It was a goalless draw in Leicester City’s Round of 32 tie with SK Slavia Prague, as the hosts offered a physical battle that the Foxes couldn’t match. Should Leicester City fans be nervous or excited about the return fixture at the King Power Stadium?
Injuries permitted, Leicester City fielded arguably their strongest XI at the Sinobo Stadium, with Daniel Amartey retaining his place as a makeshift right-back. The only change from the Liverpool game was Ricardo Pereira – who was left in England to rest – being replaced by Luke Thomas. I will allude to this later on, but for me, Thomas was the man of the match for the Foxes.
Aside from the one change, Leicester City maintained the same shape (a 4-2-3-1 formation), a similar building pattern – finding Wilfred Ndidi as the deepest midfielder, and offered a similar level of defensive resilience. The Slavia Prague press wasn’t as intense as Liverpool’s and perhaps that gave the defence a false sense of comfort – often dawdling in possession allowing the hosts to suffocate them, and squeeze the size of the pitch.
To make life easier, Brendan Rodgers adjusted the dynamic of the double pivot. Ordinarily, Youri Tielemans and Wilfred Ndidi play alongside each other and create a screen (i.e. a horizontal wall). In possession, this allows either play to drop for the ball and gives Çağlar Söyüncü and Jonny Evans additional passing lanes to build attacks.
However, versus Slavia Prague this shifted to a more diagonally-associated pivot, which had the Belgian playing slightly advanced of Ndidi. This was an attempt to puncture the press of the Červenobílí (“The Red and Whites”) and bypass the initial line of the press. This was effective when it worked, and made progression of the ball a lot more fluid for the Foxes. It’s downside is defensively, as instead of creating the screen – which forces the opposing midfielders to play around them (unless they’re able to pinpoint a pass between them) – they had to attempt battles in a one-versus-one environment.
Surprisingly, Ndidi struggled in this department – despite having the perfect profile for head-to-head duels. It was a quiet game for the Nigerian, who’s aerial dominance in the centre of the park was nullified by clever positional adjustments from right forward, Abdallah Sima. I’m not suggesting Ndidi played badly, I was merely surprised he didn’t dominate in this setting.
As the game progressed, Leicester City began to create chances – particularly in the later periods of the first-half. Harvey Barnes was the focal point of the attacks, and was supported by well by full-back, Luke Thomas – who once again, played as an inverted full-back in possession for the Foxes.
Brendan Rodgers has utilised this role for the 19-year-old every time he’s fielded him in Europe. It’s for one of two reasons, either removing responsibility in possession – as moving internally frees up a passing lane to Barnes (who also drops to receive the ball), or it’s to utilise him in central areas when building – which actually adds a lot of responsibility. I’d suggest it’s the former, despite showing glimpses of quality in the final third, Thomas has shown frailties receiving possession in the defensive/middle third.
This combination created the best chance of the game for Leicester City, which was a fairly routine stop for goalkeeper, Ondřej Kolář. Even with “control” of the game, the Czechia side didn’t create too many substantial efforts on goal – they did manage to “out create” the Foxes in terms of xG (expected goals) with a total of 0.8 xG from all their chances, in comparison to Leicester City’s 0.4 xG.
I’d attest the clean sheet was due to some excellent defending by the Foxes, especially when understanding the individual decision-making of all four defenders. At times, they were all asked upon, without any of them making a single error. As such, Söyüncü was awarded Man of the Match via WhoScored.com with an impressive match rating of 8.2 – a clear lead on both Tielemans/Thomas (the next best) who ended the game with 7.2.
For what it’s worth, I thought the academy graduate was deserving of “MotM”. When he gambled on balls coming into Sima – receiving with his back to goal – Thomas would always correctly either knick the ball from the forward, or press him tightly. When under excessive pressure, he was often utilised in possession – particularly from left-sided centre-back, Söyüncü, and would either progress play down the line or win a foul (both relieving pressure). As I’ve previously mentioned, he also combined well with left-winger, Barnes, and was part of the most dangerous partnership for the Foxes. It was a good test for him, which I feel he passed with flying colours.
As for the overall performance, I’d suggest it was slightly subpar – as Rodgers also alluded too. The likes of James Maddison and Jamie Vardy were both non-existent for their time on the pitch (which isn’t always negative, but was versus Prague), and the possession-based attacks lost all impetus after half-time. The defensive solidity did holster the performance, and has given the Foxes a good chance of progressing from the second leg. But, we’ll be wanting much more quality in those attacking areas if we want to reach the heights of our potential in Europe.