Matt Elliott: "It's difficult to call that a disaster. When you look at the overall picture, it's been a season of progression from Leicester's point of view"
Monday 27 July 2020 21:13, UK
Former Leicester defender Matt Elliott feels they can be proud of their achievements this season, despite missing out on a Champions League place.
Brendan Rodgers' side were second in the Premier League table in February but after picking up just nine points from their eight league games after the restart, they finished in fifth position and will enjoy Europa League football next season.
Although he recognises that will leave the Foxes squad with cause for regret in the short-term, Elliott insists they can still look back on the campaign with pride.
"The frustration is there that they let a Champions League position slip at such a late stage in the season but that can be tempered by the fact that that is the second-best finish ever for Leicester City in the Premier League," he told Sky Sports News.
"It's difficult to call that a disaster. When you look at the overall picture, it's been a season of progression from Leicester's point of view.
"Some people may say they fell short but I think there can be a positive outlook in terms of the way the season went as a whole."
Elliott believes there are various reasons as to why Leicester fell away in the closing stages of the season and which Rodgers will look to address before the 2020/21 Premier League season begins on Saturday September 12.
"There are numerous factors to be taken into the equation," he added.
"The depth of the squad - which Brendan Rodgers himself has mentioned - was an issue. It looked a little bit threadbare towards the end of the season when key players were injured or suspended.
"There was also an element of the players performing as well as they did earlier in the season and to continue that throughout the whole campaign was probably a little bit unrealistic and it proved to be the case.
"Other teams adapted to the way they played as well, with a different approach, which meant Leicester in turn had to change theirs and that caused a few little problems as well.
"Leicester came up short against the four teams that finished above them, in terms of their individual [head-to-head] league games. They failed to beat any of the top four and again that is something to address.
"Those factors all culminated in it being a difficult end to the season but there is still a lot of hope and expectation for the new campaign that is not so far away."
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