Leicester City ended pre-season with a 1-0 victory over Spanish side Sevilla FC, courtesy of a deflected Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall goal.
Despite a potentially serious injury to Ricardo Pereira and the unnecessarily dirty antics of the visitors, the result will hopefully inject some positivity into what has been a difficult summer. As always, pre-season does not always reflect how the season will pan out, but it does help to highlight existing and new trends. Without further ado, FoL has picked out some key observations for LCFC fans to digest.
NFC ticket teething issues
Leicester City’s final pre-season friendly saw the use of paperless or ‘NFC’ tickets for the first time. This is understandably an effort to improve efficiency and reduce the club’s environmental impact. Unfortunately, teething problems are inevitable and even at a half-full King Power stadium, there were large queues and delays. With the new season starting next week, let us hope that such delays do not become the norm this season.
The new system was not helped by the long-standing lack of signal around the stadium and the fact that some people had not checked their apps and tickets were all downloaded beforehand. Coupled with unusually strict security and irritating announcements, it contributed to a bit of a mess. Whilst supporters will naturally take time to adapt to the changes, the club also should have made instructions on how to use the tickets clearer on social media as well as through other methods of communication.
Dennis Praet must stay at Leicester City
At the start of the summer, Dennis Praet looked near-certain to leave the Foxes and make a return back to Italy. Fortunately, Torino and others who were interested did not meet LCFC’s asking price. As a result, the midfielder has been able to impress in pre-season and hopefully play his way back into contention.
Praet has the versatility and footballing intelligence that the manager craves, being able to play in midfield as well as on the wings. Furthermore, his ability to make runs in behind from deep will certainly be a great asset against the variety of low blocks the Foxes are likely to come up against.
Whilst Brendan Rodgers has not been able to make any new signings, Praet’s versatility and ability are almost as good as a new signing in itself. If Youri Tielemans were to leave this summer, then having Praet would soften if not fully absorb the blow.
If anything can be taken, pre-season has helped highlight the plethora of talent that LCFC possess in certain positions, as well as the high quality of the starting XI. With a couple of additions in key areas, the Foxes can overturn the spiral of negativity with a flourish.
Daniel Iversen is not ready for the first team
Uncertainty around the goalkeeping situation at LCFC is one that has suddenly risen from the pre-season campaign. With Kasper Schmeichel’s future uncertain, Daniel Iversen has enjoyed more playing time as Rodgers has assessed other goalkeeping options in the squad.
However, despite receiving rave reviews from Preston North End fans, Iversen is probably not ready to step into Schmeichel’s shoes just yet. Whilst the two errors committed in consecutive friendlies were an issue, this was not the problem that was most concerning given that errors are more common in pre-season as well.
Rodgers’ style of play requires a goalkeeper to be composed and comfortable in playing the ball out the back. Despite Schmeichel being criticised for the standard of his distribution, he is actually quite good at it for the most part. On the other hand, Iversen is clearly uncomfortable at playing out under pressure. Instead, the Dane will often go long without much accuracy which often leads to turnovers. As a result of this, City struggled to retain possession or build out the back when he was in goal.
The obvious solution to this problem is that Iversen goes back out on loan to a top-level, progressive, Championship side where hopefully he can improve the gaps in his game such as his distribution. Without a resolution on the current No.1, a move away from LCFC seems unlikely in the short term.