City 0 Liverpool 4 – Pre-season friendly
Report by Lynn Wyeth
Leicester City’s pre-season, disrupted after the game versus Tottenham Hotspur at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok was called off due to the monsoon and waterlogged pitch, continued in Singapore, with a match against Premiership side Liverpool. The new away kit was showcased.
The line-up was a change to the one that had been set to play Spurs in Bangkok last week, with Wout Faes replaced by Vestergaard and no Faes even on the subs bench. Dennis Praet was also missing completely after a proposed start last week, with Wilfred Ndidi getting a start. Are there more injuries already? Marc Albrighton was given a start and the first posting on social media showed him as captain… this was quickly updated to give Ricardo Pereira the armband. Does this line-up need minutes in the tank because they’re likely to start versus Coventry?
There was no Jamie Vardy due to a minor niggle, and Conor Coady was still out (and back home in the UK) with a foot injury after the game versus OH Leuven. There was a debut for new signing 23-year-old Dane, Mads Hermansen, in goal, and a subs bench place for the talented academy teenager, 19-year-old Ben Nelson. Luke Thomas was back with the squad after an extended break due to England U-21 duty. There was no sign of Victor Kristiansen, and the subs bench was goalkeeper heavy. Is Maresca still trying to work out who he wants to keep in back-up in that position?
The line-up raised questions from supporters, some asking on Twitter why Maresca is persisting with starting Castagne when it looks clear that he wants to leave, rather than give James Justin the minutes. It was also abundantly clear that we are short of attacking options. If the internet rumours are true, striker Stephy Mavididi has signed from Montpellier this weekend, but his recent goal count is not the most impressive.
Stadium image is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license by author Exec8
Liverpool fielded a strong side, in front of a sparsely filled stadium that was almost 100% Liverpool fans, and for the first few minutes it looked like they would be attacking regularly, but Leicester soon settled into getting possession, with lots of one touch fast near passes out from the back, and patient build up play to give a few chances on goal. Stand out player in the first 15 minutes was Kasey McAteer, Leicester academy graduate, with some pacey runs and ability to set up others for shots on goal as well as having a go himself.
A mistake at the back on 24 minutes saw Hermansen have to make his first real save, getting down low and to the side, which was done efficiently and confidently. Another good save a few minutes later unfortunately pushed the ball into the oncoming Nunez who scored despite Pereira’s desperate sliding challenge. Another mistake, too much giving the ball away again already, saw Liverpool’s second from Clark. Giving the ball away again for the third time left Hermansen with no chance, with his defenders nowhere in sight again, for Liverpool’s third from Jota just before half time.
After a positive first 20 minutes, the capitulation after Liverpool’s first goal, and the constant erroneous loss of ball (which you can’t afford when trying to play possession football), opened the floodgates, and worryingly felt like a continuation of the problems last season. Our midfield and forwards were suddenly nowhere and our defence just not good enough to deal with the threats.
There were no changes for Leicester at half time, with Liverpool changing their entire eleven. Leicester waited until the 60-minute mark to replace Albrighton with Wanya Marcal-Madivadua.
Hermansen showed he’s got a footballing brain when a looping ball caught him on the edge of the area. Unsure as to whether he would be in or out of the box, he sensibly made a header save. We need smart decision makers like that at the back.
Poor defending from a corner, with too much ball-watching by Leicester’s defence, saw Doak score with a header on the far post to make it 4-0 to Liverpool.
Another sloppy loss of the ball, and Leicester players second to every ball, saw a good diving save from Hermansen needed, putting him in the frame for man of the match and at least letting fans and Maresca seeing what he’s made of after today’s workout.
James Justin replaced Castagne and Iheanacho replaced Daka.
There was a let off in the 73rd minute for Leicester as yet again Hermansen made a great save only to see his defenders then stand around and let Gomez put the rebound in the net. It was ruled offside.
Another change for Leicester with Hamza Choudhury coming on for Winks.
Nothing of note really happened in the last quarter of an hour except one header by Iheancho which was nowhere near. The conditions were really hot and humid again today, very challenging for those playing most of the game and the pace lessened towards the end, but hopefully the conditions will have been beneficial in the pre-season preparation.
It didn’t look like any further injuries were picked up during the game which is good news.
Enzo Maresca seems to know what he wants and the players seem to be responding to this. Despite the score line today there were cautiously optimistic signs for the building of a good passing championship team under Maresca in the first 20 minutes, but it’s not going to be a quick fix.
Pereira is being given a much more roaming role which allows a lot of good passing build up but disappointingly he didn’t link up with Harry Winks as well today. Other positives included seeing Hermansen, who seems a good goalkeeper, and the development of McAteer who looks like he could be a threat in the championship.
It’s clear however, that Leicester still need more new signings for some key positions, a leader on the pitch and to stop giving the ball away so easily.
Man of the match: Mads Hermansen
Leicester: Mads Hermansen, Ricardo Pereira, Callum Doyle, Jannik Vestergaard, Timothy Castagne, Wilfred Ndidi, Harry Winks, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Marc Albrighton, Kasey McAteer, Patson Daka,
Subs: Danny Ward, Daniel Iversen, Jakub Stolarczyk, James Justin, Harry Souttar, Ben Nelson, Luke Thomas, Boubakary Soumare, Hamza Choudhury, Patson Daka, Wanya Marcal-Madivadua, Kelechi Iheanacho
Liverpool: Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Jones, Clark, Mac Allister, Jota, Salah, Nunez. Subs: Alisson, Adrian, Mrozek, Gomez, Diaz, Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Elliott, Tsimikas, Matip, Scanlon, Doak, McConnell, Koumas, Quansah, Frauendorf
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