Leicester were up against Fleetwood at home in the 2nd round of the Carabao Cup, and of course favorites, but we all knew that Claude Puel would do changes to his starting line up.
Nice to see Christian Fuchs in the team, a good player and a great person, and to see him scoring after only 8 minutes and starting brilliantly in his first game of the season. Wes Morgan was partnered by Jonny Evans in the central defence, with Daniel Amartey playing at right back.
Maguire and Pereira were both rested, so was Ndidi and Mendy, with Iborra and Silva playing in the central midfield positions. Ghezzal was given his first start and out on the other flank it was again a place for Marc Albrighton, and with Okazaki partnering Iheanacho up front.
Ward was given a chance to play, with Jakupovic filling the cover role when Kasper Schmeichel was having a rest. Before the first half was over, Leicester had scored another goal this time from Vicente Iborra.
Fleetwood never became a treath and just after the start of second half it was again time for a goal, with Kelechi Iheanacho converting. Iheanacho was taken off just minutes after giving Demarai Gray a few minutes.
Leicester controlled everything and the new man from Monaco, Rachid Ghezzal scored with a nice shot, reminding people of Riyad Mahrez, both players are Algeria internationals and maybe Ghezzal can get close to Mahrez in performance, then City fans will be satisfied.
Diabate replaced Ghezzal after 77 minutes and Filip Benkovic was also given his first team debut by Claude Puel, coming in for Wes Morgan after 62 minutes. According to reports from the ground, this was a very solid performance and they player given the chance really grabbed it.
Mendy, Knight, Maddison and Jakupovic were the unused subs. Puel who reached the final of this cup in the 2016-17 season is eager to get good results and his way of fielding the team against Fleetwood shows his ambition.
- Positvies:
- Winning at home convincingly, well balanced line-up
- Amartey getting a real chance to show his worth, Puel must be a great believer
- Wes Morgan leads with example, important move to keep him in the team
- Albrighton again showed his worth, great pass to Iheanacho on his goal
- Fuchs, what a goal, and also assisting on Iborra’s goal
- Ghezzal with a great goal, nice performance in his starting debut
- Iheanacho as a single forward gets on the score sheet
- Negatives:
- Iborra getting a yellow card
- King and Simpson not even named on the bench
Player Ratings: Ward 6. Amartey 6, Fuchs 7, Morgan 6, Evans 6, Iborra 7, Silva 7, Albrighton 7, Ghezzal 8, Okazaki 6, Iheanacho 6, Subs: Gray, Benkovic, Diabate
Match Stats: H/A
- Possession: 72 / 28
- Corners: 9 / 2
- Shots on target: 7 / 1
- Shots wide: 3 / 1
- Fouls: 7 / 10
- Offsides: 2 / 2
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