An excellent victory for Leicester City sees Brendan Rodgers side progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup in place of Stoke City. Now let’s look at the positives from the 4-0 stomping versus the Potters.
Firstly, Leicester City highlighted the weaknesses of their opponents very early on – similar to the game against Brighton & Hove Albion earlier this season, and exposed them. Stoke City fielded a 3-5-2 formation, which provided only a single wing-back option on the flank either side, whereas the Foxes’ 4-2-3-1 had both a full-back and a winger – creating an overload in the wings for Leicester.
Consequently, Brendan Rodgers instructed the Foxes to play with more intent in the wings. This enabled James Justin’s goal, as Harvey Barnes (the left-winger) had vacated space for the young full-back to maraud into. The rest of the play for the goal was exceptional by Justin, being versatile – very two-footed – allowed him to fake external movements before progressing inside and striking towards goal.
The opening exchanges of the game, even before Justin’s opener, seemed to be turnover-orientated – mainly instigated by Leicester City, which I’d argue isn’t the correct approach for a game versus a team lacking quality like Stoke City. I’ve been the largest advocate of playing in this style and it was beneficial to the result, but it perhaps wasn’t the correct game to implement it.
Instead, the Foxes should’ve controlled possession, recycled possession awaiting a moment for a gap to form in Stoke’s deep-block and punished that. This is essentially what Leicester City did in the second-half, albeit made easier by leading the game, but it was a lot more effective – adding three more goals to the result.
Regardless of the tactical setup, the Foxes coasted to a comfortable victory. The abundance of quality once the chances fell to Rodgers’ side was far superior to that of Michael O’Neill’s side, and eventually patched the way for Leicester City. I argued that playing “peripheral” players would’ve been beneficial to the Foxes, as additional rest could’ve allowed rest for players like James Maddison and Jamie Vardy (who have both struggled with injuries this season) to recover.
There was a couple of absentees in the starting XI, with the two previously mentioned stars left out of the squad, but the rest of the team remained the same from the previous game in the Premier League. Unfortunately, and this isn’t because of the starters featuring, Dennis Praet seemed to aggravate his hamstring in the closing stages of the game. The reason I suggest this isn’t an issue with playing the ordinary starters is that Praet would’ve been fielded in the “second” side, so either implementation would’ve found Praet in the starting XI.
A final positive was allowing further minutes for Çağlar Söyüncü on his road to recovery. The Turkish-international played the final ten minutes, in place of Wesley Fofana, and seemed comfortable (both muscularly and in possession). I don’t want to look to much into the substitution, as it was merely to close the game out and to avoid Fofana picking up a potential second card, but I think Rodgers is hinting at Jonny Evans being a certainty in the core of defence – with Fofana and Söyüncü battling it out to be his partner.
This makes the most sense, all good partnerships in centre-backs require complimentary abilities. Individually, Evans is the lone shark – composed, good-reader of situations, balanced head, smart awareness to drop into a deeper position versus a quick forward, whereas presses high versus an aerial threat. Whereas Söyüncü and Fofana are similar; aggressive, quick across the ground, ball-carriers, aerially dominant, but both have mistakes in them (particularly in aggressive pressing of the ball). I would suggest Evans’ leadership/experience warrants a starting position, with the other two competing for a spot alongside him – or a shift to a defensive back three.
Again, I could be delving into an inconsequential substitution with too much depth. Nevertheless, Leicester were deserving of their win and have booked a place in the next round of the FA Cup, something I’m personally happy with – a long cup run is always satisfying, even with fixture congestion. Now, for the first time in a long while, the players have been allowed ample rest ahead of an intriguing game with high-flying Southampton. Tactically, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side are exhilarating and it should make for an enjoyable spectacle regardless of result – let’s hope it’s positive for the Foxes.