Brentford will be, especially so early in the season, a difficult opponent for all teams when they come to visit. The Bees are hard to beat and they do have a strong team togetherness which always will be the mantra for such a club that cannot buy what they like in the transfer market.
Leicester have found a rythm and strength now in their team fielding a back three with comfort and good alternatives on the different positions. They also have two flank players in Ricardo Pereira and Timothy Castagne that are at their best among the top players in this position, so going forward we will probably see Leicester in this system, as it also gives Brendan Rodgers the opportunity to play two strikers and alternate between Jamie Vardy, Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho all of them top quality.
BR decided to play Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho from start and despite high pressure from Brentford in the opening minutes, Leicester did keep their forward line away from too many big chances, and then when you have a player like Youri Tielemans who can score from distance, you will always hurt teams not able to defend as well as they attack.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhat we did see after 14 minutes was a screamer of a shot from the Belgian international and the ball just went into the net with a speed not possible for Brentfords goalkeeper to act and save it, Leicester were 1-0 up and showed again that mental strength and quality needed to get away with all possible points even on days when you are not playing as well as you should.
Brentford did have more pressure first half, but good defending helped as Leicester kept their lead after the first 45 minutes of play. Sadly Jamie Vardy had to leave the field with an injury giving Patson Daka another chance to shine and we did see him do so in the 2nd half.
Embed from Getty ImagesBrentford put pressure on Leicester, and after 60 minutes they were rewarded getting equal with a goal from Mathias Jørgensen. But with top performers in the Leicester squad and rightly put together you will get rewarded, that is the quality that makes the difference between the team in the top and the bottom.
James Maddison sprinted alongside Patson Daka up on a counter attack and the latter being unselfish and passed the ball to Maddison who could just put the ball in the open net, fantastic too watch as this happened in the 73rd minute.
Jannik Vestergaard had just come on for Caglar Soyuncu, who had a yellow card and probably the reason why Brendan Rodgers didn’t want to risk anything, and today Jannik did well and again showed good quality as Leicester did see out a great new result after that massive 4-2 win v. Man Utd.
We were all a bit worried after the Spartak Moscow game, but to see Youri Tielemans in the team, scoring that great goal made it all a great evening, what a performance from this player, a real giant and hopefully we will see him sign his new contract soon as that would really be a breat booster for the club and the manager.
Baubo Soumare also kept up the good work in midfield and to see James Maddison getting into those areas we love to see him and soon probably back to his best, makes it great to go into the next two games at home v. Brighton in the EFL Cup and coming up against an improved Arsenal team in the next.
Embed from Getty ImagesLeicester are up to 9th and in close reach of the top four, if this continues we might be back in contention for those Champions League spots sooner rather than later. Today everyone worked hard and got the three points on board, well done.
- Positives
- Two great goals, Youri Tielemans what a strike, Patson Daka just handing it on a plate for Maddison
- Winning away at a difficult stadium
- Hard fight as the team put a good shift in
- Negatives:
- Vardy injury, hopefully soon fresh again
- Letting in a goal
- Soyuncu yellow card
Player Ratings: Schmeichel 6, Amartey 7, Castagne 6, Evans 7, Soyuncu 6, Soumare 7, Tielemans 8, Maddison 7, Iheanacho 6, Vardy 6, Pereira 7, Subs: Daka 7, Vestergaard, Perez
Embed from Getty Images- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Youri Tielemans
Match Stats (H/A):
- Possession: 54 / 46
- Corners: 9 / 2
- Shots on target: 5 / 6
- Fouls: 13 / 7
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