Watford’s ground has a negative reputation among Leicester City fans because of the emotional turmoil that’s been witnessed there over the last few years.
So, is there any surprise that when Leicester City took the lead in the 90th minute they ended up conceding an overhead kick from centre-back Craig Dawson’s first goal for Watford in injury time? No, there’s absolutely no shock.
After the bizarre events unfolded, a 1-1 draw was probably the fairest result. The big chances in the game were evenly distributed, and neither team really controlled the game – even with Leicester having 68% possession.
With the fixture being both teams first game back from the coronavirus pandemic break, the intensity of a Premier League clash was lacking, it felt like a competitive friendly. This is no disrespect to either team, match sharpness is something that comes with competitive game time.
While Premier League fixtures continue to play in this manner, which I predict will last for another two-three weeks, I think the structure or personnel in the midfield should be altered.
I don’t believe Wilfred Ndidi is as effective when the game isn’t as box-to-box or hectic, his interceptions & turnover capabilities aren’t as required. Instead, in a fixture that places a lot of emphasis on fitness, keeping hold of possession is vital: this is where my theory comes in.
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?
An opportunity for Papy?
The Foxes started the game versus Watford with a good level of control, this was during a stage where Nigel Pearson had told his side to sit in a deep block and soak up pressure. After the first 15 minutes, Watford started to high press and that resulted in a lot of misplaced passes from Leicester City in their own defensive third.
Offensively, Watford offered a very simple, one-dimensional attacking approach, which orientated around playing long-balls into Troy Deeney, before he brought the players around him into the game.
Leicester City struggled to deal with this, which does raise a few concerns, as this isn’t a difficult style to counter. Quite a few of the sides in the bottom half play in this way as well, so the Foxes will have future games playing against this style – hopefully they will have learnt from their mistakes.
Simply, if Rodgers told Ndidi – or in future games, the former-Nice man – to sit just in front of the target man, they’re in an advantageous 2v1 aerial battle. Even if Ndidi/Mendy don’t win the ball, they’re in proactive position to collect the second ball.
Focusing on other positions, both wings and fullbacks played well. Demarai Gray’s introduction off the bench was pivotal, he was confident enough to run at Watford’s defence, something Harvey Barnes had struggled to achieve in his 65 minutes on the pitch. Ben Chilwell and Gray have good chemistry as well, their interplay was fluid, even when Gray switched to the right-hand side he provided the switch of play assist for Chilwell’s goal.
James Justin also deserves a mention, given the shoes he’s trying to fill – Ricardo Pereira, he played with such assurance. His ability to feint directions and manoeuvre opposition so that he’s got enough space to pick a pass is very impressive. Quite often, he was given the ball in unfavourable positions and was still able to recycle possession into Schmeichel and Evans/Söyüncü.
Prior to the game, the Foxes would have seen the game as a potential three pointer, especially as fifth place is creeping closer. There’s also the added emphasis on ensuring Champions League football at the King Power Stadium next season.
Realistically, Leicester City should be beating teams such as Watford, but after an extended break the important thing was to perform well, and in the majority, they did just that.