Leicester City’s Barnes shows he is now world-class

On the 21st February, Leicester City got revenge on Aston Villa. Harvey Barnes ran the show, join FoL as we explore his MoM performance.

What a match that was eh? Leicester City shot twice early in the first half to seal the victory against the high flying Aston Villa team. Villa did find some joy in the second half, but I want to focus only briefly on the play style, but more on two individual performances: Harvey Barnes and James Maddison.

Leicester City: a tale of two halves

The Foxes started strong in the first half, with 53% possession, five shots on target, two goals, and wonderful slick passing interchanges providing the penetration and dynamism I called for in my match preview.

It was great to watch, though I do feel there was a little wastefulness in that performance. We say it so much about Liverpool FC, but we do not always provide the same treatment to our own team. Despite the clear dominance defensively and offensively, we only scored through one brilliant goal from Madders, and one lucky rebound for Barnes.

So, let us also be realistic about that first half performance. Leicester were by far the better side, creating good chances. However, you have got to take those chances just as well and get more players involved. Jamie Vardy was hardly involved, not making himself involved at all, which is a problem for a player of his quality.

So, the second half came along and Villa managed to knock one passed Kasper Schmeichel. The ‘keeper could have done better by claiming the ball early and rushing into the box to grab it – Bertrand Traore went to ground so it would have been an easy claim.

After that point, the King Power side did not offer too much, but still looked dangerous and were defensively solid – hats off to Timothy Castagne on the seamless return – the only caveat being not making that danger count.

Either way, a 2-1 win for the Foxes despite a lacklustre second half. Brendan Rodgers probably wanted to see the game through.

The Harvey Barnes show

This match was a brilliant watch for Gareth Southgate. Madders fires in a brilliant shot, while Barnes looks as alive and aware to attacking buildup as ever. The interchange of penetrative passes and dynamic off the ball movement, coalesced around the one man Southgate has got to take to the Euros.

Harvey Barnes was sensational for Leicester City. Do not take my word for it though. Here are some stats, credit to Sofascore and Understat.

One goal, one assist, four key passes, a tackle and a blocked shot, and a 91% passing accuracy. Talk about a dangerous performance, he did all that with only 55 touches of the ball! In terms of expected statistics (xG and xA), his combined attacking contribution dwarves any other Fox.

With 0.62 in xG (expected goals) and 0.31 in xA (expected assists), his combined expected attacking contribution was 0.93, almost a goal. The next closest player was Maddison, with an xG of 0.29 and an xA of zero.

Harvey Barnes was involved in all of Leicester’s attacking play, building play. Not just this, but his partnership with the young fullback Luke Thomas is astounding. The budding partnership between these Foxes is something to behold.

Barnes was also involved defensively, shepherding Traore and others further down the pitch to prevent early crosses as much as possible into Ollie Watkins – their main threat. This contribution will probably go unrecognised because of the fantastic defensive performances of Castagne and Thomas.

Brendan Rodgers had this to say about the Man of the Match – credit to BBC Sport.

"He also called Harvey Barnes “a delight” and said there’s more to come: “When he’s in full flow there’s not many better. He’s so direct. These boys come in with not much Premier League experience. We’re here to maximise talents and he’s adapting to the level.”"

I am with the boss. Harvey was a delight to watch, providing so much pace and danger from the left-wing. Though I felt him drifting inwards sometimes left a massive gap on our left where Thomas could not exploit on his own. That space was there to be attacked, or have a presence in to stretch the opposition’s defence. This is when we performed best.

Harvey Barnes must be in the England squad and must be given another opportunity against Slavia Prague to impress. He was decent in the first matchup against the Czech side, and will do well in the next match at the King Power.

On a slight side note, Barnes is now has more goals this season than comparable English wingers. This could change when Raheem Sterling gets a chance to play, but it is still worth noting that Barnes is knocking on the door of the best.

Anyway, the Midlands is blue, and the Foxes got revenge on Villa! Get ready for the Slavia Prague decider.