Leicester 1-0 Southampton: LCFC the disruptor of elite clubs

With fans returning to Wembley Stadium for the first time in over a year, it felt like normality in football was finally nearing closer. To make the day even better, Leicester City progressed into the FA Cup final – ahead of Southampton, with a narrow 1-0 victory.

But, just as the celebrations for the day were nearing a close, the announcement of the “Super League” involving supposedly “elite clubs in Europe” took centre stage. It’s quite evidently a response from these so-called “European elite” to clubs disrupting the status quo – of which Leicester City have been doing for a number of years now. The announcement completely overshadowing the historic achievement for the Foxes, but in this article I’ll tactically analyse the performance and give you some football-based content that isn’t financially driven, and perhaps a break from this disastrous news.

Brendan Rodgers fielded the strongest XI available to him, as he brought Čağlar Söyüncü back into the side – following his recovery from COVID-19, and also slotted Ayoze Pérez back in the number 10 position. Of course, a fully-fit James Maddison would probably dethrone Pérez’s starring role, but his match sharpness is still lacking after a sustained period on the bench. With these players back, it was a solid 3-4-1-2 system for Leicester City.

Ralph Hasenhüttl has had injury worries of his own. His Southampton side have been recently recovered from missing several key first-team players – Danny Ings, Kyle Walker-Peters, Oriol Romeu (who is out for the rest of the season), and were able to field a very threatening 4-4-2 system. As the Austrian is becoming renowned for, he set his side up in a “high block”, with the two strikers pressing the centre-backs in possession, and the midfield four setting up on the Foxes double pivot – Youri Tielemans and Wilfred Ndidi.