Leicester City’s progression past Championship opposition, Brentford, was a formality – with both clubs rotating heavily, but reaching the Fifth Round of the FA Cup is always a positive. Let’s dissect the game looking at two vastly different halves of football.
Brendan Rodgers fielded a strong starting XI, with Leicester City playing a 4-2-3-1. Aside from Cengiz Ünder, who started as the right-midfielder of the three, I’d imaging this is the full strength attacking-midfield and forward combination whilst Jamie Vardy recovers from his injury. Ayoze Perez was tasked with leading the line – although his natural instinct to drop into the number 10 position allowed James Maddison (who had started as the “10”) to occasionally drift into a de facto striker role.
The final piece of the front four was Harvey Barnes, operating on his usual left-side. The double pivot at the base of midfield consisted of captain, Youri Tielemans, and Nampalys Mendy – as Wilfred Ndidi was given a rest after featuring frequently since his return. For the first ten minutes, Leicester City looked exceptional. There was a couple of reasons for the early success, and Brentford’s fortunate opening goal did change the complexion of the game. Please click below for the next page of analysis.