A Third Round trip to the team sat bottom of the football league was never going to be something to get excited about. The BBC cameras smelt Premier League blood as they assembled with a voyeuristic thirst for top-flight prey. So what three things did Leicester City learn from this giant banana skin?
Cup runs exacerbate a bare-bones squad
With the Premier League campaign going flatter than New Year’s Eve champagne, many Leicester City fans welcomed some cup action to forget three consecutive defeats. Brendan Rodgers was also keen to extend his largely positive cup pedigree with the Foxes. But with the squad decimated by injuries and players lacking fitness, two cup games in the space of three and a half days possibly isn’t the tonic needed to bring back the fizz.
This dictated a lot of Rodgers thinking with the team selection for this game. The entire back five was plucked from the reserves. Caglar Soyuncu and Jannik Vestergaard made for an unlikely centre-back partnership with Lewis Brunt and Kasey McAteer drafted in for rare appearances as attacking full-backs.
Further up the pitch, Nampalys Mendy partnered Youri Tielemans in the middle and surprisingly Jamie Vardy started with Kelechi Iheanacho up top as a two. The bench was littered with first-team players but with substitutes only being made after the 80th minute and only three being used it showed Brendan’s reluctance to utilise players he will no doubt be calling upon at a Carabao Cup quarter-final at Newcastle in the week.
The play itself lacked energy and dynamism as if they were deliberately trying to win the game in no higher than 3rd gear to save tiring legs, or perhaps even worse they were unable to go beyond those levels. Gillingham gave a lot of huff and puff and with a bit more luck may have caused LCFC more problems, but a club that has only managed seven league goals this far into a season will struggle to cause many teams problems.
Kelechi Iheanacho adds another cup goal but will he ever be a starter
In the 56th minute, McAteer found space to cut the ball back for a familiar face to gleefully hammer the ball into the unguarded net for what turned out to be the winning goal. So just what is it with Kelechi Iheanacho and FA cup goals? He has now racked up 16 and is currently sat in the top 20 of all-time FA Cup goalscorers. Part of the reason for this is down to him consistently being used as an alternative option to the regular starters in the Premier League.
This tendency reaped the greatest rewards in 2021 when Kelechi was arguably the most important player in Leicester City’s victorious FA Cup run. He doesn’t just stop at FA Cup goals either, he has nine League Cup goals and six in European competitions. With a career total of 70 goals split into 38 EPL finishes and 32 in other competitions, it proves that the Nigeria international just loves scoring no matter who he plays against.
But even after being the club’s top goalscorer in the 2020-2021 season, Iheanacho has struggled to cement a first-team place. Part of that is his own inconsistency which could even be seen in this game as he finds doing simple hold-up play a mystery and choosing the right options difficult. Part of it is also Brendan’s reluctance to play two up front where he thrived in his top-scoring season.
With options running thin it might be time for Brendan to consider Kelechi out wide on the right of his more favoured three, where the east Midlands side have struggled to find a regular starter. There will now be another FA Cup game for Kelechi to extend his good FA Cup form but it remains to be seen if he will extend his Premier League tally. There is a burning question he might want to ask himself – is Leicester City the best place for him to succeed in the coming years?
Jamie Vardy’s decline at Leicester City continues
A huge part of the reason for Kelechi Iheanacho’s lack of game time is down to the Premier League legend that opposition fans love to goad. Jamie Vardy has been a mainstay in the foxes team for a decade and has been a hard act to follow.
But as he turns 36 on the January 11, we can all see that his best times are behind him. In this game, he tried to turn back the clock by finding space off the shoulder of the defenders. It worked a couple of times where he found space and got shots away only to be thwarted by Jake Turner in the Gillingham goal.
But in truth, Vardy is lacking that lethal pace that has become synonymous with his game and with slouched shoulders throughout many of this seasons appearances it would seem that he is noticing this more than anyone. He no longer presses opponents with aggression and energy, clearly instructed by his manager to occupy spaces that help the team defend when they concede possession and looking to burst into action when opportunities present themselves.
His number went up in the 81st minute where he was replaced by Patson Daka. The Gillingham fans continued their good-natured banter with Leicester City’s No.9 by chanting “Rooney” in relation to his wife’s recently lost court battle. Vardy bowed to the Priestfield crowd who delightfully applauded his part in the ribbing. The City fans enjoyed this too, albeit solemnly with the knowledge that soon he will be bowing his farewells to the King Power faithful on an extraordinary career.