As we entered November a decade ago, Leicester City were in the midst of a very different season.
On Halloween in 2015, the Foxes had just battled back for a 3-2 win at West Brom. Riyad Mahrez scored twice, while Jamie Vardy netted the goal that turned out to be the winner.
It was a result that moved Leicester up to third in the Premier League. Three weeks later they would take top spot, a position they would hold for the vast majority of the rest of the campaign on the way to that famous title.
Fast forward to today and things look very different. Leicester currently occupy 14th place in the Championship, their lowest position in the pyramid since September 2012.
Marti Cifuentes’ side have picked up just four wins from their first 13 games, with just one of those coming in their last nine.
They were relegated before in 2023, but on that occasion they bounced back immediately under Enzo Maresca, winning the title with gusto.
So what is going wrong for Leicester this season?
Lack of attacking edge hurting Foxes
Jamie Vardy celebrates scoring against West Brom in the Premier League in 2015
Winding back to 10 years ago and that win at West Brom. That Vardy goal was the eighth Premier League game in a row in which he scored, on his way to his record-breaking streak of 11 games that still stands to this day.
Even last time in the Championship, he netted 18 times despite starting just 18 games. What Leicester would give for that kind of lethal nature in front of goal now.
The three players who have started as a striker for Leicester this season – Jordan Ayew, Patson Daka and Julian Carranza – have a combined tally of just one goal so far.
Jordan Ayew has just one goal in nine starts for Leicester this season
Vardy, now 38, has already netted more in Serie A for Cremonese, bagging two in six this season. Jannik Vestergaard, Leicester’s centre-back, has more goals than all their strikers.
Ayew, the man with the one goal, has started nine of Leicester’s 13 games in attack. He has been a solid Premier League option for a host of clubs since 2015, but has mostly been played in a variety of roles either out wide or behind a main striker.
He is yet to hit double figures in a league campaign in England in his career. To opt now to lead with him, at 34, as your main No 9 feels more like necessity for Cifuentes rather than choice.
His back-ups, mainly Daka, have also failed to impress. He has, quite staggeringly, found the net just once in his last 50 appearances for Leicester. Carranza, meanwhile, has been handed just two starts all season and has lasted around an hour in both before being hauled off.
In total, Leicester have scored just 15 goals in the Championship so far. Only one club out of 13 above them in the table have fewer.
Perhaps more damningly, they cannot even really claim they are missing chances or creating opportunities. They are roughly exactly in line with their Expected Goals (xG) this season, which currently stands at 15.3.
Some questionable managerial appointments
Ruud van Nistelrooy led Leicester to just three wins last season
Back to that 2015/16 season again, and title-winner Claudio Ranieri. Since then, you could only really make a case that two permanent managerial appointments have achieved genuine success at the club.
Brendan Rodgers delivered the FA Cup in 2021, but he also steered the beginning of their decline into relegation in 2023, while Enzo Maresca brought them back to the top flight a year later.
Between Ranieri and Rodgers there was Craig Shakespeare and Claude Puel, while briefly between Rodgers and Maresca there was Dean Smith – who was given eight games and failed to keep them in the Premier League.
Since Maresca there have been Steve Cooper and Ruud van Nistelrooy in the Premier League, who won just three games apiece in a miserable relegation season, and now Cifuentes.
The Spaniard is a canny operator and won plaudits for some of his work at QPR. But it was a very different job to the one he has faced at Leicester so far and the jury remains firmly out.
Threat of points deduction remains amid financial uncertainty for owners
Leicester City chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha
Uncertainty off the pitch has clearly not helped matters on it. Leicester didn’t spend any money on a permanent transfer over the summer, and the threat of a points deduction remains looming over the King Power Stadium.
Sky Sports News reporter Rob Dorsett:
“There is (as is always the case) no indication about when Leicester will hear the outcome of the independent commission’s investigation into their alleged breach of Profit and Sustainability Rules for 2023/24.
“That makes it tough for Cifuentes and his players, who could be looking at nine points or more being chalked off their tally at some point this season.
“Of equal concern is the parlous state of Leicester’s finances. Their loyal and committed owners, King Power, have their own business battle being waged in Thailand. Profits are down and the exclusivity of their duty free business is being challenged.
“That shows no sign of directly impacting the football club’s revenue streams, and there is no doubt about the commitment of chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (or ‘Khun Top’) to his father’s footballing legacy.
“Srivaddhanaprabha is also taking a far more hands-on approach at the club as well as acting CEO, following the departure of Susan Whelan after more than a decade at the club.
“But it remains unlikely they will have much in the way of spending resource to bolster the squad in the January window.”
A huge week to come
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Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship between Leicester and Blackburn.
Just two more games now for Leicester before the next international break, the final significant pause in the first part of the season.
Saturday saw them beaten at home by Blackburn, their first defeat at home this season, as Cifuentes and his side faced the full toxicity of the King Power Stadium.
Two goals from Andri Gudjohnson handed Rovers a deserved victory, and brought a hostile reaction from Foxes fans at the final whistle, as supporters chanted: “You’re not fit to wear the shirt”.
The boss demanded a reaction after the game.
“It was disappointing and I understand the fans are frustrated. I wanted us to get closer to the supporters after the game, it’s about staying together.
“The fans have the right to be angry when we lose. But I can tell them that even the most committed Leicester fan in the world is not as angry as I am at the moment.
“We need to give them something back and come out of this difficult time together. That’s the only way to go.
“But we need to be better, whatever direction the crowd is. I knew the situation when I arrived here but I am 100-per-cent committed to changing things.
“Everybody needs to be accountable for the way they respond to this. We need to be better. I’m here to help the players, perhaps one bad action can trigger a different feeling. It’s not easy for some but we need much more.
“The only way I know is by working harder. We have an opportunity now against Middlesbrough and we need to react strongly.”
On Tuesday night, they host a Middlesbrough side who are second in the table. That is the kind of position Leicester would expect to occupy, but they currently find themselves as many points behind Boro as they are ahead of Sheffield United in the relegation zone.
Following that, a trip to Norwich on Saturday. A side themselves in crisis without even so much as a point at home in six games this season.
Cifuentes and the Foxes need a positive few days, or there could be another change in course again.
