Leicester City shook the world in 2016 when they won their first-ever Premier League title. All know the story right? In that time, the Foxes were led by (then) relatively unknown Riyad Mahrez and prime-aged Jamie Vardy. The latter still spearhead Leicester’s attacking line this campaign. Meanwhile, the former has left the club a few seasons ago to join Manchester City.
Despite that, Leicester have found a new gem to replace the Algerian. Even better, this player came from Leicester’s academy; costing them absolutely no. His name is Harvey Barnes. The 22-year-old’s impressive career start is one of the reasons why Leicester are standing in the third place of the Premier League at the moment. Without further ado, this tactical analysis will inform how Barnes gives an impact on his team.
Player profile
Barnes is originally a left-winger. However, he is quite a versatile attacker who can play in multiple attacking positions. Last season, Barnes was loaned to West Bromwich Albion. He made 28 appearances for the Championship side, with almost half of them playing as an attacking midfielder. In those games, he made nine goals and eight assists for West Brom. Convincing enough to make his parent club rely on him in this campaign.
Under Brendan Rodgers, Leicester have become a possession-based team. Currently, they are averaging 54.4% ball possession per game; fourth-highest in the league. For a fact, they only averaged 44.7% possession when they won the league back in 2015/16. Despite that, they are still very deadly on transition. Leicester have scored seven counter-attacking goals this season, only one fewer than the leaders, Liverpool.
Barnes has played 32 matches so far in his first full season for Leicester. Looking at the statistics, he has made seven goals and seven assists across all competitions. The respectable feat proves that Barnes fits well in Rodgers’ tactics.
Provides the width
In this part of the scout report, we’re going to take a look at Barnes’ role for his team’s attacks. Mainly, Rodgers likes to set his team up in a 4–1–4–1. Barnes is often deployed as the left-winger; his favourite position. When Leicester have the ball, the 22-year-old is tasked to provide the width and stretch the defensive line. By doing that, he can also be useful for his team when they have to switch the play.
When facing teams with low defensive blocks, Rodgers usually allows his wide players to rotate with each other. The objective behind this is to disrupt the opponents’ defensive positioning. One way to do that is by sending Barnes inside, almost parallel with the main striker. Indeed he starts wide when he doesn’t have the ball, but when the ball is in the left flank, Barnes would be tasked to move inside. When this happens, the left-sided central-midfielder would drop a bit alongside the defensive midfielder. The flank then would be filled by the marauding left-back.
Another way to do rotate is by switching Barnes with his nearby central-midfielder. The midfielder — mainly Maddison — then can send the ball into the box with his brilliant crossing ability. Not only that, but Leicester also have Ben Chilwell in the left flank. The left-back also can provide quality balls into the final third.
