LEICESTER CITY 3 BIRMINGHAM CITY 0
Post Match Analysis by Paul Weston
Maresca decided to radically change the team for the FA Cup match against Birmingham, with a key league match looming against Swansea in a few days. As a result, Brandon Cover was selected for his debut in defence/midfield. City’s defence was composed of Stolarczyk, Doyle, Coady, Nelson and Cover. Vardy was up front with Albrighton and Marcal on the wings with Akgun, Praet and Choudhury behind.
It is not difficult to sum up the first half. City were quite simply awful and the performance was by far the worst we have seen this season. The midfield players were over-run, tackles non-existent, passing was astray and consequently the forwards never created anything looking like a goal.
Birmingham repeatedly tore through the team so easily and I lost count of the saves that Stolarczyk made and Birmingham also hit the post. To compound the poor performance City played liked strangers in defence, were nervous, passing moves frequently broke down and handed the initiative back to Birmingham.
It would not have flattered Birmingham if they been 4-0 up at half-time. It is fair to say that the crowd were groaning constantly in frustration and did not applaud the team off the pitch rapturously at half-time!
Thankfully Maresca decided at half-time that his experiment had failed. I expect also that some choice Italian words might have been spoken. McAteer, Ricardo and Justin were brought on for Marcal, Cover and Doyle respectively. Marcal had been completely overwhelmed in the first half and Doyle beaten too easily down the flank. Cover had tried valiantly but created little.
City upped the pace and started to win tackles at last. It did not take long for the ball to be fed to Albrighton who curled in a superb cross for Vardy to finish off with a superb header. It was just like old times.
City were in the ascendency. Vardy had a goal over-ruled (incorrectly) for offside. Cannon replaced him in the 67th minute and soon made his presence felt, picking up a ball from Albrighton who had cut in from the wing. The ball broke to Akgun who, previously had been fairly anonymous, side stepped a player and then crashed the ball into the top left corner of Ruddy’s goal for a quite stunning goal and his first for City.
Birmingham seemed to be dazed, not quite believing what was happening. Cannon shielded the ball well from a searching pass from defence and, with Ruddy out of position, cut back a lovely ball to Praet to score a well worked goal and a 3-0 victory.
And so, City go forward into the next round of the FA Cup after a patchy performance and a tough away match against Bournemouth awaits. A 3-0-win sounds comfortable but it disguises some of the flaws which Maresca needs to address:
Stolarczyk made some stunning saves and kept City in the game in the first half, although his distribution needs some improvement. Coady continues to underwhelm. I thought his signing was a major coup, but he has failed to reach the standard so far I had expected. I thought he would have marshalled the young defence, but he seemed to be struggling with his own game.
Choudhury had a nightmare game, although never gave up. All too often he passed back, and his touch was poor. Akgun and Praet were too light weight and never got to grips with Birmingham until Ricardo came on. Although Raikhy only came on for a short time as substitute for Akgun he immediately looked the part, and his touch and movement were encouraging signs for the future.
There is much for Maresca to think about as he ponders the team selection for the home match against Swansea. It is time for a convincing 90 minutes performance!
Player ratings: Stolarczyk (9), Coady (6), Nelson (6), Doyle (5), Cover (6), Marcal (3), Vardy (7), Albrighton (8) Choudhury (4), Akgun (6) Praet (6). Substitutes: Cannon (7), McAteer (6), Ricardo (8), Justin (7) Raikhy (6)
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.