How Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers outthought Pep Guardiola
In transition, Leicester played some excellent, acute passes through the first-line of Manchester City’s press. A good example of the intricacy was Mendy’s deaf turn through two pressing midfielders, that released Barnes – before he found Vardy for the first penalty.
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Other times, it was exploiting the spaces behind their midfielders. Most notably, Youri Tielemans and Mendy we’re providing the pinpoint passes, as both possess excellent ball-playing ability, with the former adding another to his growing collection of world-class passes – the pre-assist to Vardy’s second.
The 5-4-1 transitioned into a makeshift 4-3-3 attacking unit at times, with Timothy Castagne and Harvey Barnes marauding down the flanks. Praet would push into the centre forming a central three, while Amartey would become a right-back in these moments. I thought the widths were impressively efficient, given the small amount of on-the-ball action they received. Castagne impressed me, again, with a perfect balance of defensive and attacking contributions. While, Barnes showcased his desire to bypass opponents and caused Walker problems all game.
I could go into great detail about each individuals performance, as each player contributed their worth towards the end result, but I’d like to give James Justin a special mention. I’d argue he’s more comfortable playing on the defensive-right, but to facilitate Castagne’s aggressiveness, he’s played on the left and in doing so, dealt with two of the scariest wingers in Europe – Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling. His assurance of his job made it seem like he’s spent his entire career playing in the Premier League – yet it was only the 16th game in the competition for the 22-year-old. Remarkable.
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Not to dawdle on the small negatives, but the Foxes did concede two goals from set-pieces. I was of the belief that Rodgers implemented a hybrid system (which involves both zonal and man-marking), but the evidence would suggest a preference for just zonal marking. Personally, I think a hybrid set-up is the best fit in the current era, but, I was adamant Rodgers has selected the wrong formation. So, what do I know?