There are few things sweeter for Foxes fans than watching their beloved Leicester City beat Tottenham Hotspur. Three things do better that feeling, though: annihilating, embarrassing and taking them to pieces. Here are the key things Foxes of Leicester learned:
Kelechi Iheanacho is the new No.9 and should be for good
Kelechi is on fire! In the last two games, the Nigerian International has scored two goals and assisted three whilst causing opposition defenders plenty of problems. He has capitalised on playing against a defence that lacked discipline and structure. Tottenham were alarmingly bad and Iheanacho was chief tormentor.
The revelation for City supporters is that we have been frequently told and shown by Brendan Rodgers that Kelechi cannot play as a No.9 in the same way the legendary Jamie Vardy has led the front line for the last ten years off the shoulder of defenders. But against Spurs, Kelechi showed the way to play as a false-nine to expert effect: he came short to bring others into play, won aerial challenges, pulled into wide spaces to stretch the defence and crucially posed an attacking threat.
The Nigeria international is forming a formidable partnership with star man James Maddison who he played in to cooly slot home. On half-time, the former embarrassed a panicked Eric Dier before slotting a perfect finish into the bottom corner past Fraser Forster. In the second half, Iheanacho placed a header over and played Harvey Barnes in for a goal that was – in my completely bias opinion – wrongly chalked off for offside. On 77 minutes the striker was substituted to a rousing reception and a whole stadium joining in a chorus of how magic he is.
It is possible that Iheanacho has been underestimated by his last couple of opponents, who are still trying to work out this new look Leicester Against a team that decides to sit in deep against the foxes he may find the going trickier. But with both Vardy and Patson Daka struggling in all areas this season, Kelechi offers the best option to break down stubborn opponents. Brendan Rodgers needs to keep faith with the 26-year-old for the rest of the season in this formation, through good times and bad. If he doesn’t, the in form attacker would rightfully ask his agent if LCFC is the right place for his future.
Victor Kristiansen is the leader the XI needed for years
In the absence of Youri Tielemans, Maddison was given the captain’s armband and the Englishman was well suited to the responsibility. But the revelation in the last two games for the east Midlanders has been young Danish left-back Viktor Kristiansen, a player we never knew we needed so badly. When he cleared a misplaced Iheanacho header from under the bar he punched the net in triumph, showing a passion for defending we haven’t seen for some time. Early on the fresh Fox was barking orders at his defence to push up to the halfway line to test a Spurs side lacking in pace. In addition to helping Wout Faes concentrate his energies on Harry Kane.
Tellingly, Kristiansen also gave Barnes an ear-bashing for not pushing down the left flank enough in the first half. Kristiansen showed how to do it when he pressed with aggression – almost to make a point. This is something Barnes has needed for a long time! It didn’t take the winger long to get the message as he caused all sorts of problems for the opposition in the second half. The England-capped player atoned for the nonsense of his first goal chalked off by placing in an even better finish late on.
But Kristiansen was a key part of this success with overlapping runs and link-up play that Barnes has sorely needed. The fullback had the most touches of all Leicester players and is fast proving to be a crucial signing as Leicester City lift themselves away from the bottom three. Admittedly he made a mess of one clearance that led to to Rodrigo Bentancur’s opener, but Kristiansen is young and will learn and grow into a great player and maybe even a captain of the future.
Savour these magic Leicester City moments
It might sound cheesy but it’s amazing what a day out watching your football team win can do for your spirits. Tottenham have dished out enough drubbings to Leicester City since they returned to the Premier League and have spoilt many of our days, so today really mattered. For all the horrendous results (6-1, 6-2, 5-4, 4-2 4-3, that 3-2!) it seemed like the foxes landed their heavy punch to Spurs and consequently cast doubt over their Champions League aspirations. Leicester City were all over them and not once did the win look in doubt as they swarmed like wasps to win the ball back on each occasion. A player that epitomised this attitude was one Nampalys Mendy.
Mendy is a player that has endured a curious time in his 7 years at the club. Injured for much of his first few years at the club and sent out on loan, he has never been a first-choice player. But Rodgers might have to re-assess this assertion as Mendy was crucial to breaking up play and progressing the ball. He had a couple of wobbles giving the ball away in dangerous areas but largely his accuracy was over 90% of his 69 completed passes.
The only stat that we’ll take away from this game is the one that saw Mendy do something he’s never done before for Leicester. Surely Mendy would have taken a ‘daisy cutter’ similar to the only goal that N’golo Kante managed in a foxes shirt. When it fell to him on the edge of the box none of us could quite believe what happened next. As those in row Z ducked to protect their pies they were greeted with a thunderbolt that ripped into the roof of the net and nearly lifted the roof off the King Power. Mendy raced away to celebrate with a smile as big as any in Leicester whilst fans looked on in disbelief trying to remember if he had ever even had a shot for the football club before, let alone a goal (he hit the bar at Cardiff in 2018). When he was subbed later in the game, he was given a well-deserved standing ovation. Football was made for days like this.
Bonus referee mention
The game was marred somewhat by inconsistent fouls for both teams and random assertions that nobody in the stadium would make, along with bizarre yellow cards, and bad advantage calls that made no sense to either team. Following an injury call, he ran half the length of the pitch to take the ball off Danny Ward, bounce it and then give it back to him. Everyone can have an off day and maybe this was his. But it’s not good enough for this level and highlights the poor standard that we have grown accustomed to. This is nothing new to learn from but given the shambles of refereeing on offer in the Premier League on February 11, let’s not let this go unnoticed. We pay a lot of money to watch football and deserve better officials.