Leicester City 0-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers: the positives and negatives

The opening weekend of the Premier League saw Leicester City play out a goalless draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the King Power Stadium.

In a game filled with youthful talent and exciting new prospects from both of the clubs, the only logical outcome would have been goals – lots of them.

That couldn’t have been further from the truth.  The affair ended 0-0 after Leander Dendocker’s goal was disallowed due to VAR in the second-half, but to say it fits into the stereotype of a boring draw is totally inaccurate.

A tactically interesting game saw Wolves sit in a transitional back five. In attack, the wing-backs left the defensive block, making it a back three. As soon as they lost possession, the full-backs dropped back into the defensive shape, making it a resolute back five.

Brendan Rodgers favoured a wing partnership of James Maddison and Ayoze Perez, meaning Leicester could add an additional central-midfielder in Hamza Choudhury instead of Maddison. By adding the energetic midfielder, the Foxes had extra defensive security in the centre of the pitch.

This was a decision based on the opposition. Wolverhampton are known for having good, controlling midfielders in Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho. With freedom, they can progress the play and cause a lot of problems.

However, with Leicester’s midfield composition of Wilfred Ndidi and Choudhury, they were able to suffocate the midfield.

But this defensive-minded approach did have a knock-on impact on the offensive play.

Leicester used a one-two, triangle-based passing system throughout pre-season, aiming to get numerical advantages in wide areas of the pitch, allowing freedom to Ricardo Pereira and Ben Chilwell, who consequently force the play into dangerous central areas.

Leicester struggled to implement that style of play as the visitors’ full-backs and central midfielders didn’t give any numerical advantages anywhere across the park.

The wing choice of Maddison and Perez didn’t help either. Both players instinctively pushed into the centre of the pitch in an attempt to influence the game, but the centre was already heavily congested and left lots of space out wide.

Unfortunately, once Leicester’s full-backs found space with possession, they didn’t have any options to distribute the ball. Either the wingers were marked or had pushed central. Instead of forcing a needless pass and losing possession, Leicester tended to recycle the ball and play it backwards.

Often, this issue was heightened by the fact Leicester’s build-up play was slow. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side maintained a good press and man-marked well. This forced key players to calculate the pass they were making, slowing down the tempo of the game.

This did cause some frustration for the supporters as the intentions of the players were seemingly negative.

The similarities in the two teams’ tactical approaches inevitably caused neutrality. A poetic result given the constant comparisons of the two clubs and their meteoric rises.

Ultimately, Leicester and Wolverhampton are incredibly similar, and the game at the KP only added further evidence to this notion.

The stalemate probably favours the away side, but positives can be taken away for both clubs, who will both be looking for their first wins of the new season this weekend.

A tricky fixture at Stamford Bridge awaits Leicester.