A Jamie Vardy-less Leicester City came back from a one goal deficit to knock the Bees out of the FA Cup for the second year running.
Leicester City felled promotion hopefuls Brentford today, besting the Bees by three goals to one- but not before a brief first half scare. This win will see Leicester face off against Premier League rivals Brighton next month, as the competition enters its Fifth round.
Brendan Rodgers opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation- a favourite of the Northern Irishman as of late, though will the notable omission of many first team players. Danny Ward deputised for Kasper Schmeichel in goal, while the defence welcomed the return of as many as three players from injury: Ricardo Pereira, Daniel Amartey and Çağlar Söyüncü. 19-year-old Luke Thomas completed the back four at left-back.
In the midfield, Youri Tielemans retained his place but was accompanied at the pivot by Papy Mendy instead of the usual Wilfred Ndidi, while James Maddison operated in the hole. Further up the field, Cengiz Ünder and Harvey Barnes flanked Ayoze Pérez, filling in for the recently injured Jamie Vardy.
Match breakdown
Leicester opened well, generating a number of chances down the right hand side through Turkish winger Cengiz Ünder, first teeing up Ayoze Pérez, and then forcing a corner himself from a tight angle. However, the Foxes were unable to convert either opportunity, with Brentford winning a corner for themselves soon after. A scramble in the box followed with the East Midlands side unable to clear the ball effectively, putting the Bees one goal to the good.
Leicester attempted to mount a response, coming close with a James Maddison free kick at the 22′ minute mark, but this is where City’s chances in the first half came to an end. What followed was 25 minutes of some of the worst football I’ve been able to bear witness to- a first time viewer wouldn’t be able to tell you which side was 3rd in the Premier League and which was 4th in the Championship. Misplaced passes, poor tackles and generally sloppy play would ensure that Leicester City went into the break a goal down.
Whatever Brendan Rodgers said in the changing room at half time, it certainly did the trick. The Leicester side that walked out of the tunnel post-45′ were lightyears from the one that preceded them, as just six minutes later, Leicester’s 1 goal deficit turned into a 1 goal lead. The seemingly on fire James Maddison stormed forwards, committing two Brentford defenders and doing well to stay on his feet, before playing Cengiz Ünder into acres of space, who curled it into the corner with a left-footed strike. Minutes later, Fosu-Henry brought down Youri Tielemans in the area, with the Belgian sending Brentford ‘keeper Luke Daniels the wrong way shortly after.
From here, the Foxes began to reimpose their domination on the game, as chance after chance fell for the visitors. Harvey Barnes sliced wide, while Ricardo Pereira’s cutback found James Maddison, who failed to convert, but the Englishman would get his goal soon enough. Harvey Barnes once again found himself in space down the left-hand side, firing at the Brentford goal with Daniels spilling directly into the path of Leicester’s No. 10, who left no doubt. Thomas Frank’s men tried their hardest to get back into the game from here, but the deficit proved too large and it was Leicester City who advanced to the next round.
What we learned
Starting with the negatives: zonal. Marking. Does. Not. Work. I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to say this, but it seems that Leicester City are being made to pay time and time again for their sloppy marking on set pieces. For a side of this quality, it’s such a rudimentary thing to be let down on, but Brendan Rodgers, for all his qualities, seems to persist with this frankly ineffective system.
It’s also worth noting that Leicester seem to be running a charity here when it comes to goal records, with dry-spell strikers and goalless defenders alike feasting on the Foxes’ generosity. In recent memory, I can think of Jamal’s Lewis’ first career goal for bottom-feeders Norwich, Dominic Solanke (yes, him) scoring a brace (two thirds of his final goal tally) for eventually relegated Bournemouth and now gifting centre-back Mads Sørenson his first goal in English football.
Onto the good news, after a shockingly poor first half even for notoriously late starters Leicester, the quality of Youri Tielemans, James Maddison (who’s in the form of his life by the way) and Cengiz Ünder carried the Foxes to victory. With the recent injury to talisman Jamie Vardy, many Blues fans have began to worry where the goals are going to come from, doubting the quality of backups strikers Kelechi Iheanacho and Ayoze Pérez.
However, after bagging three goals with none coming from the recognised striker, it’s evident that Leicester are becoming are far more well-rounded team, able to win solely on contributions from the wings and midfield. This season, Harvey Barnes has more goals than Jamie Vardy from open play, so Leicester clearly aren’t as much of a one-man team as rival fans would have you believe. When the fateful day does come when Leicester’s greatest hangs up his boots, I think we’re going to be alright. Especially if we sign this man.