It was certainly another beautiful day to be a Leicester City fan. The Foxes travelled to Burton Albion for their first round Carabao Cup tie on Wednesday evening and came away with a welcomed two to nil result, with goals from Nigerian duo Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi seeing them cruise past the League One outfit. Let’s take a look at three players that, in my opinion, really stood out for Enzo Maresca‘s side in this game.
For number three, I picked Wanya Marcal-Madivadua as someone who really stood out for me. The 20 year old winger started out on the left of Maresca’s 3-2-4-1 formation, and looked solid throughout the game completing 93% of his passes and three out of five dribbles . In particular, the Portuguese winger was terrorizing Burton Albion fullback Jake Caprice, leaving the defender tugging his shirt attempting to deal with his pace. Marcal looks like he could fit this system nicely as long as he keeps attempting his dribbles and refines his positioning.
Second in this list Wilfred Ndidi. He played well for someone who was rumored to be leaving. Now it’s clear to see he needs to stay at Leicester. He is showing off skills we didn’t know he had, as well as being a crucial target for our keeper when a long ball up the field is needed to relieve pressure.
Ndidi obviously had his goal, but his overall performance in this advanced number eight role was solid. He tracked back, and was involved heavily in the build up play throughout the game.
I noticed specifically in the building from the back, when Callum Doyle would receive the ball his first look was for Ndidi. Many times Doyle played him the ball and Ndidi’s pass decided if the play would progress or continue to probe. He played multiple first time passes in this area to resist the press, which Leicester did with ease all game. I think we can look forward to Wilf playing a crucial role in City‘s campaign this season.
I don’t think anyone would be able to argue with my number one stand out performer in this game. Take a bow, Kelechi Iheanacho. The “Seniorman” laid down his marker for the season, signalling his potential to challenge Leicester City legend Jamie Vardy regularly for the starting striker position. As someone who is a massive Vardy fan, it pains me to say that Iheanacho looked much more comfortable than Vardy in this ball possession system being implemented by Enzo.
We saw glimpses of his effectiveness when he was subbed on during our first league match against Coventry City. I specifically remember Iheanacho backing into Coventry defenders and holding the ball up with ease, laying off to teammates as they ran past him. It makes sense that Iheanacho would be so comfortable in this system: he came from Manchester City. This style should be something he was familiar with from his time under Man City manager Pep Guardiola.
Getting to Iheanacho’s goal, it was just superb. It came from a beautiful build up that included multiple first time passes in midfield, that concluded with a perfect cross from the right footed wizard Marc Albrighton into the box, being skilfully back-footed home by Iheanacho. The Nigerian forward also registered an assist on his compatriot’s goal. Iheanacho was played in behind the Albion backline following a quickly taken free kick, taking the ball all the way to the touchline and drawing the keeper and defenders to him creating space for Ndidi to arrive late in the box and cushion home a fine finish into the upper ninety of the opposition goal.
Being honest, it wasn’t easy picking these three players as I thought the team played extremely well from top to bottom. It seems that every game we see, the ideas are being more cemented in these players minds and they look happy playing in this system. Maresca had said when he was hired, “Players are happy with the ball”. Judging from the huge smiles and celebrations from these players after winning two out of two games so far, it would seem Enzo’s philosophy is ringing true. Let’s see if they continue this hot streak against their next league opponents Huddersfield Town this Saturday. Up the Foxes!