Notts County 1 City 4
Report by Kate Thompson
Along with a large contingent of fellow City fans, I was interested to see how some of the new boys fared, albeit against league 2 opposition. Ten players who were involved in the World Cup were still absent, so the 20 players used in this game were a mix of regulars from last season, those who had gone on loan and academy players. All eyes were on James Maddison and Johnny Evans, as the other two signings have not yet joined their team mates.
For some reason Notts County played in blue, rather than their normal black and white stripes, which meant City wore their second strip. Many fans were sporting the same colours, which divide opinions. Personally I think it is awful, but others like it.
City had a warning as early as the 3rd minute when a rasping shot from David Vaughan fortunately hit the post, but in the 20th minute the defence went to sleep and Alessandra scored the easiest goal ever, only having to tap in.
However, it wasn’t long before City asserted their apparent superiority with a well taken goal by captain Wes Morgan, from a corner nodded on by the impeccable Darnell Johnson. Maddison took all the corners and free kicks, to some effect.
Just three minutes later and City were in front, after some good pressing which gave Choudhury a run on goal; despite Gray calling for the ball, Hamza took it himself and scored an excellent goal.
I was really impressed by Johnson; I gather Radio Leicester made him man of the match and I would agree with this. Just before half time he blocked the ball twice in front of goal, followed by a third clearance, which stopped an almost certain equaliser. Apparently his future is unclear but on this performance he needs to be signed to a new contract as soon as possible.
After half time City added a third from Gray, who wriggled his way into the box to score another excellent goal. For once he had an end product and it is to be hoped that the departure of Mahrez helps him to become the player we all expected but have rarely seen.
The game was wrapped up in the 76th minute by Slimani, another player whose future is uncertain but who looks unlikely to remain at Leicester.
For the record, of the 11 who started only Japupovic and Johnson played the full 90 minutes. There were three substitutes at the beginning of the second half: Chilwell for Fuchs, Iborra for Mendy and King for Choudhury.
In the 62nd minute there were six more substitutions: Josh Knight for Morgan, Amartey for Evans, Layton Ndukwu for Callum Elder, Ulloa for Gray, Slimani for Diabate and Kapustka for Maddison.
So what does the future hold for some of these fringe players? I would like to see Mendy, King and Kapustka given further opportunities but I can see no future at Leicester for Slimani or Ulloa; it is with a heavy heart that I say that about Ulloa, but sadly he no longer fits the mould of the type of game we seem to be playing.
I watched some of the under-23 games online last season and it gives me considerable pleasure to see some of these players on the fringe of the first team. None of them disgraced themselves and Johnson in particular stood out.
We have yet to see other prospects such as George Thomas, Sam Hughes and Josh Gordon. So, to quote a certain ad, ‘the future’s bright, the future’s orange’! – although I am told the flashes are old gold, not orange!
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation