It was back-to-back victories for Brendan Rodgers and Leicester City in pre-season, as the Foxes beat Manchester City in the season curtain opener — a 1-0 win in the Community Shield.
Perhaps not the ecstasy of the FA Cup victory, but an important realisation of the stage Leicester City are performing on with an increased level of consistency. The performance itself was definitely noteworthy and that’s what I’ll dissect below.
After implementing a couple of different structures in the previous fixtures in pre-season, the Foxes started in a reformed — yet very recognisable — 4-2-3-1. Across the board the starting XI was fairly self-explanatory, aside from Daniel Amartey who replaced Wesley Fofana as the right centre-back.
For clarity’s sake, the side was as follows, again inside the 4-2-3-1 formation; Kasper Schmeichel. Ricardo Pereira, Daniel Amartey, Çağlar Söyüncü, Ryan Bertrand. Wilfred Ndidi, Youri Tielemans. Ayoze Pérez, James Maddison, Harvey Barnes. Jamie Vardy. The strongest XI that Rodgers has fielded ahead of the new campaign, and an excellent insight into the proposed XI for the upcoming season. But, how did the side actually play?
In possession, Leicester City did a fantastic job of isolating the opposition full-backs, Benjamin Mendy and João Cancelo — both known for their offensive acumen and perhaps weaknesses defensively. To create this isolation, the Foxes would invert the wingers (Barnes and Pérez) forcing the defenders to track their men internally and subsequently would free up the full-backs to advance into space.
This “in-to-out” passing sequence was utilised often, and definitely created the clear-cut opportunities on goal. It’s rather simplistic and relies on the wingers receiving possession frequently and in the half-spaces (or inverted), whilst also attracting the press of the attacking side winger to create additional freedom for the full-back to maraud into.
For example, Ricardo Pereira would initially receive possession from either the defence or Schmeichel, his quality on-the-ball attracts the Manchester City left-winger (on the day this was Samuel Edozie) to initiate a press. Pereira does one of two actions to create the “in-to-out” sequence, either he passes himself into the inverted Pérez, or he offloads possession to a member of the pivot — Ndidi/Tielemans — who can then progress the ball into Pérez centrally.
The key to success in this sequence is dragging the opposition full-back out of their natural defensive positioning, whilst also exploiting that space with an attacking run from depth — so Pereira (after offloading possession) makes an attacking run to receive the ball through the lines of the Citizen’s press. Creating a goal-scoring opportunity through a cutback, or interplay across the box.
The above example is representing this on the right-side, but the frequency of creation tended to favour the left-side — with Bertrand and Barnes showcasing a good understanding of position between the two players. The slight difference in the composition of attacks down the left, was that Barnes’ offloading pass would exclusively happen as he penetrated the box (during his inverted carrying) and would enable Bertrand to receive possession almost at the byline. Whereas Pereira would often receive just inside the attacking third.
Despite being the most notable tactical deployment, and on the balance of creation, probably Leicester City’s most successful avenue of attacks, this wasn’t how the goal materialised. Instead, the pressing nature of the forwards — this time being substitute Kelechi Iheanacho — forced Nathan Aké into a poor touch and decision, as he tried to play into his goalkeeper, fouling the Nigerian in the process.
By this time, the 4-2-3-1 had become an asymmetrical 4-4-2 structure, with a front two in Iheanacho and Patson Daka, supported by a central-midfield three (Boubakary Soumaré, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, and Wilfred Ndidi) and lone winger, Marc Albrighton. This shape struggled to emulate the control of the first-half, and definitely soaked up pressure with more defensive awareness. But, importantly, it was alert to the hesitance in the Manchester City box and punished Pep Guardiola’s side.
A brief word on the only “unusual” selection in the starting XI, Daniel Amartey. Picked purely due to injuries, yet so effective in his actions. Simplistic in possession, primarily opting for passes into centre-back partner Söyüncü instead of looking vertically himself — despite picking moments to play through the lines. His defensive positioning and understanding was excellent, even with his only appearances as a right centre-back being as part of a defensive three — which I cannot stress how different that is.
He dealt with inverted runners from the flanks — such as Jack Grealish, central runners from midfield who had surpassed the midfield line, and passes through the lines, whilst always commanding his aerial duals. His anticipation of danger was unquestioned and he also mopped up on the few occasions Söyüncü pressed out the defensive line.
Considering this was a de facto debut for the Ghanaian, he wasn’t dependent on being reactive in his game style — similar to Jonny Evans’ approach, and that’s a huge compliment. For me, a “Man of the Match” performance.
I’ve already stated quite heavily how not much stock should be put into results during pre-season, and that sentiments rings true here as well. Leicester City were deserving winners, and a performance of that quality should always reflect positively ahead of a new season. The Foxes have found another gear in their back-to-back victories and look set to start the season in good stead versus Wolverhampton Wanderers next Saturday.