JibrinKim Hellberg’s Leicester City expectations and how he wants Middlesbrough to deal with it
Boro will look to get back to winning ways when they host Leicester City
Kim Hellberg detailed how he wants his Middlesbrough side to cope with the low block, as he anticipates Leicester City will adopt similar defensive tactics on Tuesday evening.
Boro were held to a frustrating goalless stalemate on Saturday against Oxford United, whose defensive organization made it tough for Hellberg’s team to create many clear-cut opportunities.
Now overseen by former U’s boss Gary Rowett, there’s an expectation that the Foxes might travel to the Riverside and replicate that approach, having been dragged into a shock relegation scrap.
Hellberg said: “Almost every team we’ve played against this season has ended up in the low block – whether that’s out of choice like Oxford, or because we’ve forced them into it with our good play.
“We’ve still managed, in that time, to score so many goals and win so many games. Of course, there were frustrations with the Oxford performance. It’s always about learning from it and developing to be better.
“Every team gives you different spaces. Leicester, I expect, will also end up with a low block sometimes. Then, it’s what space do they give us? And, can we be even better? I agree that when they end up defending low, we need to find more ways of hurting them.
“That’s what we talked about, if they move a lot of players out wide when we’re playing, then it opens up to get a numerical advantage inside of the post. If they defend with a lot of players inside of the post, then the numerical advantage is in the assist areas.
“It’s always about finding the space or creating it. They always have to give us some way, they always have to give us some space. We need to be good in taking that space.
“Leicester will be a different opposition because they will probably try to go a little bit more forward. They will probably have transitions where they have some wingers that are unbelievable at attacking, but maybe not the best in defending.”
While Hellberg does expect Leicester to prioritize defence above all else, he did detect a little more ambition from them in their 2-2 draw at Stoke on Saturday, in comparison to Oxford. With such quality individuals in their squad, it’s something Boro must be cautious of.
On his Leicester predictions, having watched Rowett’s first game at the helm, Hellberg continued: “I saw their game against Stoke, with the new manager. We expect they’ll probably do something similar to that game.
“I think they were quite aggressive, they worked forward a lot. They have top quality players that have played in the Premier League and even a Champions League final. So there’s a lot of good players in that team; an unbelievable squad.
“It’s weird that they are so low. They did also have the point deduction, of course. But that’s a fantastic squad. We’ll see how they come here, but I expect similar to the game they played.”
Meanwhile, looking ahead to the fixture off the back of their 2-2 draw at Stoke City in Gary Rowett’s first game in charge of Leicester, former Boro loanee Luke Thomas said: “We’re ready for the game, it’s just about us performing on the day.
“Obviously, throughout the season, we’ve not really shown that. But, with the positive performance [at Stoke], hopefully we can take that into Tuesday and get the three points. “The [1-1 draw with Boro in November] was definitely a frustrating one. They scored in the last minute of the game. They’re doing really well. We need to perform and show what we’re capable of.”
Jibrin
