Who doesn’t enjoy an early season Friday night away trip to Saint Mary’s Stadium, full of goals and “ole’s” all completed before Saturday even arrives? Southampton fans! Leicester produced a clinical and magic performance to roll over a potential promotion contender and have Enzo Maresca delighted, but what three things will he have learned.
Stephy Mavididi – an enigmatic display!
Leicester City have been crying out for fresh wingers for many seasons and all of a sudden they have some contenders! Kasey McAteer struck a classy goal to add to his tally and put in a solid performance on the right but it was the man playing out on the left that grabbed the headlines in all his maddening glory. Stephy Mavididi was close to unplayable against Southampton, with several marauding runs causing issues for his hapless opposition.
The first was in the opening 20 seconds where he marched towards the byline in the box before a selfless, scruffy cutback that found its way via a deflection too a grateful Jamie Vardy to open his league goal account for the season. His hard work and persistence in the first half saw Leicester into a 2-1 lead with Mavididi desperate to add more. He saw a tame effort comfortably saved in the 36th minute before going outside on his left foot 4 minutes later and forcing another smart save. In first-half injury time, he produced a piece of magic as he spun away from a late challenge that saw him scramble back to his feet and play a neat through ball to Wilfred Ndidi who calmly cut back on his right foot to slot home and put the game back in Leicester’s favour.
The enigma of Mavididi came in the 60th minute when he found himself through on goal after penetrating The Saints bizarre high-line, but as he honed in on goal Gavin Bazunu smartly closed down the angles making the only viable option an easy on the plate tap in for Jamie Vardy. Mavididi opted to poke it wide instead, much to the annoyance of Leicester’s No.9.
Six minutes later a very similar situation opened up as he went round a Saints defender and charged forward. This time Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was placed nicely to his left, instead he decided to knock the ball neatly past the goalkeeper much to the delight of the away fans. Goal or not though, he made the wrong decision twice and ended up scoring to add to his two assists. He will continue to excite and frustrate unless he makes some simple changes to his game, at which point he’ll be a frighteningly good prospect. Because even on this display he was clearly the man of the match.
Style better suited on the road
Due to their style of play and standing in the football league, the foxes will need to have patience. Opponents will likely sit off them and wait for them to make mistakes. Southampton were not in the mood for that and paid a heavy price. Earlier in the season Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town were more conservative in their setup to Leicester City but still got caught out on key occasions. This is because home supporters always demand their team ‘has a go’ or throw caution to the wind. This is exactly what Enzo Maresca’s men want so they can open up enough angles to thread passes into space and attack where it hurts.
This is not going to happen as much (if at all) at the King Power this season with teams happy to take a point or snatch something on the counter, something Coventry City and Cardiff City nearly achieved and Hull City did. It’s possible the key to this season will be managing those lofty expectations of home supporters.
James Justin has a role to play, can anyone else emerge?
With the season into its sixth game, it was the first time Enzo Maresca utilised former England hopeful James Justin in the league in favour of Wout Faes. Justin was deployed on the right side of the defence playing almost as a centre/full back throughout. His sharpness and speed to win ahead of pacy attackers was evident and he was key in blocking and closing down shots and crosses throughout.
His main Southampton 1-4 Leicester: 3 things we learned came when Southampton threw on their pacy wide man Kamaldeen Sulemana in the second half. Sulemana seemed to have the better of him for a brief 5-10 minute spell as the former Luton man tried desperately to keep a handle on him. But Justin slowly worked him out and ensured he was kept to minimum problems throughout the second half, before frustrating him enough into a lunge the ref deemed worthy of a red card. After this solid display, he may have worked his way into the first team, with his profile adding much-needed pace to a sometimes sluggish backline. After seemingly being out in the cold, Justin has emerged into contention. Lessons from this should be learned, perhaps players like Patson Daka and Harry Souttar could well be integrated back, provided they want to be.