Brentford 4 Leicester City 1: A tactical and defensive fright show to welcome Ruud
New manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy was in the stands, next to Top. Nothing can destroy some newfound hope or excitement among Leicester fans like a trip to London to take on a Brentford side who hadn't beaten Leicester since 1953 and with their forward, Kevin Schade, having not scored this season.
You know the script.
This game seemed determined to transport us back to 2022/23. That was the last time we had caretaker managers in charge, the last time we saw Luke Thomas start a league game, facing up to an away game feeling you'd happily take a draw pre-match. Perhaps the only change from that season was the mood.
With Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s appointment confirmed, there was a bit of a buzz back. A sense that perhaps we could turn our fortunes around. Or at least that we were acknowledging we need to. For the players with their new boss watching on, what better chance to try and impress him. Or at least give him an immediate list of things not to do.
First team coach Ben Dawson was in charge of the match day tactics and squad selection. In the 2022/23 season the games we had caretakers for were squandered opportunities. We saw any final chance to acknowledge our situation and save ourselves just wither away in that limbo period. At least this would just be a one off.
Brentford are an interesting side. They haven't had a perfect start but their home record is intimidating. In a game where of the other fourteen teams outside the big six, our respective goalkeepers have recorded the most saves. Which told you a 0-0 was never likely.
Our defensive efforts have ranged from poor to shocking depending on the game so confidence levels weren't high heading into the game.
The starting lineup did nothing to change any Leicester fans' minds either. Some of it made sense, Facundo Buonanotte was rightly straight back in after his suspension. Jordan Ayew was in for injured Harry Winks as the system and shape changed from the loss at Chelsea.
The real eyebrow raises came from first starts of the season for Conor Coady and Luke Thomas. Thomas would have to face up to Mbeumo, a daunting prospect.
It was a lineup that looked risky at best, even accounting for some of our injuries and options. Thomas Frank didn’t shuffle the Brentford deck and said he hadn’t bothered to watch us as he knew without Cooper, we’d line up differently. Surely even he didn’t account for how much space and time on the ball we’d give his attackers.
Photo: Becky Taylor
A bold strategy does not pay off
Sorry Ben Dawson, but it looks like you are this week's villain. Assuming that it was our coach turned caretaker for this match’s decision to pick that formation and select those players to fill it.
The formation itself looked a little bold, starting a trio of centre backs with higher wingbacks and a diamond in midfield with Jamie Vardy spearheading the attack. Not something we played under Cooper but familiar to some of the players. However, switching to it and the team selection within it seemed ambitious. Cue the ‘it's a bold strategy cotton, let's see how it pays off for him’ meme.
Alarm bells should have started when we went 1-0 up with a goal from virtually nothing. That was our one moment of fun, Jamie Vardy putting in a trademark move to outwit and out-muscle Ethan Pinnock and unselfishly laying the ball on a gold plate for Buonanotte to tap home. We didn't deserve it but we should have taken it and ran with it.
For those who were in the ‘sacking Cooper was harsh’ camp, in the many finer details and statistics that viewpoints overlooks, please can we acknowledge how poor we are when we've scored first.
Firstly, we haven't managed to take the lead in games often, but when we have scored first we've looked so unsure on what to do from that point on. It's no surprise that Brentford hit back instantly and doubled their tally within four minutes. Everybody in blue, on field anyway, looked so stunned.
Kevin Schade hasn't been off the mark for Brentford this year so of course the ever obliging Leicester allowed him to be the maestro against us. It was Schade who ran unchecked into the box and set up Wissa for the equaliser and spurred on by that got his own goal just shy of the thirty minute mark.
The Leicester defensive line was a shambles for Brentford’s second. Nobody appeared to have any handle on their role or the ball and we watched it bounce around, uncleared and all too easy for Schade. To add injury to that insult, Mads Hermansen and Caleb Okoli collided and while Okoli tried to battle on, his afternoon was done.
Jannik Vestergaard came in to replace him, but the collective damage to ourselves was almost fully inflicted. Going in 3-1 down at half time wasn’t inspiring a comeback and Schade killed any dream of that as we fell apart again within fifteen minutes of the half. A hattrick for the German striker and an afternoon to forget for the Foxes.
Groundhog day in the fullback position
Presumably, Victor Kristiansen was dropped because of the formation because he was fit enough to still make the bench. While he hasn’t been our best player, he’s been far from the worst. And replacing him with Thomas seemed incredibly unwise pre-match.
Thomas's last Premier League game? The final game of our relegation season back in 2023. He'd struggled that season and he's been largely out in the cold ever since. Two failed loan spells seemed to snuff out any interest in other clubs taking him off our hands.
When even commentary teams chose to voice their surprise and confusion about Thomas’ inclusion, it's telling that it might not be wise. The decline of Thomas at Leicester has been pretty tough. It isn't that long since we were seeing him bomb up the wing, overlapping with Harvey Barnes in European games. That kid had promise, and was attracting interest from bigger teams.
That version may as well be a different person for any remaining similarities. These days he looks entirely short of any confidence, unclear on when to come or to stay back when defending and a player for whom the Premier League looks like too big of an ask. It's a shame given we all hoped for so much more when he graduated from the academy.
James Justin has been picked out this season as being at fault for a fair few goals and yesterday won’t help his cause. He's not had an ideal season and whether you accredit some of that to the support he gets down that wing, or having Wout Faes next to him, he's not exactly covered himself in glory either.
Our fullbacks had a torrid afternoon, and while those in the middle of the back line didn’t do much better, the support offered around them was lacking. We’re in desperate need of some basics defensively.
Over to you Ruud
Picking out any positives from this loss are tough. Stephy Mavididi had some positive impact when he came on but at 4-1 down it didn’t come to much, plus there is the issue that he looks better in the impact substitute role.
Perhaps we should have considered El Khannouss at some stage to support Buonanotte, who’d been our only creative spark. But we’d already thrown the game well out of reach and it was a keeping the score line respectable attempt early on.
The cameras cut to Ruud Van Nistelrooy frequently whose face told a story. All smiles early on, a coy smile at our goal, a shake of the head at the way we conceded two goals so quickly and then a pensive look thereafter.
Hopefully he wasn't under an illusion that this squad is exceptionally strong, or in a period of confidence, but he probably wasn't expecting this level of performance. While a lot of fans felt a lift from the managerial switch, the vast majority of us are also under no illusion that whoever came in they had a job on their hands with this squad.
The former player hasn't got long to make decisions or try new things ahead of West Ham coming to the King Power on Tuesday. But surely he won't fall into some of the same pitfalls that Dawson did. This is a side who almost need a return to some fundamental basics. Especially when the opposition are bearing down on us.
Against Brentford, too many times players looked unclear on where to turn, lacked something in the fight for the ball and looked like a team who had got a bruising from their owner midweek (albeit that was of their own doing). Ruud’s got his work cut out to instil some confidence there.
That January transfer shopping list might just have got bigger too.
