What can we learn from Leicester City’s victory over Cheltenham
By Matt Taylor
With goals from Jamie Vardy and Marc Albrighton, Leicester City overturned a 1-0 deficit to maintain their perfect pre-season record.
The Foxes began their visit to the Jonny-Rocks Stadium with a first-half XI comprising of five development squad players. Despite sporadic periods of decent attacking football, City went into the half-time break one goal behind the hosts.
However, the second-half XI, packed with plenty of Premier League pedigree, scored a classy double to secure another pre-season victory. The likes of Jonny Evans, Youri Tielemans and Vardy all showed their continued class, as they continued on the road to full match sharpness in Gloucestershire. Furthermore, Papy Mendy and Albrighton gave strong cases for a regular starting place, as they linked up fantastically for the winner.
George Thomas and Vontae Daley-Campbell were the pick of the youngsters on show in the first period of play. In particular, Daley-Campbell, an England under-18 international, displayed his direct, attacking ability from full-back. The defender only recently joined City’s development squad from Arsenal and looks a real prospect, despite being easily beaten in the air by Cheltenham’s Luke Varney for the opener.
Although Brendan Rodgers’ comments following the friendly suggest that the departure of Harry Maguire is becoming increasingly unlikely, the 26-year-old
in the considerably weaker of the two sides that featured for Leicester at Cheltenham, many of whom won’t feature at all for the first team this coming season.
It seems that, by playing Caglar Soyuncu alongside Jonny Evans, the Northern Irishman is preparing for a potential starting back four without Maguire in it. However, the Turkish centre back’s occasional rash decision-making suggests that he is not yet the finished article. If City are to sell their England international to Manchester United, a replacement is essential to their success this season.
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Another talking point from the game is the seemingly rock-bottom confidence of Kelechi Iheanacho. This summer offers a stark contrast from the one before for the Nigerian, who was prolific throughout the 2018 pre-season campaign, including a brilliant brace in Lille. The best solution to salvage the striker’s career would surely be a loan deal, where 22-year-old can have a consistent run of games.
This begs the question of who can replace Vardy, when he eventually hangs up his boots. Although Ayoze Perez can step into the 32-year-old’s shoes on a short-term basis, there needs to be a long-term plan for life after the Foxes’ talisman.
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Leicester continue their pre-season campaign next Tuesday at Cambridge United. Check out lcfc.com for more Cheltenham analysis.