The first glimpses of Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City ahead of next season

Leicester City beat Scunthorpe United 1-0  in their first pre-season game.

Arguably one of the most important games of a team’s season is their first. You want the new signings to perform with the rest of the squad and get into a habit of winning as early as possible.

Scunthorpe United had already played two of their pre-season fixtures, winning them both (scoring four and only conceding one).

Their form was good but the fitness is where they had the real advantage. Impressively, Leicester managed to match the hosts’ intensity and fitness levels, highlighting the positive impact a rigorous week in France had on the players.

Most intriguing aspect of the game was a specific playing style, which will seemingly be a very influential tactic the Foxes will use this season.

A very simple start will see Leicester play the ball across the backline, slowly progressing the ball from full-back to full-back – in this case Ricardo Pereira and Christian Fuchs (to be replaced by Ben Chilwell in the season) – until an eventual hole appears down one of the wings.

If this space is taking longer to appear than initially targeted, one of the defensive midfielders (against Scunthorpe United this was Nampalys Mendy) drops into Leicester’s defensive third and allows the centre-backs to push wider, resulting in both full-backs being allowed to push higher up the pitch and eventually finding space between the opposition’s wide players.

The ball is played into the full-back in space before progressing into the opposition half and then looking to find the defensive midfielder, who is now operating behind the opposition’s frontline but goal-side of their midfield line.

Against United, this was Mendy or Youri Tielemans. Note that both wingers Marc Albrighton and Ayoze Perez made inside runs whilst the ball was played across the backline, thus causing the opponent full-backs to come inside and create extra space out wide.

After receiving the ball deep in the opposition half, the defensive midfielder not receiving the ball would make an attacking run through the middle (Tielemans in this case) creating a compact front four or front five with Jamie Vardy and the narrow wingers. It gives time and space to the defensive midfielder in possession (Mendy) and allows him the opportunity to spread the play with little consequences.

The overloading in the middle means the full-backs now have the freedom to truly use the flanks. With two incredibly talented full-backs in Pereira and Chilwell, Leicester can cause serious damage from these attacking positions out wide next season.

The late run from midfield creates an extra option for the full-back to find – normally operating on the edge of the box.

On Tuesday, this saw a couple of chances fall to academy graduate, Khanya Leshabela. It is wirth noting that he was mirroring the positions and play style of James Maddison all game, so the chances that fell to him against United would ordinarily fall to Maddison.

This attacking sequence was used for the entirety of the first-half before adapting a more direct approach once the fringe players got some minutes ahead of the starters in the second-half.

Simplistic on paper but it requires smart movement from the frontline, which Perez excelled in. It also requires stability in the midfield, wherein Mendy was superb and Ndidi, on his return, will be capable of replicating. Caglar Soyuncu also did very well, specifically as that attacking and ball-playing centre-back.

However, there remain issues in the defensive side of his game. Very eager to track his opponent, it results in him being out of position once the ball played wide and into the box. Still, these are early days and the the Turkish international has all the qualities to replace Harry Maguire if the inevitable switch to one of the Manchester club does happen.

Overall, it was a good first game for Leicester and the narrow winning margin shouldn’t detract from the real positives. Rodgers has laid down a solid foundation that, with time, gives this side all the qualities to pursue the European dream.