Some positive Leicester thoughts ahead of Newcastle game

A lot of the discourse surrounding Leicester City, especially externally, is negative, and recent interviews would suggest that it isn’t much brighter internally. Consequently, confidence levels are at an all-time low under Brendan Rodgers’ management.

Despite all of this, this article will look to highlight the positives — of which there’s a few to speak about — to give the Foxes faithful something propitious to read this evening, ahead of the Premier League game with Newcastle United on Sunday.

The trip to Naples in Italy was underpinned with disappointment after failing to maintain UEFA Europa League football, instead, falling into Europe’s third-tier competition — the UEFA Conference League, but a performance from a certain academy graduate deserves some recognition.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall opened his professional account for Leicester City with a wonderful goal, capitalising on an unorthodox defending style from corners from Luciano Spalletti by expertly placing a volley into the bottom right-corner. I don’t anticipate goal-scoring will play a pivotal role in his future, but it does highlight his qualities on-the-ball.

Within the current ranks at the Foxes, Dewsbury-Hall’s profile is most similar to Belgian talisman, Youri Tielemans. Very proficient at collecting possession from the defence, expressive with his first touch — enabling a pivot and to play vertically, and most importantly, smart with his selection of passes.

In fact, the match against Napoli was a chance to see how the aforementioned midfielders played together in a midfield-three. The signs were clear of how it operated, Wilfred Ndidi held centrally, with the two-ball players splitting to create openings for passing lanes, and this, for all intents and purposes functioned nicely in possession.