Leicester finished 12th in the Premier League in 2016-17, but what grade do they get for their overall performance?
Leicester were never going to top their miracle title win in 2015-16; the question ahead of this season was how far they’d regress. They finished 12th in the end — not terrible, but considering they fell deep enough into the relegation scrap to make firing Claudio Ranieri seem like a good idea, certainly not good.
The Foxes did make a memorable run to the Champions League quarterfinal, but their league campaign was one to forget. That was partly down to the departure of N’Golo Kante to Chelsea, but with Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez (and the rest of last season’s first XI) sticking around, there was cause for optimism at the King Power ahead of the season.
The top six was perhaps never a realistic target, but Leicester had the talent to make a push for a Europa League place, as they showed in the last few months of the season under Craig Shakesepeare, when they won seven of 13 matches.
In some ways, it feels sort of pointless criticizing Leicester after last season; anything other than relegation would have been fine. But the fact is there was a real opportunity to build on last season’s miracle title win, and they didn’t take it.
The manager
Ranieri faced a near-impossible task trying to build off the most unlikely league title in the history of the sport. He had a choice between sticking to what had worked the season prior and trying to build something new, something he hoped could be more lasting.
In the end, he did neither, occasionally going for a distinctly 2015-16 lineup but just as often experimenting with different shapes as he tried to incorporate Islam Slimani and Ahmed Musa into the attack. Kante’s departure made sticking with last season’s 4-4-2 difficult, but even so the Italian seemed at times to be overthinking it.
That indecision impacted the players, who were widely criticized for their role in getting Ranieri the sack. Who knows exactly what happened behind the scenes, but the delicate balance that spurred the Foxes on last season had clearly been lost. When Ranieri was fired, after a five-match losing streak with the club in 17th place, it was hard to argue with the logic, however much the club owed the man.
Shakespeare turned things around immediately, choosing to go back to the title-winning formula — four men in midfield and Shinji Okazaki playing off Vardy upfront. His first match was a 3-1 win against Liverpool, part of a five-match winning streak in the league that eliminated any fears of relegation.
The players
The Foxes had a busy, unconvincing summer transfer window. Musa and Slimani were bought for more than $45 million combined, but neither impressed in England, scoring only nine goals between them. To make matters worse, the club sold Andrej Kramaric to Hoffenheim, where he scored 15 goals and helped the club finish fourth in the Bundesliga.
Leicester attempted to replace Kante with Nampalys Mendy and Wilfred Ndidi. Mendy was hurt after playing only four Premier League games, while Ndidi provided a nice boost after being signed in the January transfer window. The 20-year-old was billed as the next Kante, and showed enough to suggest he could come close to living up to the name.
As for the old guard, Kasper Schmeichel’s name has been thrown around in transfer rumors after he had another good season at King Power. The Tigers would be wise to keep the Danish keeper, but a big club could sign him if they’re willing to pay up.
Vardy’s season, like much of the squad, took off after the change of managers. Under Ranieri, he scored only five goals in the Premier League. Once Shakespeare took over, Vardy began scoring at a similar rate as the previous season, scoring eight goals in Leicester’s final 13 games.