New game, new selection, good to see James Maddison and Harvey Barnes back, but in a way this set up looks a bit difficult as it in real does not bring enough power to the engine, and there is something wrong.
Despite this line-up Iheanacho’s movement together with Barnes and Tetê does not really work well together, it become a bit static, but the shot of Youri Tielemans early on could have made this game so different if VAR had not come in, but agian probably correct decission.
Instead Leeds made the most ouf of their home advantage and scored a lovely goal after 20 minutes, Jack Harrison found Sinisterra on the back post and his header went in to the goal, Leeds were 1-0 up.
The fact that James Maddison is playing, makes Youri Tielemans and Bouba Soumare not the same partnership and defensively Leicester are not compact enough as we did see vs. Wolves. The whole team will be affected by Maddison as his movement and involvement makes the team suffer defensively.
This is a massive dilemma going forward, because Maddison is a very important player for the team, but his impact can in some way be difficult to balance as he keeps the ball a lot and every pass looks to go through him and it becomes a bit predictable.
Leicester came out 2nd half with one target, to score as early as possible, but Kelechi Iheanacho and the other Leicester players had problems getting the penetration needed to score.
It was’nt before Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka were put on and what TCF has said all season long, playing Vardy, Daka and Iheanacho at the same time, will bring goals to the table and they can all play up front as they showed today, bringing great power to the forward line with good runs and hard work.
A number of chances were created, but Leeds goalkeeper Meslier had a good games and saved clear chances. But when Leicester made their move after 80 minutes with great and fantastic combinations between Iheanacho, Maddison and Vardy, and JV getting in this position, we did get that massive 1-1 goal, and it all exploded when Vardy scored, fantastic.
Some just look at his age of 36, but that does not count as he still can run, and run fast, so telling everyone Jamie Vardy is too old is just people without any knowledge at all about football, again being fooled by the man himself, just brilliant.
Vardy could have had one more, but was clearly in an offside position, so why Patson Daka decided to play him through instead of just taking one more step towards goal himself, tells a story of a player without enough confidence as that surely should have been done, and he would then not have played Jamie Vardy in offside and even had a chance to finish himself.
Leicester stopped a bit after this and a massive chance for Patrick Bamford to score came in stoppage time, but clearly the Leeds forward was in offside, and would probably been stopped by VAR. Earlier on Daniel Iversen made one heroic save as he again makes it clear what a good goalkeeper he is.
Leicester are now above the relegation zone and one point above Everton with one more game played, with games tomorrow being important in the race for safety. Everton, Forest and Southampton are all playing tomorrow as it will be very exciting to watch.
- Positives
- Coming back after again being 1-0 down at half time
- Jamie Vardy showing his edge, Maddison’s contribution offensively
- Daniel Iversen again with important save
- Start of the game, very positive
- Dean Smith able to get something out of different games with different approaches
- Making changes during the game that win you points, good decision making
- Negatives
- Kelechi Iheanacho possibly picking up an injury, after the goal scored by Jamie Vardy
- Letting in a goal early on, no pressure on Harrison and little or no marking on the beack, players ballwatching
- The latter stages, lack on consentration and little or no leadership in the back
- Soumare not able to build on his massive performance vs. Wolves, but still hopefully can build more momentum going forward
Player Ratings: Iversen 7, Castagne 6, Kristiansen 5, Soyuncu 7, Faes 6, Soumare 6, Tielemans 6, Barnes 5, Iheanacho 6, Tetê 5, Maddison 6 Subs: Praet, Vardy, Daka,
- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Daniel Iversen
Match Stats (H/A)
- Possession: 41 / 59
- Corners: 3 / 6
- Shots on target: 3 / 3
- Fouls: 14 / 15
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