Unsurprisingly, Leicester City continued their exceptional away record with a comfortable, then slightly nerve-wracking, 1-2 win at St. James Park. Let’s have a look at the positives, and negatives of the game – with an underlying theme of tactical considerations.
For the first time this season, Brendan Rodgers had a plethora of key players – fit and available in all positions, as Leicester City are edging ever closer to their full strength starting XI. With this, it seems the Foxes will be utilising a 4-2-3-1, a formation Rodgers has used extensively in his managerial career and is arguably the most popular formation in the league.
The 4-2-3-1 has become the primary formation, and for good reason. The double pivot, represented by the “two” are responsible for controlling the game and Leicester City’s pivot – Wilfred Ndidi and Youri Tielemans, are two of the best players in the league for doing just that. The former is the ball-winner, the interceptor and the negator of everything positive the opposition attempts to create, whilst his partner is the heartbeat of the Foxes side.
This foundation gives those players more advanced of them – Harvey Barnes, James Maddison, Jamie Vardy, and whoever Rodgers opts for on the right-hand-side to play with more freedom and attacking intent. It’s no surprise that Maddison opened the scoring, as his No.10 positioning allowed him to find space at the top-of-the-box, and his ability to utilise the outside of his right-foot gave him the leverage to find the net.
Leicester City’s second came from this exact same position. Timothy Castagne – who since returning from injury has been consistent in providing quality and passing lanes in the width – intercepted a hopeful ball into Newcastle’s front line. Eventually Tielemans span his marker, allowed a rotation of play down the Foxes right-side and advanced into a #10 position – that was vacated by Maddison. Marc Albrighton’s expertly weighted cutback was met at full-pace by Tielemans, who utilised the closing defender – Fabian Schär – as a finishing marker (and curved it round him sensationally).
It cannot go under the radar how beneficial it is for an attacking player to meet a pass at full-pace. Quite often, Leicester City have struggled to correctly weigh their passes or misjudge them this season and it doesn’t always negate a scoring opportunity it just requires an adjustment. However, as perfectly evidenced by the second goal, when the pass is played to perfection, the chance is made a lot easier for the attacking player. Another good example is Vardy’s lay-off to Maddison, which is very good – and it’s especially good play to find the space to make the pass – but isn’t “as good” as Albrighton’s, forcing the outside of the foot adjustment from Maddison. It’s still a goal, but requires a little extra work.
I’d also like to highlight some credit for Newcastle United manager, Steve Bruce. On the back of a very good point against Liverpool, Bruce setup his team to negate all of the internal passing lanes – which the Longstaff brothers executed well – and also converted both Miguel Almirón and Joelinton into wide forwards capable of neutralising all attacking runs of Leicester City’s full-backs. This made progressing play for the Foxes very difficult, and that’s a credit to the system Bruce utilised – even if it did nullify the attacking prowess of his side.
My slight negatives came from Leicester’s mismanagement of the final minutes of the game – which consequently gave Newcastle United a chance to overcome the deficit. The Foxes are poor from set-pieces, this is widespread knowledge, and will be of particular interest to the opposing teams they’re facing. Therefore, limiting the amount of defensive set-pieces they have to face is important. For all intents and purposes, Leicester City seemed fairly complacent in the closing exchanges, giving away needless corners, free-kicks, and throw-in’s in dangerous positions. This gave The Magpies a couple of last ditch attempts to rescue a point and wasn’t necessary for the Foxes to allow.
Instead, had Leicester City controlled the exchanges they found themselves in possession, they could’ve frustrated Newcastle United and allowed the game to slowly fizzle out – probably maintaining a clean sheet. This was ultimately undone by poor decision-making, which allowed frequent turnovers of play – whilst rewarding Rodgers’ side with very little. It’s during these moments that the slow, rotation of the ball across the back line is most pivotal, rather than utilising it mid-game. Of course, I’m not suggesting it’s easy to keep possession when the opposition are squeezing the pitch and pushing with little regard for their defensive frailties, but that’s when long-balls into Vardy are at there most dangerous.
In the end, the Foxes did enough to hold onto three points – and they deserved it. I’m not suggesting this slight misplay during the closing minutes of the game should override what was a good game overall, it’s merely room for improvement. I think a two-week long break, which will be available to key players as Leicester don’t play in the Premier League until the 16th January, will be massively beneficial.
Stoke City are the Foxes next opponents, in the third round of the FA Cup. I’m excited to see the starting XI chosen by Brendan Rodgers, probably filled with peripheral players, and I hope to dissect an interesting performance – either from the team or an individual, next week. Either way, the win at St. James Park was a massive boost for Leicester City’s aspirations this season.