Steve Cooper must find answer to alarming Leicester City weakness or risk unwanted record
Leicester City are in the pit of their worst slump of the season and the schedule upon the return from this month's international break isn’t the most pleasing.
Since beating Southampton 3-2 in the middle of October, Leicester have lost three of their last four games in all competitions. The 3-0 defeat to Manchester United before the pause followed a loss to Nottingham Forest, draw to Ipswich Town and EFL Cup exit.
Despite this, Steve Cooper's men sit 15th in the Premier League table on 10 points from 11 games. Unfortunately for them, all the teams below them have won in the period that City haven't, meaning they could fall into the relegation zone after one bad result.
READ MORE: Red Bull, playing the 'freak' Vardy way and what has given Leicester City legend wings again
READ MORE: Leicester City told to complete 'most popular piece of business' in January transfer window
When Leicester return to action against Enzo Maresca's Chelsea next Saturday, they will kickstart a busy November and December. Between that game and New Year, the Foxes play another seven times - including the Christmas double-header with Liverpool and Manchester City.
The Premier League table is already taking shape but the festive period always provides a good idea of what lies for each club. If Cooper isn’t thought to be under threat now, going into the New Year in the relegation zone will certainly place him in the firing line.
This month's international break came at a good time for the Leicester head coach. A handful of his players are away from Seagrave but that won't stop him working hard behind-the-scenes before Maresca's King Power Stadium return.
For many, there are numerous concerns for him to sort out. For me, he has two alarming ones. The first one being how to get the best out of Abdul Fatawu and Stephy Mavididi. Manging to find a formula that gets the best out of the wingers will significantly boost their chances of survival.
But it's the concern in defence that Cooper simply has to put his coaching expertise to good use and find a solution. When re-watching all of the Premier League goals conceded by Leicester this season (21), you could pin 14 of them to the serious problem at right-back (Porro vs Tottenham, Smith Rowe and Iwobi vs Fulham, Jhon Duran vs Aston Villa, Mateta vs Crystal Palace, Ndiaye vs Everton, Martinelli and Trossard vs Arsenal, Archer and Aribo vs Southampton, Yates vs Nottingham Forest and Fernandes x2 and Garnacho vs Manchester United).
This season, James Justin has been Cooper's first-choice with nine of his 10 appearances in the league coming at right-back. Ricardo Pereira's unfortunate injury, which will keep him out for up to four months, means Justin is the obvious choice in the position going forward.
Cooper has to fix the issue. So many times this season, the opposition has targeted City's right hand side. It has become an Achilles heel for Leicester this season that has become so apparent, the decision to persist with it has been confusing. Fortunately, Justin is one of the non-international stars
The finger of blame doesn't just fall on Justin. The wing-back often, far more than he should, finds himself at a numerical disadvantage. Fulham's first goal wasn't really his fault in August and Southampton's opener last month came from Russell Martin deploying two players on that side.
Cooper also weighs some of the blame. Justin is the high full-back in his system who bombs forward when his winger drifts inside. When the one-time England international does that, the remaining defenders are left with little protection and acres of space to defend.
So what does Cooper do? Previously, the call from supporters had been to bring him out of the firing line and start Pereira. That is no longer an option until February, at the earliest. Behind them two, Leicester's best right-back is 20-year-old Joe Wormleighton, who is yet to make his senior debut.
A switch to a back three, seeing Caleb Okoli or Conor Coady join Wout Faes and Jannik Vestergaard at centre-back, is an option. Justin and Victor Kristiansen are capable wing-backs to join the attack and fulfil their defensive responsibilities to form a back five.
At Forest, Cooper regularly used a 3-4-2-1 system that packed the centre with two holding midfielders behind two attack-minded playmakers and the striker. If Cooper decides to give Justin a break, Fatawu is more than capable of being utilised at wing-back given his decent ability to defend with Facundo Buonanotte and Bilal El Khannouss license in the spaces.
Fatawu received praise from Cooper for his role in Leicester's turnaround win at Southampton as an attacking wing-back. "He's a really exciting young player," he said. "He did brilliantly for the club kast year. And he's going to quickly become an exciting Premier League player as well.
"We’re just in that little transition with him understanding how to develop his game, playing with a bit more variety. When he comes on and plays like he did today and takes opportunities, he’s showing the player that he will be in the Premier League. Kudos to him.
“Definitely (he can play that role again), yes. You saw the really exciting bits of Abdul’s play today but fair play to him, he’s happy to run back just as quick as well, which is not always a trait of a player of his profile.
"We felt he would be okay coping with what Southampton had out that side as well. It was more about getting another attacking player on the pitch, and then up the pitch. We moved JJ (James Justin) to the other side because we know he can play both. Sometimes these things can help and sometimes they can hinder, but fortunately today it helped.”
However, despite the positives that that tactical switch would bring, Cooper hasn't moved away from a back four all season. So if the 4-2-3-1 formation remains, a change in certain instructions has to happen.
Dropping the midfield line slightly deeper to cut off the space allowed to the opposition could work. Asking the right winger to be more cautious in 50/50 scenarios could also be an option.
Whatever the decision is from Cooper, it has to make Leicester less vulnerable down the right. If successfully managed, City are likely to be much better when defending their goal.
