Leicester 3, Northampton 0, Positives and Negatives, Player Ratings and Match Report, Pre-Season Friendly

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Every summer, you get excited about the next season, wondering what team Leicester will have, who will leave or stay, and if there will be any new players.

Russell Martin made his picks, having both positives and negatives. There were two different teams put out in each half, having a great number of youngsters mixed with the experienced players available.

Will Alves and Louis Page in midfield made the most out of their performance. Riley Carr also in the starting eleven, showed what he can do. Hamza Choudhury captained the team. He also showed positives and had a good game.

Olabade Aluko on the right back, combining well with Riley Carr, and up front Stephy Mavididi showed his quality, scoring the opening goal after 6 minutes. Luke Thomas, Ben Nelson and Caleb Okoli never shone in this first half, not really on the front foot and showing sloppy passing.

Northampton could have equalized early after a poor pass from Caleb Okoli that found The Cobblers’ attacker Harvey Sounders with an open goal, but his shot was weak and hit the back wall of the Seagrave main building.

From then on it was all about Leicester, dominating with 77% possession. You could see some of the experienced players again overthinking how to make all those passes, while players such as Will Alves, Kirsten Otchere and Louis Page looked more relaxed, using the type of play as an advantage and going forward.

Frustrating to see how Ben Nelson and Caleb Okoli not managing to play this type of football as they looks as they are moving wrongly and passing wrongly, not making this fluid at all. Luke Thomas also overthinking and not looking calm and composed today.

Fran Vieites looked steady and able to play the ball out from the back, but had little to do and never really got to show us much of what qualities he have as a goalkeeper.

First half was full of positives and we could see that this group had a good offensive push which makes it evident that thing are moving in the right direction. Will Alves being the dominant player with a man of the match performance.

A win in our pre-season opener ✅@BCGame | #LEINOR pic.twitter.com/W2Fsj5qqp7
— Leicester City (@LCFC) July 11, 2026

Second half a new team was out on the fantastic turf at Seagrave, not really giving us the same type of entertainment we did see in the first half. Jake Evans and Lorenz Hutchinson playing on the flanks with Nathan Opoku as the striker up front.

Oliver Skipp and Bobby De Cordova-Reid were the experienced duo in the middle of the park with Sammy Braybrooke as the third midfielder, in this second half. We had high hopes for Braybrooke today, but he had a hard time making an impact. Skipp and De Cordova-Reid also had a quiet day without much action.

Woyo Coulibaly and Wout Faes were back and coming on second half. They were at Sassoulo (WC) and Monaco (WF) last season, both showing they are quality players and that they of course can cope well with League One.

Jake Evans and Nathan Opoku did their best but rarely challenged the Northampton goalkeeper. Lorenz Hutchinson had some good moments, but it didn’t lead to anything.

Positives

Scoring three goals is always a positive, nice build up on all of them
Two good and balanced teams in each half, showing a pattern and set up to work from
Will Alves could if he continues to play this way, be a major hit in League One next season
Louis Page having a good game, also very impressive
Olabade Aluko and Riley Carr dominating that right side first half, nice to watch
Stephy Mavididi getting his early goal and having a good first half
Scoring three goals in one half with quick and accurate passing as well as great finishing
Hamza Choudhury can be a good midfielder at this level, if he continues in this fashion
Jake Evans trying, interesting watch to see Nathan Opoku and Kirsten Otchere in this set up

Negatives

There wasn’t much to gain from a weak opponent, hopefully due to Leicester.
The experienced players, struggling with their passing, especially Skipp, Nelson and Okoli
A number of the players playing for Leicester might not be around when the season starts

Line Up:
Vieites 6, Aluko 7, Nelson 5, Okoli 5, Thomas 5, Page 8, Alves 8, Otchere 7, Mavididi 7, Carr 7, Choudhury 6, Subs: Stolarczyk 6, Faes 6, Wilson-Brown 6, Joseph 6, Coulibaly 6, Skipp 5, Braybrooke 6, Evans 6, Opoku 6, Hutchinson 6, De Cordova-Reid 5