Surely it can’t end like this?
Seven years after the greatest fairytale ever told in the Premier League, the fairytale is turning into a nightmare from which Leicester City are showing no signs of waking up.
There is nothing in the rules to say a former title winner can’t be relegated and Leicester are not presenting any evidence that they will avoid the drop.
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Brendan Rodgers’ men are in the quicksand, slowly sinking with little to cling to.
There is still half the season to go, but Leicester are just two points off the bottom of the table before a tricky run of fixtures after their 12th defeat of the season.
No team has lost more.
The 2-0 defeat at the City Ground meant Nottingham Forest leapt above them, despite Forest being there for the taking in the first half – if only Leicester had been anywhere near their level of the past few years.
The problem is Leicester are stuck in a cycle and don’t know how to break it. Game after game, they are repeating the same mistakes, compounding costly defensive errors with wasteful finishing.
Even more alarming, they are not showing the spirit to bounce back from adversity, that fighting determination to come back from going behind in games. They have lost every game in which they have conceded first.
They lost six on the bounce at the start of the season and are on course to match that unenviable record after their fourth consecutive defeat. It’s the first time they’ve had multiple runs of four or more defeats in the same league campaign since 2014-15, when they had three such poor runs.
Back then there were signs of life. They did show some fighting spirit under Nigel Pearson. Sometimes a little too much in the case of the manager himself, who clashed with reporters, fans and even opposition players at times. In comparison, this Leicester seem so meek in the face of adversity.
In fact, Rodgers has a different approach to Pearson. After the game, he walked into the press room at the City Ground and smiled as he sat down.
“I think what’s important as a manager is that you stay calm,” Rodgers said. “This team and this squad need patience.”
He may not be a shouter and a bawler, that’s never been his style, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate the seriousness of it all as Leicester slide towards the precipice at stomach-churning speed.
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Asked if he and the players acknowledged that they were in a relegation battle now, he nodded. “Yes, absolutely. I said that afterwards (to the players). Let’s not pretend you are not. This will be a long season for us.
“I have to be honest,” he added. “If you look at our form and where we are at, where we are, then of course it is a worry, but there are still so many games to go.”
There is no denying it, no hiding from it. For all their achievements over the last few years, Leicester are facing a fight for survival and they have to accept it.
They did it in 2014-15 to pull off the ‘great escape’. They have to dig deep and do it again, despite their mounting problems such as the injuries to so many key players — especially James Maddison, who has no return date pencilled in yet. Six of the eight who were out would have strong claims to have been starters in this side.
Then there is the loss of form to other key players, such as Jamie Vardy, Harvey Barnes, Youri Tielemans and Wilfred Ndidi.
Tielemans looks like his focus has already switched to his next club, while Ndidi’s decline is truly shocking. A player who was once one of the most effective midfield enforcers in the Premier League was easily brushed aside in the build-up to the crucial first goal.
Others look like they need help, such as Luke Thomas, who might need a break to regain lost confidence.
They need reinforcements, whether that is the return of players from injury or some new signings. In the ‘great escape’ season, Pearson brought in Robert Huth, Mark Schwarzer and Andrej Kramaric in the January window. Huth, in particular, showed how much difference one big character can make to morale within a struggling side. His arrival was the catalyst.
After Forest’s second goal went in, two banners could be seen in the away end. The first said: “Act now”. The second stated: “Missing! The board”.
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That patience Rodgers said his players needed is wearing thin, especially as no new signings have arrived yet in this window when it is so painfully obvious how much they are needed now.
There was a third banner, partially hidden to most of the ground behind one of the others. It read: “Rodgers out”.
Despite the gravity of the situation, the owners have put their faith in Rodgers previously after everything he has achieved over the last four years, recognising that they have not been able to give him the support he needed in the last two transfer windows. They wanted to correct that in this one and are expected to keep faith in Rodgers.
But it could get harder in the second half of the season if Leicester continue to suffer crushing defeats like this, with no reinforcements and more injuries.
It will be tough to break the cycle.
(Top photo: Laurence Griffiths via Getty Images)