Maybe because he is in 2xCB rather then 3xCB like last year. Hopefully not because he has signed a permanent deal so doesn't think he needs to try as hard...
He's not looking quite as good as when he first signed, but I always feel a lot more confident with him in the side. Remember how we struggled when he went off injured against Chelsea (admittedly flying high at the time).
There should never be a problem with being caught out at the back playing 3 central defenders and 2 wingbacks. If 1 wingback goes forward the other hangs back, and if we lose the ball the back 3 shuffle across to cover the wingback who has gone forward and the opposite wingback drops back to fullback. We still expect Schlupp and De Laet to bomb forward when playing a back 4, so gaps can still appear behind the fullback.
I'd like to see your reasoning - Mahrez is in the form of his life playing where he is. Where would you put Mahrez then? When he played in the middle against Bournemonth he was taken off at half time as he was constantly crowded out and was the target of some hard tackles whereas on the wing he can "hide" from them and drift inside when the defenders are on their heels.
It's a case of trying to balance not conceding goals without sacrificing our own goalscoring threat. While we have scored more than any other team in the division, our current defensive setup has leaked 9 goals, which is the worst of any team in the top 10. Consider also that we haven't yet played any of the real top 6 teams, so the goals conceded could increase rapidly and our rate of goals scored could diminish, which would affect our position in the league. There are many things that could happen; it may be that our current defence will rise to the challenge or that we have better defenders still sat on the bench who could do better in a back 4. I don't have the answer as to where to put Mahrez if we play a central 3 plus wingbacks, maybe he could still play wide and link up with the wingback or come inside with the ball. We can't just rely on him as the only goalscorer/provider, he has to do whatever is best for the team against whatever opposition we are playing against. The good news for Ranieri is that we appear to have a strong squad that can adapt to either 4-4-2 or 3-5-2.
Well, I did add a bit about him being a player wherever he players, but removed it because actually he's a rubbish defender! Mahrez as been more efficient when moved central in a number of games. Moving to attacking fullbacks last season was a blessing in disguise for him, as he reveled playing just behind the front two after struggling in the wide positions for much of the season. He's been moved central in the second half of a few of games this season (Villa particularly stands out) and has been far more potent there.
