Kasper Schmeichel’s absence is the real reason behind Leicester’s slump from champs to chumps
Attacking stars Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez picked up the big accolades in 2016 but stopper played a huge role
COUNTLESS theories have been offered to explain Leicester’s shock slump from champs to chumps in 2016.
But the most obvious reason has been overlooked — the absence of Kasper Schmeichel.
Claudio Ranieri’s side have played 26 games since the start of the season and Schmeichel has missed 11 of them.
In those 11, the Foxes only kept one clean sheet — a 3-0 home win over Burnley.
But in the 15 games in which Schmeichel featured, Ranieri’s men had 7.5 shut-outs — or a clean sheet every other match.
Schmeichel earned his ‘half’ when he played for almost an hour against Swansea, helping Leicester establish a 2-0 lead before succumbing to the hernia problem which plagued the early part of his season. His replacement, Ron-Robert Zieler, was on for just 23 minutes before Swansea scored — Leicester’s season in a nutshell without their inspirational No 1.
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Attacking stars Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez picked up the big accolades in 2016 and made the Ballon d’Or top ten.
But Schmeichel is the rock on which the Foxes’ 5,000-1 title success was built and he will guarantee their Prem survival now he has fully recovered from the fractured hand he suffered against Copenhagen.
The great Dane has lost four times in 15 games this season. Without him, Leicester lost eight of 11. It is not rocket science.
No wonder Ranieri last week sent a hands-off warning to Liverpool over the 30-year-old. After seeing Schmeichel keep West Ham at bay in Saturday’s 1-0 win — courtesy of Islam Slimani’s headed goal — Ranieri said: “He is not just a goalkeeper, he is a fantastic leader.
“He hasn’t played for some matches this season and we lost. With him we are more confident, more calm.
“We were fantastic against a very confident West Ham. It is important we keep this momentum now. I am very confident for 2017.”
Foxes start the new year at Middlesbrough today and Schmeichel said: “We have to keep doing what we did against West Ham — score first and be resilient. Every game is a battle.”
Captain Wes Morgan, 32, added: “A couple of wins and everyone forgets about the relegation talk.”