Brendan Rodgers took his old mentor Jose Mourinho to school with another expertly crafted away day win to send Leicester City to second in the league.
With a drab Everton home defeat ringing in Leicester City fans ears, it was with much trepidation that they looked forward to the foxes next trip to a not so happy hunting ground in North London. It turns out that they had little to worry about with arguably their best performance of the season against Harry Kane, Son Heung-Min and company.
In truth, the Foxes were never in any real danger and were a constant threat after a predictable late first half penalty from Jamie Vardy the second half was comfortable fare. James Maddison slotted in a wonderful goal but was ruled out for a hairline offside before Vardy forced Toby Alderweireld into uncharacteristically turning the ball into his own net. More chances followed from Vardy, Youri Tielemans and Maddison whilst at the other end Kane and Son struggled with anything more than half chances.
The game played out with Spurs never really threatening to ensure Brendan Rodgers boys are guaranteed to spend Christmas day as the second best team in the country. But what three things did we learn from the game?
Wilfred Ndidi’s return has given Leicester City more steel
There was a time at one point when Nampalys Mendy’s displays were making us forget about the Nigerian internationals importance to the team. Mendy keeping the play ticking over and winning the ball was a welcome sight as we all fretted about Ndidi’s absence.
Today in North London, Ndidi was colossal. Pinching the ball from the toes of the opposition and ensuring that every time they turned into space that even if they didn’t have the ball taken from them they were met with the sight of the eager No.25. Tottenham aren’t afraid to mix it up physically so having a player in the Leicester side that was eager to match up with the physical part of the game was crucial to ensure they didn’t get bullied.
His overall passing game has improved as the Nigerian followed Mendy’s example for keeping the play ticking over and making sure Spurs were not able to relax. Add this to his positioning and jumping to win headers and make himself a general nuisance whenever a 50/50 challenge needed to be competed. Most crucially his thirst for the physical battling was infectious, as players like Youri Tielemans and James Maddison started showing the same desire in closing down the opposition that they sometimes shy away from.
The foxes are sometimes accused of being a soft touch, so Ndidi’s presence in the side will ensure that accusation starts to diminish. If he can turn in more man of the match performances like this then Brendan Rodgers side are only going to be harder to beat.
Brendan Rodgers Leicester team aren’t being taken seriously by the ‘big 6’
For those not in the know, ‘The big six’ is a term given by journalists and media to the usual suspects of Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs. It used to be called the ‘top 6’ but had to be changed quickly to avoid the embarrassment of some of those teams not being able to achieve their arrogantly assumed top 6 status.
Ironically it’s Leicester that has been one of those gate crashers in the last few seasons so you would think that by now coaches and teams would respect Leicester as a genuine threat . But this isn’t the first time Leicester have travelled to a so called ‘big 6’ team this season. Pep Guardiola and his men bizarrely claimed that Leicester weren’t that great in their 5-2 hammering of the Citizens and Mikel Arteta also claimed the Foxes weren’t that amazing either in their 1-0 defeat.
Jose Mourinho obviously didn’t learn the lesson and kept to form with the big 6 rhetoric, after the game by claiming:
"“I didn’t think either team played very, very well.” Via Leicestershire Live"
This is a classic deflective tactic from Mourinho, when he knows full well that Rodgers and his team outplayed Spurs both with and without the ball. Whether the Portuguese ‘Special one’ believes it or not is another matter but what was clear for everyone to see is that Leicester forced Spurs into errors and overran them with quality. Brendan Rodgers has been crafting his away day tactics all season and the success has been almost perfect bar a flat effort against Liverpool.
Rodgers has deployed a back 4 with wingers tucking in that force the opposition into areas Leicester can attack, sometimes it changes to a back 5 but regardless it is more about concentrating on the counter attack. What was most bizarre from Mourinho is ignoring how well Leicester like to attack space in numbers with his Spurs team either playing a high line or leaving huge gaps between their defence and midfield.
Maddison, Tielemans and Vardy amongst others were lapping up the extra space and were confident in possession. But knowing how to stifle Leicester isn’t too hard if you watch them play at the King Power stadium, keeping the space tight and allowing Leicester the ball can sometimes play into the oppositions hands, especially with how good Spurs are on the counter attack.
However, arrogance played a part today with Jose refusing to set his team up deep at home to what he no doubt believes is an inferior team and coach. He believed his teams undoubted quality would simply over run Leicester. It cost him, it cost Arteta and it cost Guardiola. Who will it cost next?
Leicester are away day specialists
The bookies won’t have agreed with this but Leicester were the favourites to win this game. Going into this game they had won all but one of their away league games this season (to the current leaders and champions). Conversely Spurs had only won half of their home games. It shouldn’t really have been a surprise to anyone that Leicester were able to put Spurs to the sword when they tend to play better away from home.
The mistake we’re all making is assuming that Leicester are an inconsistent team all season. The reality is that only their home form is inconsistent with 3 wins and 4 defeats. Like Jose today many teams refuse to shut up shop at home to Leicester and play on the counter, even bottom of the table Sheffield United refused to do it. This plays into the strengths that Rodgers has instilled in his side who are now far more comfortable in possession, moving the ball quickly, moving their opponents out of position and attacking the exposed areas of space with relish. If teams continue to leave Leicester space they will exploit it.
Now Leicester fans expectations will turn to a tasty boxing day clash with Manchester United, a team that they have only beaten once since returning to the Premier League (that famous 5-3 game in 2014). Manchester United are actually even better than Leicester on their travels having won every single Premier League away game this season. Even more ludicrous is that they have scored a minimum of three goals at all of their away games.
Coupled with Leicester’s current home form and we would all do well to temper our own expectations and quite rightly make Manchester United the favourites for a boxing day win. I would take Leicester’s first Premier League draw for 20 matches, but if Rodgers can go one further and figure out another tactical masterclass then Leicester’s position in the table might start to look far more serious than everyone is taking them right now.