Burton Albion 0 Leicester City 2: Brewing up a storm
Leicester City cruised into the second round of the League Cup with victory at Burton Albion. David Bevan continues to enjoy the Enzo revolution.
I love a lineup announcement. It's a guilty pleasure. And this was one of my favourites of all time. Here it is.
Stolarcyzk, Albrighton, Faes, Doyle, Justin, Choudhury, Ndidi, Winks, Praet, Marcal-Madivadua, Iheanacho.
In the old world: a debutant goalkeeper, an ageing right winger, a mad centre-back, a kid on loan, a utility full-back, four central midfielders, a debutant winger and Kelechi Iheanacho.
In the new world of Leicester City under Enzo Maresca: the latest eleven to be tasked with replicating the kind of football associated with Barcelona and Manchester City.
Immediately, the debate began. Was it Albrighton in the Ricardo role? Or James Justin, making a very welcome return to competitive football? Was Hamza going to be striding through midfield or was he at right-back? Where would Dennis Praet play? Would Wilf be channelling De Bruyne again? We’ll come back to that one.
I've watched Leicester City away at Yeovil on a Monday night and I've watched Leicester City in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Just when I think I've seen it all, they give me Hamza Choudhury at left-back.
Now there's just the small matter of a match to win.
Thankfully for a team still finding its feet after a chaotic pre-season, the early stages had the feel of a friendly rather than a perilous cup tie away at lower-league opposition.
It took ten seconds for Ndidi to find himself in acres of space in between Burton's defence and midfield. It took twenty for Leicester to fashion a chance with Iheanacho's header deflected over for a corner.
And it took six minutes for Iheanacho to flick the ball into the corner following a gorgeous back-to-front move.
The big idea
At this point, the one or two neutrals who stumble across this might be wondering why there's any need to read much into what looks on paper like a fairly routine cup victory over lower league opposition. Surely no matter how we play, this is the expected result?
After all, there have been questions over just how different this supposedly new approach is from what Brendan Rodgers wanted from his side in recent years.
Three key differences spring to mind.
First of all, there's a clear long-term vision here. It's something we can buy into as fans. Maresca has talked about his "idea" and, crucially, we're seeing it in action.
Obviously, there's a difference between the freshness of being two games into a spell at the club as opposed to four years later so this isn't necessarily a dig at Rodgers - not to mention the fact it's probably easier to implement this at a lower level - but there's a tantalising aspect to watching Leicester at the moment.
It's the thought, as we get linked with new signings, of better players carrying out these instructions, or even the prospect of existing players being exposed to Maresca and his staff's coaching and what they might grow to become as a result.
Secondly, you can see what we're trying to do in attack. There's a plan to score a goal. Not since the halcyon days of late 2019 has it really been clear how Leicester were trying to score. Now we're transitioning from defence to attack in a matter of seconds, slicing through defences with ease. It gives hope for harder challenges ahead.
The third difference is that Maresca is trusting players and awarding them the opportunity to fail rather than just assuming they will. He believes in this approach so much that he doesn't abandon it if he hasn't got the personnel to carry it out.
That's a high-risk strategy and if we'd lost to Coventry perhaps it wouldn't seem so smart. But it's admirable. And it feels more injury-proof. When Harvey Barnes was ruled out of last season's opener and Rodgers changed the entire formation, it felt like a precursor for what lay ahead.
A chance for youth
To put a positive spin on relegation, one luxury has been the chance to give minutes to players like Kasey McAteer and Wanya Marcal-Madivadua.
It's probably fair to say if Abdoulaye Doucoure's shot from distance had flown wide in May rather than nestling in Bournemouth's net, they'd probably both be in League One by now.
Instead, Maresca is giving them a chance in this new world and it's been enjoyable to see their application, even if it seems unlikely they'll see much further action once we get a couple more wingers in.
If this was an audition, it was a mixed performance from Marcal-Madivadua. Even in these early appearances, he'll be judged mainly on attacking output and for all his spark there were too many heavy touches when in a good position. But then that was true of seasoned performers like Albrighton, Praet and Ndidi for much of the first half.
Indeed, as the half wore on, Burton grew in confidence and started to create a chance or two.
Three challenges for Enzo
Maresca has three main challenges at the moment and the answer to how he might overcome them was neatly encapsulated towards the end of the first half in this game.
The first is to find a way for Leicester to play this way without it turning to panic stations as soon as we lose the ball.
The second is to acknowledge Iheanacho is clearly the way forward.
The third is to see whether he can indeed turn Wilfred Ndidi into some kind of marauding goalscoring machine.
So it must have been quite the sight for Enzo on the sidelines watching Leicester weather a brief period of pressure from Burton before Iheanacho set up Ndidi for a startlingly good first-time finish into the top corner.
It's been a source of hilarity for most fans that Maresca has found a place for Ndidi in the attacking part of this formation, and it hadn't quite worked at any point up until this bolt from the blue. Is there still a surprise role for Wilf this season?
Petering
There were another 45 minutes and we'll touch on them briefly despite almost nothing of consequence happening. Ndidi's timely strike gave the second half what might be termed a relaxed feel.
The highlight was probably Burton's 35-year-old defender John Brayford showing more composure when faced with Kelechi Iheanacho's attempt to fashion a shooting opportunity than Tottenham and England's Eric Dier did earlier this year.
Maresca was able to withdraw Harry Winks, the main player in this setup for whom it doesn't feel like there's a direct replacement. There was also a telling substitution when McAteer was brought on for Iheanacho while Patson Daka remained on the bench and Leicester operated instead without any striker at all in what looked like a 4-2-4-0 formation.
Meanwhile, the away end ran through the vintage songbook, heralding Leonardo Ulloa, Esteban Cambiasso and Andy King. If you woke from your slumber at any stage, Wout Faes was liable to be walking slowly around the edge of our area with the ball at his feet. Praet was made to endure the full 90. Stolarczyk played centre-back.
There were still five pointless minutes of injury time. But by that time the game couldn't even peter out as it never really petered in after half time.
