What Ruud van Nistelrooy must put right at Leicester City before Spurs | OneFootball

After seven straight losses, perilously teetering on the edge of utter despair and hopelessness, the Foxes are poised to return to the Championship despite all the promise and hope at the start of their Premier League campaign. Yet, surely it should not be so desperate.

These seven losses have placed Leicester in a terrible position with far tougher fixtures incoming for the Dutchman. It is difficult to pinpoint exact issues. After all, the King Power side has seemingly performed well during spans of matches.

However, they have created chances and failed to score goals. On the other end of the pitch, without a strong defender at the heart of our defence, in the absence of the hunger for disruption of Ricardo Pereira, the heroism of Mads Hermansen, the Rolls-Royce shield of Wilfred Ndidi (or any actual defensive-minded midfielder to be frank), and the seeming inability of the rest of our team to pick up the pieces, our defence has incessantly conceded dangerous chances to devastating and clinical players.

Leicester City's inability to defend

The core of our weakness: 48 goals conceded over the course of 22 matches. Comparing that to our relegation campaign, by 22 games played we had conceded 38 and gained 22 points. Those 10 extra goals are the difference between 2-1 losses and getting a few draws. Oh, and our backline on the 22nd fixture (a 4-1 loss) contained Victor Kristiansen and Wout Faes.

Looking at what seems to occur during our losses, we tend to see two scenarios unfold for opposition chances. In the first, Leicester City concede possession with reckless or wasteful passing, the opposition proceeding to pounce into a disorganised defence - overloading at the wings - and being afforded just enough time to get a shot off. In the second, a blazing-fast attack just cuts passed our midfield and wingers, goes out wide, cuts inside, and of course creates a chance for runners and strikers.

This issue was less prevalent with an out-and-out defensive midfielder in the picture. When Wilfred Ndidi or even Hamza Choudhury have played, there has usually been at least one more marker or attempt to disrupt plays in an impactful manner. They have attempted to shield our shaken defenders and follow runners through. We saw the benefits of this in Nistelrooy's first two fixtures before the losing streak began.

In our current state, the primary partnership in midfield has been Harry Winks or Oliver Skipp alongside Boubakary Soumare. When we are on the attack, the excellent passing range and technical ability of the trio have proved integral to Leicester's holding of possession, progression up the pitch, and eventual chance creation. However, that is not particularly balanced: none of them are great at putting in a tackle, and none intercept often.

The outcome of that usually means Jannik Vestergaard and Wout Faes incessantly rushing miles out of position to try to pressure, win the ball, intercept, or make a tackle. Obviously, this creates massive spaces for pacy forwards to rush into against us, and we have seen a failure - particularly on our right flank - to fill that void with fullbacks coming inside.

So, to summarise, we lack the pace in defence to counter explosive forwards, the organisation to block chances or apply collective pressure on attackers, any type of shielding for the defenders in the form of a defensive midfielder, and we are missing vital players. So, there are a few options for Ruud van Nistelrooy's Foxes to consider.

Firstly, team selection: start an out-and-out DM alongside the Frenchman, switch to a back five to give us more numbers in defence, and drop those players who constantly give the ball away (James Justin for example). Second, tactics: fewer players should rush forward in attack, with more cautiously waiting in case of explosive counterattacks, and more pressure should be applied to space on the wings, where Leicester City are ruthlessly carved apart. Third, pray for Hermansen.

A whole-team goal drought

I singled out our defensive ineptitude, but perhaps our goalscoring is equally tragic. Again, compared to our relegation campaign, we have 23 goals against 36 Brendan Rodgers' team managed at the time. 13 goals less. Our top goalscorer at this stage is Jamie Vardy on just six, only nine players have managed to score even one, and only five players have more than one goal.

If we instead consider non-penalty expected goals, most of those in our scoring charts follow their NPxG. However, the King Power squad are without their fifth highest (Ndidi), Nistelrooy barely plays our ninth highest (Kasey McAteer), and somehow Abdul Fatawu (who only started in six total matches) remains our 12th highest with several current first-teamers not accumulating any more than the sorely missed winger.

To be quite frank, I feel decision-making, a lack of trust, poor passing under pressure, and wayward shooting are mainly to blame. As we have previously stated, going through our midfield and into the final third, the Foxes actually play well, it is in the final third where they just run out of room, and ideas, and lack the necessary resolve to break a defensive block, or the clinical crosses to avoid those battles entirely.

Therefore, fixing that requires transfers. We need a goalscorer who can consistently perform. Otherwise, players will not want to pass amongst themselves as they lack the trust in each other to make the shot, preferring to be the one making that final shot (we see this from Facundo Buonanotte and Bilal El Khannouss as they create chances but will often waste them). Further, Vardy may be our top goalscorer, but he has also played the most matches of our striker options, but he is not scoring his big chances.

In addition to transfers, Ruud van Nistelrooy must look at what players are not pulling their weight, and which players have at least tried or offered more to the team. McAteer and joint second-highest goalscorer Jordan Ayew are obvious names in mind in this regard. Just a reminder though, Ndidi had the most assists and Fatawu still - yes, after 11 missed matches entirely - has the fourth highest.

Unless we swiftly get Ndidi back into the fold, then Choudhury must be given a chance in his place, thus freeing Soumare to take on some of that further progression and final third passing the box-to-box Nigerian was also taking on. It is hard to see no case for McAteer to take a starting spot, and equally impossible to see the Dutchman should ever consider dropping the bright spots el Khannouss and Buonanotte.

As such, I hope to see a front three of Buonanotte, Vardy, and McAteer against Tottenham, with el Khannouss, Soumare, and Choudhury in midfield. At the back, hopefully Woyo Coulibaly is fit to start, and perhaps we should let Caleb Okoli have a chance since Faes has failed to maintain high standards. Further, I continue to pray for the recovery of the Danish goalkeeper, Nigerian midfielder, and Portuguese right back.