LCFC 1 v 1 Tottenham Hotspur
Post Match Analysis by Stuart Dawkins
Anticipating the first game of a new season often feels a bit odd. You are out of the rhythm of football. It’s still the school summer holidays, and this time it was even a Monday night to add to the feeling of things being a bit wrong, time-wise. And this season, for most if not all City fans, that wrongness was increased by a nagging feeling that their team would be in no way ready. Pre-season had been a mess, there were contradictory – albeit increasingly more positive – comments about transfer policy … and it was Spurs! Spurs the comedy villain of three-horse races and yet Spurs of the beating-Leicester-in-crazy-circumstances time and time again. It was also the return of the Maddison. I admit, and I am not proud of it, my pre-match forecast was “I’ll be happy if we concede fewer than three”.
We got there early to walk around the ground. Not much had changed, a bit more pre-match entertainment on offer, a couple more food outlets, a players car park dominated by Audis where it has once been proudly dominated by gifted BMW i3s (I can only assume that City players receive a better level of service than we mere mortals from the Leicester Audi garage … but I digress). There is probably not much more the club can do about pre-match entertainment unless or until the ground expansion happens …. and that relies on the little matter of staying in the Premier League.
I perked up a bit when I saw City’s starting line-up. Yes, I was momentarily peeved that Steve Cooper’s pre-match comments about Vardy meant that I had not picked the striker in my Fantasy Football squad, but there he was on the list. I was pleased to see Buonanotte there too (he is in my squad), and it is always a delight to see Vestergaard – albeit a delight tinged with some trepidation as to its outcome. Other surprises? No Ricardo in the eleven (presumably for team-shape reasons as he is probably the classiest player in the squad), Reid in place of Mavididi (presumably so the latter could replace a tiring Vardy later).
A tweaked set of pre-match big-screen videos and some changes in the pre-match music, a burst from the flame machines and the teams were out. A rapturous one-minute’s applause in memory of Craig Shakespeare was accompanied by a really poignant small Tifo in the UFS section: a cutout of the iconic one-ball-under-each-arm Shakey accompanied by the phrase ‘Rest Easy’ – a nice touch.
The match kicked off. The first two minutes saw Hermansen play two long clearances – a change from last season. Then a pattern developed. That pattern was that Spurs were getting attack after attack and corner after corner. Ndidi cleared one from the line, Hermansen made a fine save from the shot which followed, Solanke missed a couple of decent chances. City were not awful – they did not concede and their shape was mostly solid, but Maddison (in particular) and Son were getting far too much easy possession. The inevitable goal came from a fairly innocuous move. Maddison curled in a low cross from the left and Porro flicked it on effectively and the ball was in the far corner of the net. Just under half-an-hour gone and City were behind without a semblance of a decent attack. Welcome to the 2024/25 season.
The Spurs chances continued. None of them were sitters, but the 1-0 scoreline increasingly flattered Leicester. City’s only positive sparks in the first half, apart from stalwart defensive blocks and clearances, were provided by Buonanotte and Fatawu, and there were precious few of those. Still, only one goal down at half time. We were still in it.
We had hoped for the return of some half-time entertainment. Relay races by kids proudly dressed in their football team outfits may not be the Olympic games, but they do while away the minutes, but nothing occurred other than the understandable but slightly petty watering of only one half of the pitch – that which City would be attacking in the second half.
There were no subs at half-time. The match continued with a pattern of Spurs dominance in possession, but there was a change. It’s hard to tell whether City were closing them better, or whether it was Spurs’ own attitude, but it looked as though the away side thought they had it won and stopped the quick forward probes towards goal. After 52 minutes, City had their first decent attack of the game, Maresca-ball style mid-field tiki taka followed by a through ball from Vardy that found Reid just offside in the box. Spurs responded almost immediately with a decent passing move themselves, resulting in another good save by Hermansen. It was suddenly all getting rather open and rather entertaining.
Then the moment happened. Another smart period of short passing saw City break on the left of the Spurs box; that move looked to have broken down, but the ball was switched to Fatawu on the right and his chipped cross was met by a somehow-unmarked Vardy to head home easily from inside the six-yard box. The equaliser itself was not ‘the moment’. The moment was that the whole crowd suddenly sounded like they believed in the team. The increase in noise from then on was palpable. The moment was also that the players began to believe too. From the equaliser onwards, City were the better team. The result could have gone either way – but this had gone from being Spurs playing training-ground moves at a rather too leisurely pace, to being a proper match.
For fifteen minutes, City outplayed Spurs, producing another great chance for Vardy, put through with only the keeper to beat but Vicario saved well. The match then hit another moment. A clash of heads in the City penalty area saw the worrying sight of players from both teams furiously gesturing for the medical team to get onto the pitch to treat a prostrate Betancur, who was clearly out cold. The medical team did that, and the ground was hushed for well over five minutes before they stretchered the stricken player off (a Spurs statement said he was conscious and communicating after the match which is a relief as it did look as though it had been a bad one).
The long lull worked against City. The momentum went from the game for a while, and Spurs regained some calm – helped partly by no fewer than six substitutions. Yes, six – as Betancur was subbed as a concussion sub. Those removed included the once-totemic Son and the once-totemic for Leicester Maddison. The City fans’ treatment of Maddison trod a nice line. There was applause for him and there were pantomime boos – seemingly sometimes from the same people at the same time – and after the match he walked around the pitch applauding the home fans, which was a nice touch.
City made some substitutions too. As expected, Mavididi replaced Vardy. Perhaps less expected was Soumaré replacing Buonanotte, and a little later Reid was replaced by McAteer.
The additional nine minutes seemed a bit on the short side, not least as City were still creating a few chances. As the final minute approached, Faes brought a player down for a deserved booking and there was the chance for one final Spurs free-kick to be fired into the box for the substitute Richarlison to head wide. Then it was over.
Copper and the City players went to the singing corner and the applause from players and fans was more akin not just to a win, but to an important win. There were more City fans left in the stadium than usual joining in. We had all felt the moment. I do hope it was not just a fleeting thing but can be continued.
And the team? Hermansen was solid. The back four did well – they had too much pressure to soak up at times, but they did it. Reid did pretty well, going forwards and tracking back. Fatawu looked at times like he did in the Championship – and long may that continue. Ndidi started poorly, but stabilised. Winks was Winks. Vardy was – of course – Vardy, who else would you expect to provide ‘the moment’ for Leicester City. And Buonanotte … well, I have lost count of the number of times City make a signing who plays a blinder on debut and then reverts to a mediocre norm. He looked good. For a young man, he was confident, not just in his own abilities to carry the ball, but also calling and gesturing constructively to his senior teammates. He won tackles, he was involved in most of what City did that was progressive. Here’s hoping those attributes can continue.
City have something on the board. Yes, it is only one point, yes it will be probably mean net negative points if you take likely PSR-deductions into account, but tonight they showed that they are indeed a Premier League team. Who would have thought it?
Leicester City: Hermansen, Kristiansen, Faes, Vestergaard. Justin, Ndidi, Winks, De Cordova-Reid, Buonanotte, Fatawu, Vardy. Substitutes: Pereira, Cannon, Choudhury, Mavididi, McAteer, Nelson, Okoli, Soumaré, Ward
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Udogie, van de Ven, Romero, Pedro Porro, Maddison, Bentancur, Sarr, Son, Solanke, Johnson. Substitutes: Austin, Bergvall, Davies, Spence, Drăgușin, Gray, Kulusevski, Werner, Richarlison
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.