Leicester 2-0 Stoke: all positives, no negatives
![LEICESTER, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 07: Kelechi Iheanacho of Leicester City celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the Sky Bet Championship match between Leicester City and Stoke City at The King Power Stadium on October 07, 2023 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Harriet Lander/Getty Images) LEICESTER, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 07: Kelechi Iheanacho of Leicester City celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the Sky Bet Championship match between Leicester City and Stoke City at The King Power Stadium on October 07, 2023 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Harriet Lander/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/f03a9599c73f1b253e99024647cfb6928bf6b64912b2d6f99ca30f2d83a0bb3a.jpg)
Depth galore
Hamza Choudhury, Yunus Akgun, Cesare Casadei, Harry Souttar, and Kelechi Iheanacho. These were the players brought in with the aim of rotating the squad. James Justin out, Conor Coady out, Wilfred Ndidi out, Jamie Vardy out, and of course the injured Kasey McAteer out. The Foxes have depth in numbers for the first time in a long time, the only weakness being fullbacks which are barely used.
Yet the King Power club continues to march on. A play style we were told would never work for the likes of Ndidi and Choudhury: I remember being told multiple times that Ndidi was nothing more than a defender with no forward-looking ability. That Choudhury was the worst DM in the Championship last campaign. Well, now one of them is a regular playing as a box-to-box attacker and the other a versatile defender and DM in a team currently sitting at the summit.
To think just a couple seasons ago, we had nowhere near enough attacking depth. Now, Iheanacho, Vardy, the frozen Patson Daka, injured Tom Cannon, Akgun, Abdul Fatawu, McAteer, and Stephy Mavididi are all brilliant options. With others in the youth side waiting to pounce, there is a great opportunity for Leicester City.
Maresca’s team against Stoke illustrated that the team can be rotated around a core, and the side will still dominate the ball, still employ the style of play, and still win. Under previous management, rotations would be considered a fatal mistake.