Seagrave, Soumare and set pieces: Leicester City 1 Notts County 2 (9 July 2022)

“Nurse! Nurse! He’s watching a Leicester pre-season game again when it’s a beautiful day outside and there are numerous other things he could be doing!”

Here comes our old adversary, the pre-season friendly. In this case, not just any pre-season friendly but a classic of the genre - a behind-closed-doors pre-season friendly at the training ground against a non-league team with all eleven players substituted at half time.

Yes. We lost.

Seagrave’s the place

We might not have been afforded any time off worrying about opposition set pieces but, for a couple of hours at least, we put on hold our ongoing bafflement at the decision to bring in a new head of recruitment as soon as an allegedly important transfer window closes or the decision to put a tea-stained badge on the new home kit.

Although a friendly at the training ground doesn’t sound especially glamorous, any opportunity to cast an eye over Leicester City’s Seagrave complex is a treat. The vast expanse of perfectly prepared green pitches and rolling hills on the horizon is a calming backdrop for a kickabout in the summer heat.

Matty Fryatt’s presence as co-commentator on the official website coverage added to the effect. It was Fryatt, of course, who won Martin Allen’s infamous BBQ set for his performance in an intra-squad tournament fifteen years ago. Watching players like Wesley Fofana at the club’s world-class training facility will never be taken for granted by anyone who’s been a supporter for more than a decade.

Without wanting to get all “we were in League One once”, extended viewing of the setting was a reminder that while fortunes will fluctuate, Seagrave will surely remain a major pull for attracting and retaining talent at all levels.

Soumare summary

Leicester fielded four first-choice players in the opening 45 minutes. Lining up alongside Fofana were Ricardo Pereira, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Harvey Barnes, an assortment of squad players and youngsters, and a couple of players who seem to be halfway out the exit door.

One of those, Hamza Choudhury, was in full Mascherano mode, motoring to loose balls and generally putting himself about like the outcome was important. A move to West Bromwich Albion has long been discussed, albeit these days any movement of players in or out of the club involves months of flirting. Hamza’s been getting the eyes from Steve Bruce for quite some time.

The other player apparently on the verge of leaving is Boubakary Soumare. This was a typical mixed bag from a player whose debut in the Community Shield against Manchester City eleven months ago promised so much. Since then, there have only been glimmers of brilliance amid some pretty poor performances.

Soumare often appears to play like a bonus player added to the middle of the pitch, as though he’s decided he has no real attacking or defensive responsibility and is free to wander around vaguely near the centre circle and try the odd flick now and then. Once or twice he did completely fox an opponent and amble off towards goal. In those moments, he looked good. It just feels like we need a fair bit more than that.

The positives

Choudhury was probably Leicester’s standout player thanks to a series of sharp challenges and important interventions. Despite losing to a non-league team, there were other bright spots if you were willing to look past the result.

Patson Daka pressed well from the front and dropped deep to excellent effect too, playing an inch-perfect through ball for Harvey Barnes to slot the opening goal of the game. Young centre-back Tom Wilson-Brown looked at ease alongside Fofana, while Callum Wright showed some neat touches in the Maddison role coming in from the right wing.

In the second half, the only senior man was, fittingly, Kelechi Iheanacho, who hit the post with a fine effort and worked the channels well. The Portuguese teenager Wanya Marcal-Madivadua was arguably the pick of the second half youngsters.

Set pieces. Again.

We’re all hoping this summer is where the line is drawn under last season’s set piece woes and we can start fresh. The true test of that hope will come with competitive games but anyone who feels this problem comes down to individuals would have been interested to see a different Danish goalkeeper struggle under a high ball which then ended up in our net.

This time it was Daniel Iversen who, having decisively claimed one set piece delivery, made a mess of another. In the second half, a simple run from the back post afforded a free header and second-half goalkeeper Jakob Stolarczyk could do nothing about the result.

Of course, this game didn’t matter. But if, as pre-season progresses, an increasingly realistic starting eleven continue to concede set pieces at a rate of two per game, we march on Seagrave.

Looking ahead

Attention now returns to the complete inertia of Leicester City’s summer transfer window. Something will happen eventually, but so far there has been absolutely nothing to write about.

This has been unhelpful for anyone launching a new website to talk about Leicester City, but also seemingly not a barrier for other websites to produce an endless number of headlines including the keywords Tielemans and Arsenal.

Thankfully we don’t have to do that. We’ll just concentrate on stuff that happens.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy the sunshine.