By any measure, Leicester City are enjoying an exceptional season.
They remain on course to return to the Premier League and have to wait for the FA Cup quarter-final at Chelsea later this month.
But even before Saturday’s off-key display against Queens Park Rangers – their third consecutive league defeat in a rare incident this season – a section of Leicester fans had been unsympathetic to manager Enzo Maresca.
A disciple of Pep Guardiola since their time working together at Manchester City, Maresca demands that his Leicester team dominate the ball and patiently explore opponents.
Most visiting teams, arriving with more hopes than expectations given the strength of the Leicester team, choose to sit back in frustration.
QPR surprised the King Power Stadium and secured the three points from their visit on Saturday
Leicester manager Enzo Maresca watched from the sidelines as his team lost at home
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That may mean Leicester enjoy 75 per cent possession, but most of their passing is sideways and backwards.
The days of Jamie Vardy chasing him behind are long gone and some Foxes fans find him a bit, well, boring.
The criticism, which manifests itself mainly online but sometimes in the stadium, when Leicester needs 70 or 80 minutes to unlock a defense, has even led Maresca to threaten to resign.
After the 3–1 win against Swansea on 30 January, he said: “Probably when you win, win, win at home and keep winning, people think it’s easy.” But it is not easy.
‘I came to this club to play with this idea. The moment there is any doubt about the idea, the next day I will leave.
His team has led the championship since the end of September, but already in November, Maresca said: “If you want to see a transition match, don’t come to see Leicester.”
Fortunately for the coach, his players have accepted “the idea” wholeheartedly and it has been a great success.
Leicester won 25 of 35 Championship matches and beat everyone. They could even replicate their 2021 FA Cup triumph.
Sinclair Armstrong came off the bench to score with his first touch against the league leaders
Jamie Thorpe, writer for Leicester fan website The Trench Road, He said: ‘I am one hundred per cent in favor of Maresca, but there is a minority who are spoiling it for the rest of us and who, dare I say, have a bit of a right.
‘Maresca is a victim of his own success. No one expected her to do the work she has done. Given the state we were in, we have seen teams fall and continue to plummet. We started working and people got used to winning.
“These conversations have come up a number of times and you get comments like, ‘Well, it’s just Rotherham.’ This league doesn’t work like that: it’s a nightmare league!
“Their style is patient, but they expect you to be an all-out attack.” People call them the “advance brigade.”
‘Teams come to King Power and set out to frustrate. I’m surprised there are detractors, there’s no reason for that.’
Rangers produced a surprise result to help keep their chances of surviving relegation alive.
On the approach to the King Power, Brian, a long-time Leicester fan, spoke in similar terms.
‘It may be slow and patient preparation, but it works. When it happens, he is very good with very fast and skillful play,” he said.
“We are lucky to have a young, exciting and innovative manager that any other team, even in the Premier League, would love to have.
‘Yes, it’s a different style of play. But boring? Come on!’
QPR achieved the perfect combination of frustrating Leicester and counter-punching to achieve a result that will make Foxes fans nervous. Leicester enjoyed 74 per cent possession and had 18 shots on goal, but the crowd stayed with them as they tried to salvage some of the 2-0 deficit after Ilias Chair and Sinclair Armstrong scored.
Young defender Ben Nelson responded, but it was the third consecutive league defeat after losses to Leeds and Middlesbrough, with Ipswich now three points behind.
It was up to the imperturbable Maresca to calm things down. “We’ve been there (at the top) for a long time and everyone is after us,” she said. ‘When you lose points and the rest win, you see them coming, but we need balance. “You can’t be so happy or so sad, you just have to win games.”
But even doing that doesn’t please everyone.