Brentford 1-3 Leicester: Why it was a game of two halves for Foxes

But, as I alluded to in the beginning of the article, the Foxes rekindle their attacking prowess in the second-half. It’s perhaps an underrated aspect of attacking football, but Leicester City’s press to regain possession became a lot more aggressive and efficient, meaning the ball was reclaimed in areas of danger – personified by Çağlar Söyüncü’s high-press (after conceding possession) to allow Maddison to receive the ball in a transition for Brentford. It was a miraculous piece of individual play – to weave between three defenders and perfectly weight a pass into the on-rushing Ünder, who calmly slotted to equalise the game just after half-time.

From that moment on, it was only the Premier League outfit who looked like progressing through the tie. A quick fire second, from the penalty spot, and the game was essentially wrapped up there and then. Aside from instigating the press in a more aggressive manner, Leicester City also recycled and rotated the ball much more efficiently than in the first 45 minutes.

Intriguingly, the Foxes played very directly and quickly in the first-half – predominantly after the Brentford goal. As a spectator, this looked like a conscious effort to force an end-to-end game, with lots of turnovers – creating higher percentage chances for the team reclaiming possession in their oppositions third (something Leicester

were doing). However, when the Foxes surrendered possession, Brentford weren’t looking to play as progressively – in fact, Thomas Frank’s side would spread the centre-back’s wide in the building stages and slowly work the ball into midfield.

What this created was a stop-start fixture for Rodgers’ side. While the Foxes looked for a lot of turnovers, the game stagnated when The Bees were in possession. In the second-half, Leicester City made recycling the possession very difficult for the opposition, whilst not surrendering the ball insignificantly. This allowed the additional pass in the final third, which was available on a few occasions, to truly unlock the Brentford defence.

There’s a lot of positives to take from the game, particularly when analysing the first ten minutes, which consisted of fluid passing, excellent positional rotations, and some smart decision-making. Again, I have to give credit to Rodgers, who understood the fixture and what was required of Leicester to overcome an initial deficit and progress into the next round of the FA Cup.