Watford 1-1 Leicester, assessment: Could Papy Mendy play a pivotal role for Foxes?

Could Leicester City utilise Papy Mendy’s attributes?

Nampalys Mendy is a brilliant defensive midfielder for dictating the pace of the match in possession. His ball recoveries aren’t as good as Ndidi’s, but that’s not needed when Leicester City are controlling the ball. His passing range is versatile and he always drifts into positions of support for his teammates when in possession.

Throughout the game, the Foxes struggled to progress play through the midfield – it often stagnated when reaching Ndidi, as such, Tielemans/Maddison were having to rotate their positions in order to influence the game, in particular, Maddison was playing a lot deeper than Brendan Rodgers wanted him to do so.

In future games, against opposition that Leicester City should class as “inferior”, playing Mendy would enable the midfielders to play more offensive. It’s also worth noting, Mendy’s a solid defensive player as well, so although there’s a trade off defensively, it shouldn’t be detrimental to Leicester City’s success.

With this considered, I don’t think Ndidi had a bad game, his role is just more redundant during the early games where keeping hold of possession is more crucial than a player who offers elite level ball-winning capabilities. Is the Frenchman a realistic option?