Leicester 0, Genoa 1, Positives and Negatives, Player Ratings and Match Report, Pre-Season Friendly

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Leicester played a friendly against Coventry earlier today, losing 0-1. This match was behind closed doors, allowing more players to get more game time. As a result, a complete setup for the game against Genoa was unlikely.

This was the first and only pre-season outing at King Power Stadium, Leicester coming to the game with loads of confidence. Having played five pre-season games, not yet defeated, gave us all hope for a good game.

Leicester’s lineup was a bit unbalanced, playing Bobby De Cordova-Reid as the main striker was not the best choice. Newly signed Liam Cullen was positioned just behind Reid, even though he often played up front for Swansea last season.

The midfield did not really have a good balance, having Sammy Braybrooke and Oliver Skipp in there, but missing Louis Page who can use his pace going forward. Liam Cullen never functioned as well as Louis Page has in earlier games, sadly Page is not rated as highly as he should be by the new manager. Putting Page in the team vs. Coventry, was a mistake, he was largely missed out there today.

Despite this, Leicester were the better team in the first half. Looking at the Genoa line-up, they had a mix of players and in no way playing their best team from start. Genoa were also missing Norwegian and Mexican World Cup players, Leo Ostigard and Johan Vasquez. Vasquez is the Genoa captain, and of course an important player in their line-up.

Leicester played well and created scoring chances from the beginning. Sammy Braybrooke and Oliver Skipp performed strongly in midfield. However, it was disappointing to see Ben Nelson leave the field late in the first half due to a potential knee injury.

Our pre-season ends in a narrow loss to Genoa ⏹️#LEIGEN | @BCGame pic.twitter.com/KD85gbNQtH
— Leicester City (@LCFC) August 1, 2026

Leicester were the better team first half, having the opportunities to score, but they didn’t. Coming out second half, Genoa had changed their full eleven, among them goalscorer Lorenzo Colombo. Russell Martin had another goal for the game, to see the first teamers getting as many minutes as possible to get those bodies ready and prepared for that opener vs. Notts County, not really knowing what will come against Northampton in that Carabao Cup game next Saturday.

In the 69th minute Lorenzo Colombo took advantage from a Luke Thomas error, scoring after a good run and placing the ball in the net behind Jacub Stolarczyk.

Leicester managed to keep some sort of momentum, but in periods of this half, being challenged much more than in the first half. Half chances were produced. Caleb Okoli coming close to score from a corner, with nice header, but the ball went wide.

There were some type of pressure towards the end from Leicester, but they never managed to get the finishing to a degree that made it possible to score and equalizer.

Genoa secured the win, but what we did see out there today was impressive, playing a Serie A team who have good options on most positions, so it became possibly the test it was supposed to be.

Two defeats in the same day, with the same result (0-1), should not be taken as a negative. This was a good test, but still a lot of questions to ask, as we hopefully will not end up with a team selection that will look very random and in a rotation sort of way.

Russell Martin gave Jake Evans a good run out, coming on for Ben Nelson. Kirsten Otchere was close to score, but it was a clear hand ball, he also got a few minutes. The bench had a few new names, filling out the numbers, those players being promising profiles from the academy.

This was the last pre-season friendly match, still having a lot of questions, but all in all a very good campaign.

Positives

1st half performance very positive
Sammy Braybrooke again showing great quality
Creating good goalscoring opportunities
Jacub Stolarczyk again making some great saves
Another good test for Jayden Joseph
Hopes are that Nelson, Skipp and Mavididi will stay at the club
Liam Cullen getting his first minutes in a Leicester shirt

Negatives

Losing 1-0, after having enough chances to win this game
Ben Nelson getting injured
Conor Coady, Will Alves and Alex McCarthy not showing
Missing Louis Page in the line-up
Bobby De Cordova-Reid is not a top striker, Kirsten Otchere should have started to give the team correct balance
Stilling missing a few bodies to get this set up in the best shape, but the news of Tommy Watson joining is of course good
Luke Thomas used as a central defender, never worked, and that error made from LT made the game
Dominating in possession

Line Up:
Stolarczyk 6, Joseph 6, Nelson 6, Okoli 6, Thomas 4, Braybrooke 7, Cullen 6, Skipp 6, Cordova-Reid 5, Mavididi 5, Coulibaly 5, Subs: Evans 5, Otchere