Leicester City continued their torrid start to the season with a 6-2 drubbing by Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Saturday evening. Here are three things learned from the occasion.
Wout Faes looks to be a shrewd Leicester City signing
Many Leicester fans and much of the Premier League were intrigued to witness the debut of the 24-year-old Wesley Fofana replacement and they were not disappointed. In a really difficult game to make your debut, up against the likes of Harry Kane and Richarlison, Faes demonstrated many attributes that City fans were desperately hoping he had. He was wonderfully aggressive in the tackle – his crunching challenge on Dejan Kulusevski an example of this.
Faes also did a masterful job, especially in the first half, by disrupting the entry pass into the Spurs forward line. This resulted in the Foxes being able to maintain pressure on their opponents by winning the ball back higher up the pitch, while also nullifying one of Tottenham’s preferred methods of counter attacking.
Another aspect in which the Belgian impressed mightily was his assuredness on the ball and with a very sharp turn of pace, something that is missed dearly with the departure of Fofana. Many times the centre half calmly progressed the ball forward and played through the lines into the midfield or into the forwards.
That aspect was one potential concern coming into this game, as there had not been much evidence or relevant data that Faes could do this at a consistent level. Although it is very early days into the new signing’s tenure with the club, for £15million, it looks like very good piece of business.
Wilfred Ndidi should not start over Boubakary Soumare
Despite nearly leaving in the summer transfer window, Soumare has shown that he has managed to adapt to the EPL pace extremely well. The Frenchman gives City a much more assured ball playing option in the holding midfield position, as well as much more variety when playing out from the back.
It is no secret that Ndidi has his limitations with the ball at his feet; which is more than likely the reason no top club has ever been seriously interested in targeting him. However, due to the Nigerian’s sensational ability to close off passing lanes and break down opposition’s play consistently, it’s very fair to say that up until this season the positives outweighed the negatives. Unfortunately that no longer seems to be the case.
Ndidi’s form defensively has dropped significantly within the start to this season, meaning that he is now a net negative when placing on a Leicester City shirt. It is easy to point to his glaring error in the third Tottenham goal as the reason why he should be omitted. But there are numerous occasions when trying to build up from the back, that Ndidi simply occupies space at the “DM” position, resulting in less options for whoever is on the ball. When Ndidi does receive the ball – in what you may call a problematic area of the pitch – his only course of action is to play a wall pass back to his team mate.
This is an area in which Soumare is exponentially more equipped in, the 22-year-old will happily receive the pass in those areas on the half turn releasing the pressure off his side and then being able to open up the pitch. Of course if Ndidi returns back to his best, which is very possible bearing in mind, then it’s a no brainer with his capabilities, however at the moment Soumare is without a doubt the better option in that position.
Lars Knudsen has an enormous job on his hands
The Foxes’ new set piece coach may be rethinking his decision to join the East midlands club after another two goals were conceded from corners in the contest against Tottenham. Although the second may have been less preventable than the first, the facts are that no other side has conceded more goals the Leicester since the start of last season in the Premier League.
This does seem to be the issue is that when any amount of quality does get delivered into the box, more times than not the end result is a goal. One of the reasons behind letting Kasper Schmeichel go was is lack of command in his area, something that new number one Danny Ward has shown even less assured in.
It is the case that City are not the most tallest or physical team but what lets them down – not just on set pieces – is the lack of organisation which was displayed for the first goal, a simple set piece routine enabled Spurs to enact an overload at the back post which resulted in Kane to head home for probably his easiest goal of the season.
James Maddison actually expressed in an interview with Sky Sports news after the game:
"“If I told you how many hours we have done working on that because it was a bit of a downfall of ours last season, brought in a set-piece coach and everyone’s bought into that.”"
Of course will take time for Knudsen to have the desired effect on the side. Without many physically gifted and dominant aerial threats in the team, that impact might just take that bit longer.