Everton 1-1 Leicester: Three positives after more dropped points

In the end, it was another case of dropped points. Leicester City’s lack of game management undid another solid away performance, as they sacrificed three points down to one against Everton at Goodison Park. Despite this, there were a lot of positives in the fixture. What three things did I learn during the game?

Leicester City’s static possession (during first half) efficient, effective

Static possession is a fairly basic concept. It’s a phase of the game, just like attacking and defending. In the modern era, a lot of matches are spent in transition from defence-to-attack (because of the pressing intensity), whereas I class “static possession” as a phase where the controlling team has built possession from the back, and is trying to pass, dribble and create through an organised defensive structure.

For most of this season, LCFC’s static possession has been fairly pragmatic and uninspiring. There’s been a lot of examples of the Foxes struggling to break down deep blocks, and a lot of this stems from the usage of the ball in static possession. However, against Frank Lampard’s Everton, possession was better optimised and it aided the control of the fixture for Brendan Rodgers’ side.

To enable this, there were a lot of position rotations, a great example being James Maddison’s movement as a false right-winger. His consistency in drifting central and overloading that space, was a key contributor to unlocking the Toffees. In the flanks, both full-backs (James Justin and Timothy Castagne) had the freedom to progress into advanced areas, as their defensive positioning was subsidised by the midfielders — mainly Youri Tielemans and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

Alongside the aforementioned movements, the Foxes also played expansively in possession, held constant width — stretching the playing surface and had intensity in their passing. Micro changes, like the speed of passing across the backline, all played a small part in ensuring static possession was efficient for Leicester City. It was this usage of the ball that allowed a quick start, the early lead, and a dominant display for the opening 30 minutes of the game before Everton adapted and started to grow into the fixture.