Leicester City manager Russell Martin has been praised for a noticeable tweak he made to his tactics following last weekend’s 2-1 victory over Doncaster Rovers.
Having suffered a shock relegation from the Championship in May, the Foxes began the campaign as one of the favourites to secure promotion from League One. However, at best, it has been a poor start, and the 40-year-old went into the game at the King Power Stadium under enormous pressure.
Despite only being appointed in the summer, a 3-1 defeat against struggling Peterborough United saw the pressure on Martin ramp up another notch. This led to speculation that the Leicester hierarchy were in the process of drawing up a list of potential replacements, with Rob Edwards and Neil Lennon amongst those being considered.
Doncaster Result Offers Short Reprieve
It’s not surprising that Leicester endured a nervy start against Doncaster. The first half followed a familiar pattern, with the 2016 Premier League champions carving out plenty of chances without finding a breakthrough.
That changed on the stroke of half time though when John Lundstram lashed home from the edge of the box. The second half was perhaps a bit more tepid, but it was Martin’s side who doubled their advantage just after the hour mark when Kamari Doyle curled home.
Rovers rallied somewhat and were gifted a lifeline in the 84th minute when Warren O’Hora inadvertently turned the ball into his own net whilst under pressure from striker Alfie May. Leicester held firm for the remainder of the contest as they went on to secure a first home league win since September 1st.
“That’s Very Astute”
In the latest episode of League One Lowdown, co-host Tom Woods noticed that Leicester seemed to be taking more risks when creating chances, something which has cost them up until now. Speaking to Jamie Johnson, he said:
“They need to play 70-80% of how Russell Martin wants them to. Then they need to shoot when they get to 18-20 yards out because it creates chaos and they’re technically very good players.
“So, I think it’s not a surprise that once they got through that first 30 minutes, where Doncaster were the better side, they can settle down a little bit. They find a rhythm and they kind of remember, ‘oh, we’re quite good at football.
“If that’s a permanent tweak that Martin is making, i.e. giving them a bit more licence to take a strike, I think they will start to pick up a lot more results. Balls will start to bobble in the box, even if they get blocked and they’ll score a couple of goals like this.
“From a Leicester perspective, if this is them taking the handbrake off from Martin-ball a little bit, that’s very astute. We’ll see if that carries on.”
Leicester will be hoping to record back-to-back victories for the first time this season tonight when they travel to Bromley. The recently promoted side have struggled to adjust to life in League One and currently sit in the bottom four.
