Leicester City have lost a hallmark of their game – with Newcastle the trend and PSV the anomaly

“Start quickly and finish strong” is one of Brendan Rodgers’ mantras, and it is something his Leicester City players have broadly taken on board since his arrival.

But this season, they have not ended games well. Yes, they scored twice in the final 15 minutes of their tie at PSV Eindhoven to reach the Conference League semi-finals, but that was an anomaly to the trend of the campaign. Bruno Guimaraes’ 95th-minute winner for Newcastle was more indicative of how they’ve been this term.

It was the 10th goal that City have conceded later than the 80th minute this season, and having only scored seven themselves, that means the 15th best record in the division in the latter stages of games, with only the bottom four and Newcastle ranking worse. It’s not woeful, and not all of those late goals have affected the results, but it is in stark contrast to the previous two campaigns.

Last season, City’s record in the final 10 minutes of matches was 13 scored and eight conceded, the second-best in the division to Manchester United. The season before, it was even better, coming in at 15 scored and six conceded, a tally only Liverpool could top.

So why has it gone wrong this season? It’s hard to answer. Generally, City just haven’t been as good a team, which makes a difference, but being mid-table, you might expect them to have a middling record, when actually it’s worse than that.

They have played more games than lots of other clubs, so it may be a lack of energy, but that certainly didn’t hinder them last season, when they also had a busy schedule. They have been missing many of their star men through injury this season, and maybe those players have a greater level of concentration that stands them apart and helps see out games.

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