Leicester City’s only signing of the winter transfer window was Woyo Coulibaly.
Leicester explored a late deal to sign Wolves centre-back Craig Dawson on deadline day but they weren’t willing to allow Conor Coady to go in the other direction.
Ruud van Nistelrooy certainly needed more help after a run of eight defeats in nine games, but PSR issues restricted the club’s movement.
So, he will have to go back to the drawing board and find a solution to his side’s defensive woes, with just one clean sheet all season.
With that said, here is the starting line-up van Nistelrooy should field to give them the best chance of Premier League survival.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s best Leicester XI
Leicester are perhaps weakest on the flanks and at the heart of the defence, so to mitigate against those weaknesses, van Nistelrooy should field a 3-4-3 formation.
City quite simply don’t have the personnel to play with wingers after the season-ending injury to Abdul Fatawu.
So a wing-back formation could be really beneficial going forward and at the back, with more cover for the underperforming centre-backs.
Coulibaly, City’s only recruit, is an extremely attacking full-back anyway, so he’d likely be a massive winner in this change of shape.
So with that said, here’s how the Foxes should line up for the remainder of the season.
Stephy Mavididi could be utilised as an impact substitute
Earlier in the season, during Steve Cooper’s reign, Stephy Mavididi had a period where he was massively impacting games off the bench.
In fact, his good form was rewarded with a number of consecutive starts, which saw Fatawu drop out of the side for a few weeks.
Pretty much since then, the former Arsenal man has been largely ineffective and often goes missing in games.
So perhaps with this change of formation, Mavididi could really benefit from reverting to a super-sub role against tiring legs.
Patson Daka could also become a better option if van Nistelrooy opts to play the back five with two up top.