Leicester City’s start to the 2021/22 season has been mixed. August saw the Foxes claim another trophy *insert ‘glorified friendly’ comments here* along with two wins in the Premier League. We’ll ignore the West Ham result.
Now, at the end of September, their campaign is fully underway. We’ve seen both of Leicester’s opening fixtures in the Europa League and Carabao Cup, as well as three more rounds of the Premier League. Unfortunately, City couldn’t push on from their wins in August.
Overall, Leicester have played five games (this does not include the tie against Legia Warsaw which is being played on the day of writing), which has resulted in one win, two draws and two defeats. We’ve had better months.S
In this new series, I’m going to be reflecting over each month of the season and picking out the best and worst performers overall, what we can learn from the performances, and how those players can push on. Some of this will be purely personal choice and preference, whilst other picks are based on statistics.
In September, fans have felt more misery than positivity, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some really encouraging aspects of the games played, and the East Midlander’s have been unfortunate with one or two results *cough* Brighton *cough*.
It will come as no surprise that the defence won’t feature too positively on this month’s list, however the attacking play has been explosive at times, and no one signifies that more than a new face who has impressed at City.
Ademola Lookman
My first ever piece on Foxes of Leicester was reflecting on Lookman’s career so far to see what he can bring to Leicester. But I’ll admit, I was still sceptical about his signing, especially compared to the other players that the rumour mill had churned up during the summer. Lookman therefore had a lot of expectation on his shoulders, but boy has he delivered.
Lookman has made five appearances in September and will most likely feature against Legia Warsaw on Thursday. From those five appearances, Lookman has only made two starts and is yet to play the full 90′ for his new club; Brendan Rodgers has put this down to building up his fitness.
His debut was a brief cameo against Manchester City during the 1-0 loss and he took the position of covering for Harvey Barnes on the left-wing. His next Premier League appearance was during the tough 2-1 loss at Brighton, but this is when fans got to see a first real glimpse at what Lookman can offer.
Lookman was left unmarked as he stooped low to provide a diving header into the Brighton net for what he, and many others, believed to be his first goal for the club. Unfortunately, Harvey Barnes was ruled to be blocking Brighton’s goalkeeper Sanchez and, as such, the goal was ruled out. Whilst the final result left a bitter taste in the mouth for many a fan, it at least gave a glimpse at what Lookman can do.
Following that encouraging performance, Lookman then made his first start for Leicester in their opening Carabao Cup game to Millwall. The game itself was relatively stale, but Lookman – who started as a centre-forward – opened the scoring, latching onto the rebound of Kelechi Iheanacho’s long-range shot.
The ball came to Lookman who made no mistake, volleying into an open net to open his account for Leicester City. It may look an easy finish, but there are countless examples of players skying over that type of chance. It has prevented any narrative of Lookman having a duck on his shoulder, hopefully this is the first goal of many.
From that, Brendan Rodgers saw enough to hand Lookman his first Premier League start against Burnley, and whilst Lookman didn’t score or assist during the game, his running really excited fans. He started on the right of midfield and assisted the progress of the ball in the match until he was substituted on the 69th minute.
This is Lookman’s first month with Leicester and it has been a relative success. He isn’t an out and out goal scorer, but that’s not what fans were expecting from Lookman. The Foxes need someone who can dribble well from out wide, and can provide passes that open up space for the likes of Vardy and Barnes to strike in. There is a lot to like from what we have seen from Lookman.
What next from Lookman? Now Lookman simply needs to push on and perform consistently at this level. If he does that, he will build up both his goals and assists, and can expect to start week in week out. Lookman faces a different type of challenge to his peers; he needs to prove to Rodgers that his is worth signing on a permanent deal. So far, so good.
Jamie Vardy
What can you say about Jamie Vardy that hasn’t already been said? Season after season, he keeps on proving pundits wrong about his age. He, much like Cavani, Ronaldo and Antonio, is not letting his age affect him one bit.
Vardy has been Leicester’s consistent threat early on in the season. In August he netted two goals in three games, his first being a stunning finish against Wolves. As Leicester’s form continued to be shaky, they needed Vardy’s goals more than ever, and my did he duly provide.
He had an effort against Man City tightly ruled out by VAR – his customary goal against the Citizens has been delayed until Boxing Day – but that didn’t rock his confidence at all. Vardy has made four appearances for the Foxes in September – three of those being starts – and has scored three goals. In all honesty, he should have scored five.
His consolation goal against Brighton was a beauty, though this was all down the quick one-touch build up. It reminded me of the type of build-up that we saw in Leicester’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace in 2019, the goal that prompted Vardy to flap his arms and celebrate like an eagle.
At Brighton, Vardy was in the right space at the right time, but that is natural for LCFC’s star striker. He could have had another as well if not for skewing a shot just wide off of the target.
His showing at Brighton was positive, but he performance against Burnley was imperious, as Vardy scored the type of goals that Vardy loves. His first was a first-time shot at the edge of the box after latching onto Youri Tielemans’ through ball. It was an accurate low strike, and as cool and as clinical as you come to expect from the Sheffield-born attacker.
The fact that Vardy took the shot first-time, meant it caught Burnley ‘keeper Nick Pope completely out, and he was left helpless as the ball found it’s spot in the far-left hand-side corner. His second goal though, wow.
Another through ball in the second half, and Vardy pounced. Playing off of the defence, Vardy raced onto the ball and took a lovely touch to take the ball round the oncoming Nick Pope. The angle that this left him with was tight, but that doesn’t stop Leicester’s No. 9. With just the right amount of power and pace, Vardy left the Burnley defence stretching every sinew in their legs to stop the shot from going in, but their efforts were void: Vardy had his brace.
That goal should have been his hat-trick, as Vards had missed a clear header in the first half, but alas he had to settle with just two on Saturday, a good way to cancel out his earlier own goal.
What next for Vardy? Vardy is doing all he can at the front of the pitch to push Leicester success and better form, it is only the players behind him that are letting his efforts down. But Vardy is an old and wise head in this relatively young squad, and he needs to show an example of leadership and help his teammates. In this form, Vardy could well be onto another 20+ goal season. Crystal Palace fans certainly won’t be looking forward to facing him on Sunday.
Leicester City player of the month: Kelechi Iheanacho
Yes, this is controversial. Especially considering that WhoScored.com currently have Iheanacho sitting on a 6.27 rating overall this season – the fifth worst of the whole squad. I was going to have Vardy as the POTM, and many of you will have him as just that, but after watching footage of the games during September, it was hard to not give that accolade to Kelechi.
It will take some convincing for a few readers, but in the little game time that has been afforded Kelechi’s way, he has made an astounding impact. In September, he has only made two starts in five appearances, yet has provided a goal and three assists. Over half of the goals that Leicester have scored this month (7) have had Iheanacho directly involved (4).
His assist for Harvey Barnes against Napoli is inch perfect; it’s the type of ball we’d expect from Tielemans. Iheanacho picks up the ball from just in his own half, dribbles ten or so yards, before delivering a defence splitting ball to Harvey Barnes who finishes it in lovely fashion. I cannot explain here just how brilliant that assist is. Watch it again, you’ll see what I mean.
Kelechi got his second start of the season against Millwall and continued to impress there. His was the shot that found its way kindly to Lookman for the opener. Officially Iheanacho wasn’t awarded the assist, but it was all down to that shot. But then, the magic happens.
As the game wraps up, again Iheanacho picks up the ball from deep, dribbles with it to the edge of Millwall’s box, and then unleashes an unstoppable rocket into the top corner. The shot is so quick and powerful that all goalkeeper George Long could do was collapse backwards to the ground as he tried to keep up with what had just happened. When he hits a shot like that, no goalkeeper is ever getting it. Goal of the season so far.
Need more convincing? It was Iheanacho’s through ball on Saturday that Vardy latched onto to equalise for the Foxes for a second time. His ball had the perfect weight on it, the type of ball that James Maddison just isn’t providing at the moment.
And here lies the problem, because Iheanacho doesn’t perform at his peak when at the front of attack, he is best suited as a centre-froward, or even as a flat-out No.10. But right now, Leicester aren’t playing in a system that includes that role, instead they are playing with a flat midfield three and then a striker and two wingers. Kelechi has to play and start more, he has shown what he has to offer, Leicester now need to build around him.
What next for Iheanacho? If he plays, he will provide an extra threat for Leicester. In 39 appearances last season, he scored 19 goals and finished as the club’s highest goal scorer. Whilst he did not play in Poland due to paperwork issues, surely Iheanacho will have an important role when Leicester City visit Selhurst Park. After all, it was at that venue last season in which every Leicester fan was convinced that we had seen the last of Iheanacho after a dreadful performance. Kelechi will want vindication in that stadium, and that is a very exciting prospect.
Honourable mentions: Youri Tielemans, Timothy Castagne, and Wilfred Ndidi.
(Words by Will Kennedy)