LCFC 1-1 Everton
Post match analysis by Stuart Dawkins
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.
The 21st of September is my partner’s birthday, so we were acutely aware that exactly ten years ago we had witnessed that 5-3 win over Manchester United, and then spent the early evening, whilst her birthday tea was being prepared, scrolling through as many comments about the match as we could find online. How on earth had little Leicester City managed it (and, by the way, that lad Vardy looked half useful too didn’t he)? Who could have ever dreamed about what ‘little Leicester City’ and ‘that lad Vardy’ were to achieve over the following ten years…
That was then and this is now. Is it too early in the season for a match to be ‘must win’? Is it a ‘six-pointer’ when, through nice coincidence, the other two promoted teams are playing each other at the same time? Whatever, it felt like a big game, anyway.
Cooper rang the changes a bit, starting El Khannouss which had the effect of changing Ndidi’s role somewhat and no place for Skipp. Ayew and Mavididi got the wingers’ slots – meaning a switch to the right for Ayew. Okoli and Faes got the centre-back slots, and still no sight of Ricardo.
City started hesitantly, they managed a few near-things, but they gave the ball away far too often – often attempting the killer pass when it was not really on. Everton pressed well and had two plans: long balls and ‘give it to Ndiaye’. As ten-minutes clocked up, I wrote in my note-book “Ndiaye running rings around the RHS of City’s defence.” A couple of minutes later, he did so again, played a slick one-two, controlled the return pass superbly and scored off the near post. It was a good goal, and it was City conceding a first goal yet again.
Everton immediately stopped pressing as hard, sat back a bit more and City were allowed time to play. They were not playing badly now, although Hermansen had to make the first of a number of excellent saves. City had the pressure, but little specific to show for it. Then it started to rain. The number of times that the weather should form a significant part of a football analysis is small, but I can honestly say that this was the heaviest rain I have ever seen whilst watching a football match. For periods approaching half-time, one could barely see players at the far end of the pitch due to the amount of hail. To the credit of the players, it did not visibly alter the flow of the match too much. Thunder and lightning greeted a curious near-fumble by Pickford which looked as though it might have resulted in a looped cross going into the goal, but the referee made the classic ‘the watch says no’ gesture and the game continued.
Half-time came. City were a goal down but, Ndiaye’s occasional brilliance aside, there was little or nothing between the teams.
Two unexplained things happened at half-time. One was that it lasted for a little over 20-minutes, before City players emerged – to be followed a couple of minutes later by the Everton players. Presumably this delay was weather-related. Who knows, in a small example of how poor football is at communicating with its audience, no explanation was given. The other was that Fatawu warmed up alone … but then did not appear as a sub.
The rain had eased a bit, which is to say it was now pelting down as liquid rather than solid. City looked disjointed. One stand-out moment was the defence ignoring the ball close to their own penalty box as they were moaning to each other – it came to nothing, but was not impressive. Eventually, however, City began to run the game. Ayew had a decent chance and City were having most of the possession. After 55 minutes, El Khannouss was replaced by Buonanotte. El Khannouss had looked lively and wanted to drive things forward, but he was hustled off the ball a bit too often and his passing was awry – still, it is early days yet and City clearly need some creative spark in whoever Cooper chooses to support Vardy.
The change sharpened City’s performance. Buonanotte does not lack confidence – his first act was to berate Faes for not spotting that he had broken free from the Everton defence – he was correct that Faes should have made the pass had he seen it; I suspect he did not see it. Again, it is early days, but from what we have seen, Buonanotte does seem to be striking up a better partnership with Vardy. El Khannouss tended to drift wide with his attacks, Buonanotte’s first thought is either to go it alone or find Vardy. Whilst times have changed over the past ten years, ‘find Vardy’ has rarely been a bad plan!
We saw that rarity from City: a novelty corner routine – which seemed to be called on pitch by Mavididi – his resulting cross was headed over rather than in. Then we saw an almost equal rarity, a goal from a City corner. It was a standard in-swinger from the left, it bobbled about in the six-yard box and Mavididi hammered it in despite attempts to block it. City deserved the equaliser, and it lifted the fans, too.
It was probably nerves, but for the remainder of the match it felt as though each attack by either team was going to result in a goal. Thankfully, City had the most of those attacks. Everton had come into the match with zero points and a reputation for defensive frailty. Today, their defence blocked well and made the required last-ditch tackles. Indeed, Pickford had no significant save to make, whereas Hermansen made a couple of outstanding saves and a few others.
Édouard came on for his debut to replace Vardy in the 82nd minute. It was too short a time to make any real judgement on how he fits into the team. Buonanotte hit a fine volley from the edge of the box, but a defender blocked it. Fatawu replaced Mavididi for a final few minutes, then the match ended one at one-all.
Everton had been the far better team for the first twenty minutes, the right-rand side of City’s defence looking suspect. Calvert-Lewin had won a worrying number of headers against Okoli throughout the game, but City had grown into it and may have deserved more than a point by the end. Going a goal behind early never makes a match easy.
Maybe it is also a bit too early in the season for comments such as ‘other results went our way’, but I will make the comment anyway. A draw between Southampton and Ipswich probably tipped City’s game into ‘must not lose’ rather than ‘must win’, and Wolves seem to be having a bit of a shocker so far. There are 33-matches to go, and all to play for!
Leicester City
Hermansen, Kristiansen, Okoli, Faes, Justin, Ndidi, Winks, Mavididi, El Khannouss, Ayew, Vardy
Substitutes
Ricardo Pereira, Buonanotte, Coady, De Cordova-Reid, Choudhury, Fatawu, Skipp, Ward, Édouard
Everton
Pickford, Young, Keane, Tarkowski, Garner, Doucouré, Mangala, Ndiaye, McNeil, Lindstrøm, Calvert-Lewin
Substitutes
Armstrong, Begović, Dixon, Beto, Harrison, Iroegbunam, João Virgínia, O’Brien