3 Things we learned from Leicester’s win against SC Braga

Hamza Choudhury role should always be in a double pivot

There’s numerous different combinations in the central midfield position, you can have a double pivot (two roaming 8’s that play box-to-box roles, when one of the two pushes forward, the other should have the awareness to sit deeper – maintaining balance and control), there’s a single defensive-midfielder approach (giving freedom to the players more advanced in the midfield, but restricting that player to just their defensive responsibilities).

You could have either of these combinations mixed around, two defensive-midfielders and a single 8 or 10. Brendan Rodgers has experimented with all of these options, and will continue to do so, enlisting different personnel in the roles to understand the best balance.

For me, Hamza Choudhury has shown his qualities in the double pivot. Whilst playing as the sole defensive-midfielder, Choudhury’s worst assets were exposed – slight naivety when to commit to a challenge/press, defensive awareness, and a reliance on being used in possession as the Foxes play through the midfield and as the defensive-midfielder he’s the first player they’ll look to pass into.

In the double pivot, all of these problems are alleviated. His commitment to challenges isn’t an issue, as the player in the pivot (like Youri Tielemans was yesterday) can sit deeper and allow Choudhury to hunt the ball back. I was also impressed with his awareness to danger, he accumulated 4 interceptions and 2 tackles (6 contributions) which was only surpassed by Justin (who had 7 interceptions and 3 tackles).

In possession, he was able to recycle the ball well. Positionally, he played as the left-sided central-midfielder, which allowed him to progress play down that side a lot easier than when he’s the defensive-midfielder. The angles are easier to find, and he’s got more freedom to maraud forward once receiving the ball – which given his sharp turn of pace, enables him to find advanced midfielders a lot more frequently.

His dynamism in the midfield adds another element of the Foxes squad, and he’ll consistently offer good rotations to any of the current starting XI. I think Leicester are seeing the process of excellent coaching, and that credit should go towards Brendan Rodgers. It was an excellent victory against an inform SC Braga side, I’m intrigued to see the tactical setup for the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.