Cottee: An Exciting Position To Be In
- Tony Cottee reviews Leicester City’s 2019/20 season to date during the Premier League’s winter break
- Cottee cited City’s current league position as an indicator of their success under Brendan Rodgers
- The former striker picked out several Foxes that he has been impressed with this term
Cottee has been a regular guest on the Football Club’s live shows for LCFC Radio and LCFC TV this term, following the Foxes closely as they go about breaking records and challenging the Premier League’s elite and most established sides.
It is City’s league position that is the primary focus for the former Everton, West Ham United and Foxes striker, who underlined just how impressive they have been under Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers.
Leicester currently occupy a healthy 12-point lead over Tottenham Hotspur in fifth position, while they are eight points clear of Chelsea in fourth and two points behind second-placed Manchester City.
“I’ve obviously been working closely with the Club this year and I’ve been really excited with the performances,” he told LCFC.com.
“I think if you’d have said to not just me but anyone at the Club that they’d be in third position coming into a match against Wolves in the middle of February and you’re 12 points clear of fifth position, everyone would have said ‘we’ll have some of that’.
“I think cup competitions are great because you get that excitement, and you’re so close to getting to Wembley – there’s still a chance in terms of the FA Cup – but to perform consistently in the league like Leicester have done, that will be the most pleasing part of it from everyone’s point of view.”
According to Cottee, City have done well to operate at such a high level throughout the 2019/20 Premier League season, and says it is understandable that they will not be able to maintain their tempo in every single fixture this term.
“Every time I’ve been on the TV or radio shows for the Club, I’ve always said it’s important to keep things in perspective,” Cottee said.
“Unless you’re Liverpool, you’re not going to go through a season where you’re not going to have blips, losses of form or players getting injured. It’s not going to happen.
“Yes, there was a couple of performances over Christmas and in January where you could say Leicester could have gone better, but you have to take things like that. In the main, it’s been losing to what you’d call the ‘big clubs’. These things can happen.
“Where the credit is due is that they’ve been so consistent as a team. Now, it’s just a case of kicking on and seeing how high they can get.”
When asked about the players he has been most impressed with this season, Cottee picked out several City stars, and believes that the productive mix of experience and youth has helped many players flourish.
“In terms of surprises you’ve got to go for Çağlar Söyüncü,” Cottee said. “He came into the team relatively unknown and he’s been absolutely outstanding.
“Wilfred Ndidi has probably consistently been one of our best performers. You know what you’re going to get from him week in, week out and the recovery from his injury was phenomenal. He was meant to be out for weeks and he was back 10 or 12 days later.
“Then, you have to look at the established players. Jamie Vardy is the top goalscorer in the Premier League and that says it all. In general, Kasper Schmeichel has had a good season, as has Jonny Evans as well.
“It’s been a real mixture of the experienced players playing to their maximum and then you’ve got the players coming into the team that are relatively unknown and doing well.
“Then, of course, there’s an abundance of youngsters like Harvey Barnes, Ben Chilwell and Hamza Choudhury.”
An admirer of Rodgers’ managerial work, Cottee believes his appointment, which came a year ago this month, was suited to both the Club and the Northern Irishman.
He added: “What Brendan Rodgers did see at Leicester was an opportunity to build on the good work that was done four years ago, and to work with the young players and established players that were already at the Club.
“There was a really good infrastructure there and it’s such a well-run club with really good people working for it.
“I think it ticked all the boxes for Brendan, but it also ticked all the boxes for Leicester as well in terms of looking for the type of manager that they needed to try and take the Club onto the next level.”