Bristol Rovers 1, Leicester 2, Positives and Negatives, Player Ratings and Match Report, Pre-Season Friendly

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A new game in pre-season, this time away to Bristol Rovers. Leicester played a game of 120 minutes, with four halfs of 30 minutes. This is more of a training session than a match, but still of course it’s football, so to look at it and give views on it will be possible.

Russell Martin decided to change his set up from the Northampton game, first of all surprised to see Wout Faes being the captain, but indeed no problem with that, rather than it would be a major surprise if the Belgian international will be staying at Leicester this season.

Fran Vieites was in goal from start, changing the back four and keeping the midfield players from the previous game, having the same set up front with Otchere, Mavididi and Riley Carr.

Leicester came out of the blocks as fast anyone could have hoped for Kirsten Otchere scoring the opening goal, building up on his performance vs. Northampton.

Leicester were the dominate team, but not as convincing performances from Louis Page and Will Alves as we did see vs. Northampton. They are both young and need game time to get to a level where their performances are constantly on the upper shelf.

Stephy Mavididi came close to score, but instead it was Bristol Rovers who managed to level after 40 minutes, which of course was a bit disappointing. Bristol Rovers were the type of team we believed they would be, being hard working and having that mentality to never give up, and at home, they were of course looking for a good result.

120 more minutes in our legs ✅#BRVLEI | @BCGame pic.twitter.com/BxzpyhkeqC
— Leicester City (@LCFC) July 14, 2026

After the break and for the final 60 minutes, Leicester played a totally different team, showing they have depth in their squad to handle the situation. Ben Nelson, Caleb Okoli, Luke Thomas and Olabade Aluko lined up in the back line, looked very solid, except a few errors from Okoli in his passing.

Jacub Stolarczyk took over from Vieites in goal and had a quality game, keeping a clean sheet and making some good saves. Sammy Braybrooke, Tommy Neale and Oliver Skipp had taken over in midfield.

They had their moments, but it looked far from a settled unit, players have good energy, but they could have done better in their build up play, not really showing the solidity in their decision making. Sammy Braybrooke did some brilliant stuff, but he needs to work on his vision and risk taking as many passes are blocked, missed or giving the opponent chances to create danger.

Nice to see the England U17 international given a chance. He has a good engine and can attack well, good pace and also almost on the scoresheet, hitting the post from an attempt.

Nathan Opoku was also on the field, and he showed his presence. He scored the winner for Leicester in the 64th minute, being played through and taking part in the build up himself. A nice goal and again a good day out for the Ghana born attacker.

Looking at the stats, Leicester had enormous possession, 74%. To just score two goals was a bit disappointing, but it also shows that Russell Martin has got his messages through.

Winning is always important, even in pre-season, depending on the opponents you are playing. Are you playing teams below you in the league pyramid, you are expected to dominate and win. Leicester will now face Burton Albion in their next pre-season friendly on Saturday the 18th of July.

Positives

Again having a positive outcome of a football match, winning is good
Good set up’s and two nice goals scored
Great energy from Braybrooke, Neale, Coulibaly and Aluko all showing promise
Strikers scoring goals, Kirsten Otchere and Nathan Opoku with the goals
Jacub Stolarczyk with some terrific saves
Another performance played in the way the manager would like his team to play
Kevon Gray being involved, also nice to see Tommy Neale
Good energy in the group, looks as they are enjoying their football at the moment

Negatives

As predicted, Alves and Page, not delivering their best today, young and up and down
Still a bit of uncertainty in the passing from the back, losing too many balls to the opponent in their set up
Changes and decision making that could see some confusion, surprised to see Faes as captain
Still few answers to what this will look like when the season starts
Bobby De Cordova-Reid missing out

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