Leicester must hold their nerve as Rodgers faces third-season syndrome

There was a rumour this past week that Brendan Rodgers had been sacked as manager of Leicester City. It turned out not to be true, but the fact it seemed so believable was telling. The improved performance against West Ham – when they were denied victory only by a late equaliser that prompted one of football’s increasingly frequent epistemological debates: what is a hand? – has perhaps calmed the situation beforeSunday’s game against Wolves, but the pressure is real enough.

Rodgers may have twice taken Leicester to fifth in the Premier League (with the ninth-highest wage bill) and won the FA Cup only last season, but the discontent at the King Power has been palpable. It was this week five years ago that Leicester sacked Claudio Ranieri, who had led them to the title the season before. Then perhaps a change could be justified as a sad necessity to head off the threat of relegation. But that is not a realistic possibility this season, even if Leicester’s run without a domestic win now extends to five games, including that humiliating FA Cup defeat by Nottingham Forest.

This is modern football. One season’s achievement becomes the next season’s expectation. Credit in the bank is burned so quickly as to be largely notional. There are no second chances: as soon as anything goes wrong the automatic call is for the dismissal of the manager; one bad month can obliterate years of development and achievement.

Yet it’s an open secret that Rodgers has been under consideration by Manchester City to succeed Pep Guardiola when he finally leaves the club, and that his interest in that position was one of the reasons he wasn’t offered the Tottenham job in the summer.

Rodgers plays the right sort of football. He is one of only four