Northampton manager Joe Brady had struggles to field a team for the game vs. Leicester, having only nine players available and using eight trialists.
Leicester came to the game with two teams of players mostly being based in Premier League over the past seasons, so the level of preperations and selections were at two totally different levels.
Northampton got promoted from League Two last season, ending third in the table. Their manager Joe Brady is planning his season as many teams at this level does, bringing the tallies of players down to a minimum to avoid financial problems over a period with little or no income.
In the game and during commentaries, John Dunn struggled heavily, as he just named the players on the field trialist A to H, having no clue about their names, with Matt Elliott not either able to recognize the faces of those unnamed players.
Of course good to see Leicester winning the game, but watching on, it was sloppy, little or no penetration generated, lost chances from Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka, not really showing the form needed to be the player to score the goals. Leicester had the ball 72% and were in total domination, but still you had two goalkeepers struggling heavily with distribution of the ball, and it should have been a more comfortable win against someone that really have other matters to worry about.
All hats of to Northampton working hard keeping Leicester on their toes, and hopefully Joe Brady will have a good group in place for the season opener and possibly being able to name his players for a game, in danger of losing them, after seeing them doing so well against an opposition from a higher level.
This is the grim life of football below the top tiers and hopefully Leicester will avoiding falling down into this environment, winning 1-0, scoring just one goal against someone that in real do not now each other.
We will hopefully see more positives against OH Leuven, Spurs and Liverpool as the pre-season continues and a more concrete and settled team will be in place, because this looks messy, unsettled and far from a finished article fighting for promotion in just a few weeks time.
Heavily worried if we are not seeing improvements, with the games vs. Spurs and Liverpool not at all ideal, as Leicester will be without the ball most of the game, and giving Enzo Maresca no clues about his team before the season opener vs. Coventry.
The set up of the pre-season looks as if it has no sporting approach at all, as it is difficult to see the pattern of a good preperation in front of a difficult season, hopefully taken on in the best way possible and not stopping progress from happening.
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