Brendan’s Belgians secure the points: Leicester City 2 Leeds United 0 (20 October 2022)
Via @Corrina1985
Leicester fans and players alike must have rejoiced at reports of possible rain and a more tolerable eleven degree evening for the match against Leeds United.
This was a big game for Leicester City. As seemingly is every game at the moment. Last weekend's draw was a necessary building block but getting a win, and a convincing one at that, was needed. One win won't make everything hunky-dory, but it does lift the spirits.
Thankfully, it also spared us from yet another weird post match interview with Brendan. Even if he did have his latest case of transfer budget/summer spending Tourette’s, it should go largely unnoticed as we can’t be unhappy with a performance that backed up the result.
There was just one change from Saturday's 0-0 draw to Crystal Palace. Dennis Praet was a straight swap for the suspended James Maddison. The biggest change came from some attacking threat, aided by some woeful defending, and the Foxes secured a 2-0 victory. Three points doesn't take us out of the relegation zone, but it does lift us off the bottom and with several other clubs now in touching distance, dare we start to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel?
More Belgians = More fun (and goals)
This writer has had a Belgian bias for a while, but having our full contingent of Belgians on the pitch did us no harm. One of them was instrumental in setting up both goals, another led the team and one picked up a deserved Man of the Match award.
Before the game, The Fosse Way debated who would be the best replacement for James Maddison and it turns out Brendan knew the score better all along: Dennis Praet. In a team who lack a right winger and seem content to leave Timothy Castagne covering the entire right side, it was refreshing to finally use Praet. He is not a natural right winger but I maintain after his FA Cup cameo there away at Stoke, he can more than do a job.
Our number 26 did exactly what he does best on Thursday: pressed the Leeds players into making mistakes, used his delightful first touch and provided smart crosses. He will take credit for the own goal, both for winning the ball back and sliding the cross in which Harvey Barnes would have slotted away had Robin Koch not got there first.
Crucially, having an option down the right not only made life a little easier for Castagne but gave us an alternative to the left wing, which generated more space for Barnes. The team looked balanced, something we haven't seen yet this season.
Three clean sheets? Halloween witchcraft comes early
It would be incredibly unfair to wax lyrical about the Belgians without crediting the best of them all, Wout Faes. The Amazon Prime coverage focused on him a lot, and it helps that one of the pundits was his national team manager, but he put in an incredibly strong display. Ignoring one or two nervous early moments on the ball, he was the main man. Composure personified, aggressive but never out of control and showing a level of determination that will always win over the fans.
Had you asked many of us at the start of the season where a clean sheet was coming from, let alone three in a row at home, most of us would have been very downbeat. You may ask, was this a case of superb Leicester defending, or Leeds not capitalising on their numerous efforts? It's a bit of both. Their best chance came when Sinisterra's well struck effort could only meet the woodwork but Danny Ward wasn't tested much otherwise.
Notching two of those clean sheets without Jonny Evans shouldn't go amiss either. I think we all expected that this may have made it a little harder but Faes has really stepped up to add that calmness and control our captain usually provides.
A Leicester side we can all get behind
In other games, looking for the positives has felt like looking for a needle in a haystack. Not this time, there were plenty of positives. Nobody really had a poor game and it was a team effort across the board.
The method in which we created and got the two goals was actually exciting, with passing and creative football. We used the width, we had some lovely first touch passing in moments and clever moves by a number of players. In short, this was the type of football we can all get behind. And we actually kept it going. The second half wasn't quite as convincing as the first, but to not lose or concede helps rebuild confidence and ensured the fans were much more onside.
We also showed that we aren't a one trick pony. Take Maddison out of the side and many of us wondered where the goals would come from. He's still clearly one of our most game changing players but we didn't miss him last night and that was so pleasing to see. It's too often felt that Brendan had plan A that included his big names but never a plan B.
The result that accompanied this time also helped Brendan avoid questions over why he still doesn't feel starting Kelechi Iheanacho would be a good idea. Not that Vardy did anything wrong, it just boggles the mind a little given how much he keeps contributing in substitute appearances.
A quick turnaround to Sunday
Another big match awaits Leicester on Sunday as they make the relatively short trip into the Black Country to face Wolves. Is anybody else tired of saying big game now? But with a limited set of games before the World Cup, and one of them being Manchester City, points and moving further away from the bottom of the table is a must.
Momentum has always been key for us and we have been our own worst enemy at not carrying that on so far this season. Currently, the timing of Qatar looks less than ideal. If we finally start to string results together, then a six week gap is exactly what we don't need.
Brendan has some big calls to make ahead of Sunday's match. Praet did more than enough to justify keeping his spot but who can deny the return of James Maddison? And will Kelechi Iheanacho ever get a Premier League start again?
