After a one game hiatus, I’m back to unravel Leicester City’s 1-1 draw away at Selhurst Park, which I think has more positives than negatives – especially when considering the abundance of changes to the Foxes starting XI.
Brendan Rodgers has shown a lot of faith in the 4-2-3-1 formation, now that key personnel are returning from injury, and he proceeded to utilise the formation after making seven changes to the side that faced Manchester United two days prior. This is further testament to the quality of the entire squad, that the manager feels comfortable to utilise exterior players in key Premier League matches.
The shortened version of the changes is that Kasper Schmeichel, Jonny Evans, James Justin, and Harvey Barnes all remained – with “peripheral” players filling the spots around them. There wasn’t too many unusual inclusions, Daniel Amartey as a centre-back in a central two was probably the most notable – but the Ghanaian had a good game, helped by the composure and quality of his experienced partner.
There was space for two academy graduates in the starting XI, Luke Thomas filled in at left-back and was heavily involved throughout. His internal run – inside of Barnes – facilitated the best chance for Leicester City in a goalless first-half, a penalty that Kelechi Iheanacho couldn’t finish. This movement from Thomas was a constant feature, seemingly deployed as an “inverted full-back” by Rodgers, to allow quicker transitions into Barnes from the defence, whilst bolstering the passing lanes in the middle. A clever, and beneficial implementation.
One of the other graduates was Hamza Choudhury, who partnered Nampalys Mendy in the heart of the Foxes midfield. Despite being a pragmatic, ball-winning double pivot, the two of them enabled the attacking frontline to play with more freedom and ensured that the first-half was definitely in Leicester City’s favour. There defensive mindsets gave both full-backs additional support when they decided to maraud forward.
My only issue with the pivot was their desire to receive the ball. Quite often, they’d play in the cover shadow of Crystal Palace’s front two (Christian Benteke and Wilfried Zaha) whilst the centre-backs were in possession, and this made it difficult to initially progress the ball centrally. A cover shadow is referring to the space the pressing player is covering behind them – since a ball can’t go through a player – essentially, Leicester City’s defensive-midfielders were hiding in possession. I also felt Mendy was conscious of taking too many touches on the ball and would offload as if the ball was a “hot potato” – often this would be needlessly. There’s a difference between recycling with purpose, and doing so just to remove your responsibility in possession.
The third, and final, graduate was Harvey Barnes – who was exceptional. As I’ve already mentioned, I didn’t review the game against Manchester United but his solo effort was brilliant, and there was shades of that versus Palace. Both goals have come on his weaker left-foot, they’ve also followed a carry in possession that enabled him to manipulate a goal scoring opportunity. I was also very impressed by his strength to hold off Luka Milivojević before taking the shot, as the Palace captain is renowned for his physical presence in the middle of the pitch.
One of the other changes involved a shift in the #10 role, which allowed Dennis Praet a chance to showcase his capabilities in the playmaking role. Throughout the first-half, is inverted run on the right-half-space created lots of good chances for the Foxes – they just required better movements in the box. At a glance, these crosses look like they’re misplaced as the Crystal Palace defenders easily cleared them, but I think the Leicester City players need to attack spaces with better variety.
When Praet receives a pass from Justin, he’s always going to attempt to cut his pass backwards as he’s playing the ball from the byline. Iheanacho is always positioned in the six-yard-box (an expectation of your forward) but the midfield runners – Ayoze Pérez, Harvey Barnes, and Youri Tielemans (in the second-half) need to create passing lanes around the penalty spot and edge-of-the-box. By adding variety to the spaces they’re attacking, there’s more options for the crossing player to find – and if they’ve crossed without scanning the options, they’ve got more chances of finding a Leicester City player.
The final two changes to the starting XI were Pérez and Iheanacho, who replaced Marc Albrighton and Jamie Vardy. It was a day to forget for the Nigerian, who missed the best two chances for the Foxes, and should’ve helped push Rodgers’ side to a comfortable three points on the road. I’d still like to highlight his proficiencies in linking play with the surrounding players – he helps find internal lanes on the top corners of the box for the wingers to penetrate and shoot (made possible by his back-to-goal connective plays with one-twos). A goal-scoring winger would arguably prefer this style of forward, than Vardy – but that’s really clutching at straws for Iheanacho.
I was impressed by Pérez, who constantly tried to impose himself on the game – drifting from his starting right position into the #10 when Praet did the reverse movement. Arguably, his greatest asset is his efficiency in the press, as he very rarely commits to a tackle without winning it – highlighted by his seven tackles! His 7.1 match rating (WhoScored) was the fourth highest for the Foxes, behind Barnes (7.6), James Justin (7.6), and Jonny Evans (7.6).
Rodgers did utilise the bench, and gave Demarai Gray his first 22 minutes of the Premier League campaign, but his involvements were little. He’s got undeniable qualities, and I’d love for those to be honed at Leicester City, but I’m accustom to the idea his better days will be elsewhere – and he’ll be an excellent player if he can find that level of consistency in both minutes and performances.
Youri Tielemans entered proceedings to reclaim control of the fixture, as Palace started the second-half with additional intensity. Roy Hodgson’s men seemed invigorated by the idea they were still level after a dismal opening 45 minutes, and they capitalised on their fortunate scenario with an excellent goal from Wilfried Zaha. This, again, dropped the Foxes confidence – who until Barnes’ exceptional equaliser 25 minutes later, looked bereft of ideas.
I was hopeful Rodgers would utilise the turnover heavy style of play against the compact, deep-block of Palace – but maybe that wasn’t possible with the personnel (missing players like Wilfred Ndidi make an end-to-end fixture difficult to control). Regardless, I hope we revert to something similar against Newcastle United this weekend. Steve Bruce will be setting up in a very similar way to the sides that have frustrated, and eventually won, against the Foxes this season.
All-in-all, Leicester City created enough to win the game against Crystal Palace – an expected goals (xG) of 1.96 to Palace’s 0.45 highlights this even further. But, when you’re not as clinical as you usually are – and the Foxes can’t continue to convert at the percentages they currently are, you need to create a couple of extra shots in order to win games. Let’s see how Rodgers shifts the side to help aid shot creation, and hopefully set’s Leicester up to get a victory at St. James’ Park.