Leicester 1-0 Southampton – FA Cup final awaits: 4 key talking points
By Damon Carter
Leicester City will contest their first FA Cup final for 52 years as Kelechi Iheanacho bagged another winner in a tight affair with the Saints. So what four things did we learn?
Showing the world Leicester are a team going places
The team was set up with a solid base built around giving little away. This was in stark contrast to the West Ham game of a week ago where Leicester were sliced open at ease. In the entire game Southampton were unable to test Kasper Schmeichel with a single shot on target. This tight defending could be the basis for the team to kick on as the season comes into its final furlong.
Make no mistake about it though, Brendan Rodgers is taking the club places. The FA cup is one trophy that has evaded the club for their entire history, with the last half of a century the club not even having a sniff of a final. Since Rodgers has come in he has taken them to one of their highest top flight finishes, a first League Cup semi final for 20 years, Europa league football and now an FA Cup final.
With the good feeling from this game still reverberating in their heads they will need to carry this positivity on into a hectic Premier league finish that could potentially bring top 4 success and some silverware. Given all the absences he has had to contend with, Rodgers has worked miracles this season and will be desperate for a trophy to rubber stamp his reputation as one of the finest coaches in British football.
Has a line been drawn under the lockdown breach?
The main news after the West ham defeat, was the emergence that key players had broken lockdown rules and removed from the match day squad. Following that game Rodgers revealed that they would be available for the FA cup semi final. What would have surprised a lot of fans is how James Maddison was left on the bench in favour of Ayoze Perez.
The Spaniard’s work rate off the ball was exemplary for over an hour before being replaced by Maddison. It could just be simply that Rodgers saw Perez’s work rate as key in ensuring Southampton’s midfield was unable to get a foothold in the game. But with Maddison being the talisman and creative spark, this could be a key omission as Rodgers shapes his team over the coming weeks. Or perhaps something bigger is at play, Leicester seem to lose a star player every summer, could Maddison’s attitude and misbehaviour be part of a summer exit?