How Leicester City could transform under Gary Rowett - these 2 things are likely to happen | OneFootball

The 51-year-old manager is heading to the King Power until the end of the season

FLW takes a look at two things that are likely to happen at Leicester City under Gary Rowett.

This comes after John Percy reported that the Foxes are in advanced talks with Gary Rowett over a short‑term deal until the end of the season.

The 51-year-old manager was, of course, most recently in charge of Leicester's fellow relegation rivals Oxford United, but saw himself sacked last December after picking up just one win in 10 games.

Despite this, it's worth noting that when he first took over the U's from Des Buckingham last season, Rowett quickly turned Oxford's fortunes around and managed to keep them up - largely thanks to a nine-game unbeaten run.

Given his prospective Leicester deal is only a short one, it's surely been handed to him solely on the basis to keep the Foxes up in similar fashion to what was achieved in 24/25.

So, what can the club actually expect from Rowett?

Yes, it was a while ago, but at Derby County in 17/18, Rowett showed he is not wedded to negative football. Only three Championship sides scored more goals than his Rams as they reached the play‑offs, losing out to Fulham in the semi‑finals.

With this in mind, Rowett has previously talked about balance when it comes to style of play, stressing that it is pointless forcing a certain philosophy if the players he has are not suited to it.

In his first press conference as U’s manager, Rowett said about his tactics, "I’ve always been pretty flexible. I have a certain set amount of values and my teams will always be really organised and clear on the structure.

"I’ve been coaching for a long time now, so I’m very clear on my methodology and how I want to try and get the best out of the players... If I look at my Millwall team, it had a certain look about it, but my Derby County team was one of the top scorers in the division," he added.

So, for someone who had Millwall fans chanting against his style of play, Rowett has shown he can be flexible - he just won't set up his team a certain way if he thinks the players aren't capable of it.

On paper, the individual quality of the players at Leicester is, arguably, far better than anywhere he's managed before - and he could end up making them free-scoring like Derby seven seasons ago.

2 ? ? Harder to beat

If there is one change that feels almost guaranteed under Rowett, it is Leicester becoming more resilient and less open without the ball. Their 51 goals conceded this season leaves them the second-leakiest Championship defence - only worsened by the ill-fated Sheffield Wednesday, with 64.

Just a few weeks before his Oxford sacking, Rowett told BBC Radio Oxford in December that "this league is about becoming tough to beat" - saying exactly, "the focus really is to find that little bit of consistency, even if it's just physical output. This division is about becoming hard to beat and we need to do that a little bit better."

Rowett also challenged his players to take accountability and become a threat from dead‑ball situations, adding, "Players have to take some responsibility, we have to get back to being a threat from set-pieces."

You can expect he'll try and implement this aspect straight away at Leicester, especially when considering that's what he did last season. Seeing as though Oxford are one place below the East Midlands outfit - in 23rd - their decision to sack Rowett and replace him with Matt Bloomfield hasn't exactly gone to plan.