On a sunny day on Filbert Way, Leicester City continued a recent upsurge in form with a victory over Thomas Frank’s industrious Brentford. The three points elevated the team into the top half of the table and with a half a sniff of a higher finish. But what were the three key things we learned?
He’s magic you know…
This was a fine day of LCFC performances. James Maddison was back to his swaggering ruthless best with drops of the shoulders, dribbling out of tight spaces and of course a sizzling free-kick that seemed to have wound up the Brentford fans enough for them to scoff at his England potential. Nampalys Mendy showed his worth with a solid display in midfield that helped tick the game over. Caglar Soyuncu and Daniel Amartey added this to another impressive defensive performance, but in this game there was one player who stood out amongst the rest.
Last season Kelechi Iheanacho got the plaudits for his goalscoring prowess, hitting a player of the month award 12 months ago before finishing as the club’s top scorer. But this season his all-round game has improved even further, with this game showcasing his progression in great detail. His hold-up play was fantastic, keeping the ball close and in tight areas and using his physique to hold off central defenders. He then confidently would pick a pass when the right runs were made. Nearly setting up James Justin for a third goal in the first half.
The Nigerian won headers and aggressively closed down from the front causing the Bees to turn backward and give the ball away. He nearly topped this off with what would have been an amazing goal. He won the ball high up the pitch and showed an amazing turn of pace to close in on goal, but his confidence got the better of him as his delicate chip beat the keeper but also the goal. It didn’t matter though as when he was subbed late on, the Leicester faithful all cheered and clapped an all-round display to be proud of. They used to sing “he’s magic…” to Iheanacho ironically, not anymore. He’s the real deal.
A different approach to Leicester City corners
Many of us will sit in the stadium and ask simple questions as to why the team doesn’t do the obvious, particularly when it comes to defending corners. But one thing has baffled me and many of us for a long time. Considering how bad we are at defending corners, why don’t we leave anyone up on the halfway line for corners? It would take defenders away from attacking our box and leave us with a quick counter option.
Today the Foxes didn’t just leave one player up, they left three! Harvey Barnes, Maddison and Iheanacho all spread across the width of the halfway line. This left the novel sight of a corner kick with six players nowhere near the cross. It didn’t lead to any goals but it did lead to one quick break that immediately saw the King Power outfit move 70 yards up the pitch.
Playing this style is brave but with how poorly Leicester are defending corners it’s worth keeping faith with this style, in the future, it could lead to some interesting counter-attacks, let’s hope it’s here to stay. Please click the below link to travel directly to the final page of the article with FoL’s last learned point.
Who’s fit today then??
This season has quite frankly been nothing but a farce when it comes to injuries. Every game we check the team news on our phones an hour before kick-off with no idea who will be fit for the game. There were rumours that Soyuncu could be out amongst others. So it was a surprise to see Timothy Castagne start albeit with a few early poor touches before he curled in a beautiful top corner screamer that is surely a strong bet for “goal of the month”. He was subbed after an hour to protect his return to the team.
Wesley Fofana was also missing after his heroic display at Rennes on Thursday night, but this was because of his phased return from injury. Returning from the bench was the much missed Jonny Evans to the backline and Boubakary Soumare to midfield. Ricardo Pereira was also an unused sub. The point is that it’s getting increasingly hard to figure out who is fit, how fit they are, and if they’re not fit when they might return. Just to compound this confusion it looks like Wilfred Ndidi might be out for the season with a knee injury. Who knows who will be available after the international break.