Leicester City travel to face Manchester United in another tough fixture. Here are the three things you have to look out for on match day.
The Foxes play the Red Devils on Sunday at Old Trafford. Brendan Rodgers’ men have been on hot form in their latest fixtures with a new-look attacking lineup getting them eight goals across two matches. However, Manchester United are another can of fish: determined, and better in-front of goal on both ends.
The Stats
Per 90, the Red side of Manchester sit sixth regarding expected goals difference. This means, they have a good balance between attack and defence, only really being bested by the xG titans of Brighton & Hove Albion and Arsenal. Of course, the King Power club are much further down: 15th.
FB Ref’s stats are based off the whole season, and the previous two fixtures with our new signings paint a much improved picture of the situation. With a total xG of 4.1 and xG Against of 2.9, they actually scored eight and conceded three. So, defensively they are doing as expected and are more clinical than expected in front of goal, even with those offside goals and usual misses.
At the same time, the Red Devils created less but conceded significantly less chances in their fixtures against Leeds United. Further, they have generally more technically gifted players and a more all-round squad depth. This could be a cause for concern, but there has to be optimism with this improved Leicester side.
A new-look Leicester City
What a difference three signings make! Tete, Viktor Kristiansen, and Harry Souttar have been excellent additions to the team. So, my next two points actually revolve around two areas of the pitch: the new-look attack, and then the revitalised defence.
In attack, as Adrian Clarke writes for the Premier League:
"”Leicester’s new-look attacking quartet are absolutely flying… [They] have all been in outstanding form”"
Upfront, James Maddison, Kelechi Iheanacho, Harvey Barnes, and our Brazilian winger have completely revolutionised the way Leicester play. Instead of cautiously hoping to produce something with Patson Daka or Jamie Vardy, the Foxes now consistently create with explosiveness and clinical execution.
It is often to see ‘Madders’ and the ‘Seniorman’ link up at the front as both look to collect the ball ahead of the opposition line and link up play with on-running midfielders like Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall or wingers like our English left winger. Further, the versatility of those two means they can also run in behind the opposition line and create opportunities for themselves as passes come in from midfield and the wings. That is where ‘KDH’ and overlapping fullbacks come into play.
Beyond this, our English and Brazilian wingers offer explosiveness, dribbling, pace, and damaging impact incessantly. You cannot sacrifice a defender to keep Barnes quiet anymore, as you have the same style of player on the other side. If you then try to shut them down with multiple players, you are both creating space more centrally for Maddison and Iheanacho, and reducing your ability to counter on the turnover. For United, this would mean relying too heavily on longer balls to Marcus Rashford to create opportunities.
However, the new defensive line is equally impressive. A newly confident Danny Ward, a returning Ricardo Pereira, an Australian international, an aggressive Wout Faes, and a simply passionate and intelligent Danish left-back. It could not look any more different, yet it feels so similar.
It feels similar because the roles have not changed. A couple seasons ago, we had a back line of Ben Chilwell, Caglar Soyuncu, Jonny Evans, and Pereira. The Belgian CB and Aussie CB have directly replaced the Turkish and Northern Irish defenders.
Souttar brings a passing range reminiscent of Evans and arguably Robert Huth: accurate long balls, neat short passes, and defence splitting passes. Faes has even showed such passing intelligence in recent matches, completely bypassing the midfield and taking it straight to the forwards. In doing so, our central defenders can be both the slow possession recyclers and the spring board for attacking plays.
This side will have to keep Rashford quiet, and it will be interesting to see how Rodgers chooses to mark the England international. As United’s top goal scorer by far, he is the man to watch against our defence. In my opinion, you have a rotational formation which involves an effective back three in possession, where one player will mark Rashford directly and another mark the space he could run into. This helps to minimise his impact on the turnover.
Either of the fullbacks must be tasked with sitting back during the attack depending upon which side Rashford is attacking. They should be the man-marker and follow him. I do expect the head coach to impose something along those lines to shut him down, otherwise leaving any of our players one-on-one could be difficult, even if the Danish left-back can pocket the Englishman throughout.