Wycombe 1-0 Leicester: Positives from second Foxes pre-season fixture

For what it’s worth, I think Daka has been signed as a replacement for Vardy — long-term, instead of an accompanying forward. If Brendan Rodgers insists on playing a two striker set-up (such as the 4-4-2) then I’d assume it would be Kelechi Iheanacho alongside the veteran, as they offer completely different attributes as forwards — and that is beneficial inside of a two forward system, as well as an established connection already.

Despite having drastically different roles, Boubakary Soumaré and Wilfred Ndidi suffered from a similar positional problem. In the current Leicester City structure, Ndidi is the “deepest” midfielder, thus forcing the centre-backs to play through the Nigerian to progress the ball. Whereas, Soumaré is a deep-midfielder constantly offering to receive possession from the defence, focused on playing vertically due to his exceptional on-the-ball quality.

However, the two midfielders often dropped into similar areas and thus removed any “proper” presence in central areas for the Foxes. This perhaps highlights compositional issues when fielding these two midfielders in a pivot — hence why a midfield three is the most likely structure to facilitate both (and Youri Tielemans). Again, just like with the forwards, this isn’t a complaint nor an issue. It’s merely highlighting the teething process that’s unfolding before our eyes — and we’d much rather these understandings establish during the pre-season fixtures, than inside the Premier League campaign.