foxes fans fleeting and promising glimpses.

Ben Chilwell didn’t have the easiest of rides against Hull. Up against Mohamed Diamé, he had a lot of work to do and Hull fed a lot of their early attacks down the right flank. The first thirty minutes weren’t entirely reassuring, but Chilwell grew into the games and eventually seemed to get the better of Diamé to put in a good performance in. It’s impressive enough that the left-back notched up his first senior man of the match award on his senior début. It’s even more impressive with the quality of the other Leicester players on the pitch and his tough first half. Part of Leicester’s future plans has to involve hanging onto this young man for as long as possible, though some of the Premier League’s giants are already sniffing around and his current contract expires in June next year.

With Ranieri making ten changes from the Premier League starting eleven who beat Crystal Palace at the weekend, only Marc Albrighton retained his spot on Tuesday, Leicester somewhat short of wingers with Nathan Dyer cup tied. So what of the fringe players? Gökhan Inler and Andy King were the central midfield pairing, both struggling to get off the substitutes bench this season. Inler has been a little puzzling so far. He’s unquestionably talented and brings lots of experience, but hasn’t made the kind of impact we’d expected so far. He squandered several balls last night in favour of hopeful long-range shots and didn’t stand out to the extent that he could dislodge Drinkwater or Kante for a starting place. With his signing, we expected to see leadership in the form that Esteban Cambiasso provided last season but in terms of on the pitch, this hasn’t materialised yet.

Other players who would have would wanted a good performance to help them fight for a place were the other three defenders alongside Ben Chilwell. Richie De Laet has lost his place to Danny Simpson in the last month at right-back and started the game brightly enough. For me, he’s a good back-up option for Simpson, but won’t dislodge him currently due to his unpredictably. Fans still love Marcin Wasilewski but it’s difficult to see how much playing time he’ll get unless Robert Huth or Wes Morgan get injured or suspended and he’s not getting younger either. He was lucky not to see a card or two as well! His penalty in the shoot-out was great and he does seem to partner well with Yohan Benalouane who impressed again. For me, Benalouane is one who needs to be patient, much like Fuchs did at first, but I believe we’ll see plenty of him over the next season or two.

I wrote about Andrej Kramarić this week already, anticipating that he would get to start against Hull. While he did indeed start, it doesn’t sound like he’s done much to change his fortune. If any player was in need of a strong performance and goal last night, it was him. Unfortunately despite a chance to make it 1-0 in the opening minute, he didn’t look like scoring and found himself substituted after 64 minutes for Danny Drinkwater with Leicester looking to make an impact. The Croatian struggled to get the ball against Hull, too easily pushed off it when he did and looking less and less confident with every passing minute. A cup run was the best chance he had of getting game time at the moment. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him sent out on loan come January and it may well be the best thing for both player and club. It would leave us looking somewhat short of back-up in the attacking department though.

Are we becoming too reliant on Jamie Vardy? It would be easy to with the form that the striker is in. We were certainly hoping he could get a goal last night. I was a little surprised to see him come on, but it signalled the desire to win, which I like. If he were to get injured though, or suspended (he’s not yellow card shy), what other options do we have? Leonardo Ulloa hasn’t seen too much time on the pitch this season, partly down to the formation and now injury, but he’s a valid option if we can deliver the ball to him. Joe Dodoo started against Hull but is likely to remain an option for the cup at the age of 20. Whether his future includes playing for us in the Premier League remains to be seen, but it certainly won’t become clear this early in the season.

We have strength and depth in almost every area but up front is where we look vulnerable. Certainly in terms of proven goalscorers when Vardy will inevitably need a rest at some point. Shinji Okazaki is yet to play the out and out striker role and we’ve not seen how he fares as a lone striker. While Riyad Mahrez can go up front if needed, it’s likely that this will be an area on Ranieri’s January sales shopping list.

One of the more criticised players from Tuesday night has been Mark Schwarzer. At 42 years old, his abilities and chances in a penalty shoot-out were always going to be brought into question. Foxes fans are used to feeling somewhat calm watching strikers charge towards goal or long range shots, we’re confident that Kasper Schmeichel will have it covered. The big Dane has saved us so many times over the four years we’ve had him, we’re perhaps complacent with him between the sticks.

Schwarzer is not a poor goalkeeper, the things he can pass on and teach to our other players is invaluable but whether or not we can have the same level of faith remains to be seen. It’s certainly not as calm watching him. There were several chances Hull created that looked certain to beat him and one that he almost took over the line himself. When it came down to penalties, you hoped a Hull player would miss rather than feeling that Schwarzer would save one. It would have been harsh to save a substitution to bring on Kasper Schmeichel and I understand why we rolled the dice for three outfield players to try and win it in either 90 or within extra time. Schwarzer’s playing days do look to be numbered and with Japanese national keeper Eiji Kawashima training with the club, many will be hoping to see that become a deal so that should Schmeichel ever be injured or suspended, we can feel confident that there’s somebody to take over his gloves.

Some fans were always going to be frustrated by losing to a Championship side on Tuesday night. Although it was only on penalties, looking back at the chances Hull had, and some of the decisions they possibly should have had, it doesn’t look like an unfair result. If you gave me a choice between progressing to the quarter-finals or three points this Saturday, it’s not an easy choice. Maintaining Premier League status is important but it has been a long time since we had a realistic trophy chance and with such a positive start to the season, we find ourselves not yet in a relegation battle. There’s no need for overreaction though, we’re still a world away from last season where we bowed out in the second round to Shrewsbury after an abysmal performance.

For now, our attention turns back to the Premier League and a visit to the Hawthorns to face West Brom awaits. We’re already passed the points tally that we had in April last season and it certainly feels like there’s still a lot to look forward to this season.

Any cup ambitions can be put on a temporary pause so that come January, when the FA Cup third round draw is made, we can look at the table and, points permitting, target that. It’s a dream I’ve had for years to see Leicester in an FA Cup final at Wembley. With the team this year, who knows, maybe it’s our best chance.