Hazzetta dello Sport 2024 - Issue 7: Leicester City v Bournemouth
Last Saturday, my friend and I went to Emirates Stadium to watch City. We were a minute late to the game as we had spent a lovely lunchtime drinking in the pubs of the very hip Stoke Newington.
We watched a game of football that the home side Arsenal largely dominated. Upon the stroke of half time, the Gunners scored their second goal which we thought killed the game. However, a bit of fortune for Leicester’s first and then an excellent passing move finished by a sweet, volleyed strike completed an unexpected comeback.
The inevitable happened. We had begun to consider that we may make the largest heist in London since the Hatton Gardens burglary. Unfortunately, despite Mads Hermansen’s efforts, Arsenal scored twice in injury time. We walked out on the third and rather than sulk went to the pub. We had three or four beers, chatted about the game, had food, went home, went to bed. Whilst we’d lost, I was very content and happy with a lovely, social day down the football.
Now I am Dave the Arsenal fan. I didn’t go to the game. I had a nice Saturday morning. I did Parkrun, had a nice coffee with the newspaper and generally relaxed after a hard week doing my recruitment agent role. I turned on the game via a stream. I watched Arsenal hammer Leicester, but it took us until the last minutes to get the winning goals. 36 shots, we could only score 4.
However, I was a bit annoyed about the game. Despite the happiness over the win. So I went on the internet, trawled through the internet, found a copy of the game and began to edit these terrible decisions by the referee. I posted three times on social media about them and then spent the rest of Saturday evening and all of Sunday arguing with fans of other clubs about Arsenal being victims. I had a good weekend.
Apologies from the deviation from a more traditional opening but this was my realisation last weekend where the landscape of football fandom is so different from what I knew it to be. The lack of expectation last week made it a far more relaxing occasion. The game didn’t have to dictate my mood.
Now the pressure is cranked up. The visit of Bournemouth sees the beginning of a four game spell containing winnable fixtures. The ‘sort of games’ you need to win in a campaign to stay up. They will dictate if Steve Cooper continues in post as manager. A failure at any stage is likely to see more of the Leicester fanbase turn.
Cooper and Leicester increasingly look like a couple thrown together on the reality TV show ‘Married at First Sight’. We are just not matching and we certainly don’t find Cooper sexy or as one contestant on the show said this week ‘want to rip my partner’s clothes off’.
The combination of winnable and Bournemouth at home puts you on edge. Leicester have never found the Cherries easy opposition and that goes back to the title winning season of 2015/16. Our minds collectively wander back to April 2023 where Leicester desperately needed points in the battle to stay up but turned out a totally woeful performance whereby the game was done by half time. There are a couple of home wins in 2019 for comfort but Steve Cooper’s record of having never beaten Bournemouth in six attempts quietly tempers that.
Bournemouth’s appointment of Andoni Iraola was much criticised at the time and the subsequent disastrous start to last season meant he faced pressure to perform. Their issues stemmed from his preferred pressing style and thankfully for the Cherries, those problems were ironed out over time.
It was interesting on Monday evening to see Southampton drop their playing out from the back tactic in fear of Bournemouth’s press. The key to beating the Cherries is ultimately to beat that press; this was evident in our cup victory at Dean Court. While Abdul Fatawu gained plaudits for his superb curling effort, the build-up was tremendous and was built on the foundation of Ricardo Pereira beating the press in central midfield.
When it works for Bournemouth, it can be deadly and their midfield shape is noticeable in how it operates. They will exploit if you leave gaps in the centre of the pitch. Lewis Cook is one of the great unsung players of the division. His calculated style is more akin to Youri Tielemans threading passes through from the middle part of the pitch.
Victor Kristansen’s performance will be important. Antoine Semenyo’s recent form means he’s full of confidence and skills. Evanilson as well looks a better fit than Dominic Solanke in his off the ball running. The back line will be tested with runs behind.
As much as the battle is in the press, Bournemouth have a weak spot at right back. Miguel Araujo, a summer recruit from Barcelona, was run ragged at Anfield a fortnight ago and therefore they went back to the tested Adam Smith for the victory over Southampton. Cooper needs to note this as we have the perfect scenario for Stephy Mavididi to cause problems.
Our team news is missing some detail. Cooper has mentioned that some players have knocks; given that Hermansen appeared to injure his hand at the Emirates last week, that is worrying. Hamza Choudhury is out and Jannik Vestergaard is nearing fitness. You’d expect a very similar line-up to Arsenal which bizarrely represented one of Cooper’s most attacking line-ups of the season.
The increasing importance of Facundo Buonanotte is a headache as there is a temptation to play him centrally as seen on the opening day. The Brighton loanee has proven himself every bit Premier League class and if there was a single inspiration for the comeback at Arsenal, it was the Argentine.
The anxiety grows around achieving a result as there is an increased likelihood that those teams around us can’t keep being as wretched as they are. Therefore it’s comfy that both Palace and Southampton have difficult opponents (Liverpool and Arsenal respectively). However, Wolves have a similar fixture to ourselves in Brentford and Ipswich are off to West Ham hoping to rock the boat even further on Guillem Balague’s chum Julen Lopetegui.
We often describe supporting Leicester as a rollercoaster but it currently feels more like sitting in a M1 traffic jam. Annnoyed, stuck and not going anywhere.
