An electric European night at the King Power Stadium saw goals, red cards and comebacks. So what did we learn Leicester City in an entertaining but ultimately disappointing draw against Napoli.
Ayoze Perez earns his Leicester City place
This will trigger the haters. I’m well aware of the hate brigade who have held onto their hatred of the Spaniard for a long time. This may well be because he cost thirty million pounds and is an attacker that doesn’t score or assist that many goals. In fairness as I say it that does sound like a fairly strong argument for being frustrated with him. But the key is that the work he does off the ball is exemplary. His closing down and pressing of the Napoli defenders caused many problems such as his challenge that led to Harvey Barnes close-range shot being saved early on.
Not long after he made a back post run and perfectly met Harvey Barnes cross on the volley to fire Leicester City in front. He put some fingers to his ears in his celebration, indicating he can’t hear the criticism. If he wants to keep the Leicester fans happy, more goals and assists will surely help turn them round. Five games into the season and he’s already off the mark. Brendan Rodgers mainly picks him for his shape and mainly that his work off the ball is some of the best at the club. The effort he exerts is normally the reason he ends up being subbed around an hour into any start he makes. Speaking of which.
Substitutes cause much head-scratching
The Europa League affords clubs the luxury of five substitutions, which is much needed in a restless football schedule. Brendan Rodgers used it to his full advantage, but at what cost? Bizarrely he made two substitutions at halftime, a move he rarely entertains at all in the Premier League despite many recent contenders for being hauled off. Jonny Evans was subbed for Caglar Soyuncu, a like-for-like sub and a deliberate attempt to manage Evans back to full fitness. Ayoze Perez was then subbed for Youri Tielemans, this was possibly due to the shape as the central midfield needed to be beefed up to deal with Napoli’s threat but Perez must have been somewhat confused after a fantastic first half.
On the 70 minute mark Daka (who was unfortunate to have a small amount of buttock offside to deny his first Leicester City goal) came off for Lookman, a striker for a winger, meaning Iheanacho was moved more central whilst Lookman tried to operate off the right. By now the game had got to 2-1 and Napoli were continuing to threaten Like-for-like subs continued to diminish as James Maddison was brought on for Boubakary Soumare.
A real puzzler was this one, as Soumare was offering key support to an increasingly high backline and Maddison rarely got involved. Surely Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall would have been a better option to maintain shape. Unsurprisingly the equalising goal went in on 86 minutes and straight after Jamie Vardy was brought on for the closing stages but struggled to get in the game. One can’t help but wonder if all this tinkering with personnel and shape played a part in Leicester City throwing the game away and missing out on a valuable three points against a dangerous opponent. There is another theory though.
Defending is becoming a major concern
Leicester have conceded 21 goals in their last 12 games. In that time they have kept only two clean sheets. Conceding on average nearly two goals a game has got to stop or Leicester will struggle to achieve anything in any competition.
Against Napoli the defending was desperate and last-minute tackles and challenges were becoming the norm. The reason Leicester drew this game was as much to do with Napoli’s poor finishing than them not putting games to bed. With a high line and two centre-backs not blessed with pace, it’s amazing Leicester managed to keep a half-time clean sheet.
Vestergaard was easily turned on many occasions with Evans struggling to keep up with the pace. Touch tight defending seems to have gone out of fashion at the King Power as well. Despite the Dane having a great game against Manchester City he was all at sea for Victor Osimhen’s first goal with Kasper Schmeichel somehow lobbed from close range. Then the equaliser came near to full time with a wonderful cross and header being dispatched with Soyuncu never famed for his ability to judge crosses or block attackers.
Napoli managed 22 shots with seven on target which was actually less than what Manchester City managed in the previous game. The foxes need to get a settled defence and stop making life so easy for attackers or top 6 and cup glory will be a pipe dream.