Foxes of Leicester
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Leicester 2-1 Cardiff: 3 things FoL learned

By Damon Carter

BURTON-UPON-TRENT, ENGLAND - AUGUST 09: Enzo Maresca, Manager of Leicester City, looks on prior to the Carabao Cup First Round match between Burton Albion and Leicester City at Pirelli Stadium on August 09, 2023 in Burton-upon-Trent, England. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
BURTON-UPON-TRENT, ENGLAND - AUGUST 09: Enzo Maresca, Manager of Leicester City, looks on prior to the Carabao Cup First Round match between Burton Albion and Leicester City at Pirelli Stadium on August 09, 2023 in Burton-upon-Trent, England. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) /
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Leicester City
BURTON-UPON-TRENT, ENGLAND – AUGUST 09: Enzo Maresca, Manager of Leicester City, looks on prior to the Carabao Cup First Round match between Burton Albion and Leicester City at Pirelli Stadium on August 09, 2023 in Burton-upon-Trent, England. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) /

This whole season continues to feel like a novelty, as the dream of Premier League football and trophies seems like a distant memory. But the reality is that winning matches and having a football team with character and heart had been an even more distant memory. That could all be changing this season as Enzo Maresca rewrote history by being the first-ever Leicester City manager to win their opening four matches. Here are the three key things learnt from the victory over Cardiff City.

Is this really a strong squad?

As many of us Foxes fans swarm to our mobile devices an hour before kick-off to check the team news, its now as much a part of the tradition to see who has and hasn’t made the bench. For all the talk of this City squad being one of the strongest in the division, the reality tells a different story. This matchday squad had no sign of Timothy Castagne, Boubakary Soumare, Patson Daka or Harry Souttar. The reasons for this are not too hard to fathom, with each player linked with moves away, but this could be a whiff of them cutting their nose off to spite their face. If the players are fit they would surely help the team be stronger in matches.

Jannik Vestergaard started another game and struggled to keep up with the pace of his opponents again. Young players like Wanya Marçal-Madivadua started another game wide-right and with a great reward (more on that later). However, these must be areas where the gaffer believed he would have stronger players recruited by now.

There are also a wealth of full-backs that now seem to have uncertain futures with seemingly nowhere to sit in this full-backless system. James Justin, Viktor Kristiansen and Luke Thomas must be assessing their options with little action forthcoming and youth still on their side. During the game, Enzo Maresca again didn’t feel the need (or want?) to use his full quota of five substitutes and relied only on two veterans and a young Italian to make an impact. The next two weeks will tell us more about the available players for this season, but right now we’re left with a squad that has more questions than answers.