Leicester City is now nine points of safety and apparently set to return to the championship, unless Ruud van Nistelrooy can reverse the things – starting with the visit of his former Club Manchester United on Sunday evening.
Van Nistelrooy was the management of United for the reverse competition and won the last of his four games as Interim Baas. He left with the best profit percentage of every Manchester United manager in history – and immediately walked into a relegation scrap with the foxes.
Wouldn't he prefer to be somewhere on a beach? “You want to take on a challenge,” Van Nistelrooy tells Sky Sports. “You can be on the beach, yes. Or you can be in football, in the Premier League. You can manage Leicester. That is a big challenge.”
It gets bigger all the time. Leicester is probably short of, but Van Nistelrooy is still bording in the Chamber that projects positivity. Those who are close to him talk about a real curiosity, a willingness to learn new ideas not always clearly in big football players.
“Your match days are one thing, coaching and managing is another. If you are open to develop yourself daily, you can do it in this job. That is my goal. I love this game. I like to be part of a club like Leicester in the best competition in the world.
“The challenges that arise that I and we are as a promoted side are huge. Every game is such a struggle, such a challenge. It is priceless how much you can learn and develop yourself. To prepare my team in the best possible way, it is something I love.”
Although much of the frustration of the supporters is aimed at those above him – Jon Rudkin, in particular the director of the club – Van Nistelrooy is aware that he cannot escape the perilous situation of Leicester. This season mistakes were made.
There are people who would point to selection decisions, perhaps the movement to turn to Danny Ward for what can now be seen as a crucial defeat against Wolves in December. The foxes would have gone eight points of their opponents with a victory.
There was the poorly received replacement of Bilal El Khannousten when 1-0 against Fulham against Fulham in January and, perhaps the low point, the capitulation to Brentford for the last home – three goals within 32 minutes. Since then he has changed formation.
“We had some very good performance without results. But after Everton, Brentford and West Ham, games where the versions were not as they should have been, when we had admitted too many goals, it was time to change something after that.”
Could that change change to 3-4-2-1, one that resulted in a much improved show at Chelsea, earlier? “Coming in at the beginning of December, we chose to continue to develop the structures that the team knew,” explains Van Nistelrooy.
“I also worked a lot with the 4-4-2 and the Drie-Box-Three on the ball itself, so I think it was logical to continue, not to change something that the players knew of the championship, from the preseason and their first months in the Premier League.”
It was logical in theory. “I didn't want to disturb that but develop.” There would be tweaks, with the help of Jordan Ayew or Bobby de Cordova-Reid deeper. “Falling to make it almost a back five of the ball.” But it was time for a more radical shift.
Luke Thomas and Conor Coady returned for the first time since the beginning of January in a formation that may both suit them. “Surprisingly good versions since they haven't played for a while. They were excellent, so it's something to build.”
Leicester was better against Chelsea. The change did work. But they still lost. “That was the most difficult because they earned a result.” Instead, it was again a hammer blow for his players, another defeat to remove their faith. Another plan but the same result.
The constant setbacks must ultimately take their toll. But what about the coach? Especially when it is someone like Van Nistelrooy, the kind of individual who is routinely described as a winner of both friend and enemy. This is unknown to him.
It is not only Manchester United and Real Madrid. From his time in Heerenveen and PSV to his last years in Hamburg and Malaga, Van Nistelrooy never ended in the bottom half. He was a teenager at Den Bosch the last time he experienced something like that.
At the highest level, Van Nistelrooy never went six home games without scoring a goal. Now he has a whole team that does not do this. If he talks about 'accepting that we are going to lose more games than we win' isn't that anathema for someone from his mentality?
“It's also about being realistic. In December come to Leicester City, the place where they were, the team I analyzed and evaluated, I saw the possibilities to stay up [see it]. But I was also realistic.
“The only goal was to stay in this competition. It was clear. It was the only thing. If a promoted team is realism there. Everyone knows that there are 17 teams above us and we have to beat one, as well as the other two [promoted teams]To stay on. “
And if they don't manage it? Van Nistelrooy has long emphasized that this was not a five -month assignment, that his vision is to help rebuild this club, the enormous potential still clearly to anyone who visits one of the best training facilities in the country.
Talk to players, to staff, to the people around the football club, the consensus seems to be that the Dutchman has improved communication in Leicester, that his clarity is well received. But without results at the weekend, he knows that it counts for little.
“If you only look at results, you are dead.” He repeats that line for the emphasis. “You're dead.” But adds: “We are not in that position. Our task is also to look at the process and that is what we do. If you only look at results, we should not be in this task.
“You can look at the processes, the work that we do, the development that looks at next season, what is needed, the standards that we are trying to implement, the things that I think will make this club forward, but it is all colored by the results.”
Is there any hope? Exactly ten years ago Leicester were also nine points of safety and apparently on the way to the championship. At that time they were bottom. But they catapulted seven victories of their last nine games on the table and the rest is history.
Nobody expects a repeat of that extraordinary performance, but there are 30 points to play for – starting against Manchester United this Sunday. Van Nistelrooy has certainly not given up. “It's a big task,” he emphasizes. “But it is still possible.”
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