Glaring Leicester issue needs to be fixed ASAP | OneFootball

Effort has been lacking from this Leicester team throughout the season. This past Chelsea game showed signs of encouragement. Over the course of the year, however, the desire has largely been absent. One major indication of this is consistently losing out on second balls. And while this may not be the ultimate telltale, it offers insight as to why the Foxes are comfortably in the relegation zone.

Winning aerial duels is something every club wants to do. There is only so much a player can do if they were born without the gene to make them tower over others. Positioning, furthermore, can make this a challenge, depending on the trajectory of the ball.

Winning the second ball, though, is an entirely different story. More often than not, that is a question of will and grit. Especially in one's own penalty area, this is true. The desire to clear the ball off a bounce requires someone wanting to beat a man more than the potential goal scorer.

It becomes telling when a team repeatedly fails to lose out on such first and second ball duels. At 26.4%, Ruud van Nistelrooy's men are the lowest compared to all other Premier League teams concerning this atrocious stat, as pointed out by Rob Tanner of the New York Times. The percentage indicates how much the side wins the ball back after the initial aerial duel on the second bounce.

Why this low number matters for Leicester

It speaks to the lack of industriousness and urgency throughout the club. For a team that is often on the losing end of possession, it cannot also afford to continually lose out on clear chances to potentially win the ball back. At the end of the day, it comes down to effort.

And this element has largely been lacking from Leicester. It's fine to appreciate past success and to even give a tip of the hat for the Foxes last match at Stamford Bridge. Regardless, something basic like this, which anyone can feasibly do, needs to be much better.

Some may dislike the modern role of statistics in the sport. Such a strong anomaly, however, cannot be ignored by those at City. For the Leicester faithful, hopefully the players see this trend printed out and do something to reverse it.