Wycombe 1 City 0
Report by Kate Thompson
Despite having a ticket for the match, I decided not to risk getting pinged, so watched the match via LCFC TV. The signal was dreadful, so I was grateful to a fellow Foxes Trust board member who said it was better on youtube – which it was. Like the game against Burton Albion, City had two different teams in each half, which included some of the youngsters who have been training with the first team.
My first reaction was that the performance was an improvement on the first pre-season game, and the second half was more satisfying than the first. We can’t read too much into the result – a 1-0 loss to City – as it all about trying things and getting the fitness levels up to speed.
Of the first half team, Vardy was his usual busy self and Daka saw more of the ball. Soumaré looked good, but there was no sign of Bertrand, the club confirming later that he had a slight injury concern. Wycombe had a familiar face in their team, David Stockdale their goalkeeper who played for Leicester in the earlier part of this century.
Wycombe started very brightly and won a succession of corners. They had a big presence in Adebayo Akinfenwa who caused quite a few problems. Nevertheless, the defence stood firm and the match was goalless at half-time. Ghezzal played again, despite being expected to leave permanently, and took the corners and free kicks, which were an improvement on some of Maddison’s at the back end of last season.
One of the youngsters, Tawanda Maswanhise, impressed again as he had against Burton, and Thomas played well – further demonstrating that if a player is good enough, he is old enough.
The second half team included Maddison and Dewsbury-Hall, both of whom had a reasonable game. Maddison in particular looked almost back to his best. Benkovic played again and seemed solid, but perhaps against better teams will he struggle?
Another new face was Ben Nelson, a centre-back, who did not look out of place. Thanawat Suengchitthawon looked lively, so it was disappointing when he hurt his ankle in the 60th minute and was replaced by Vontane Daley-Campbell.
The only goal came in the 80th minute and there was little that Jakob Stolarczyk, the Development Squad goalkeeper, could do about it. So, two games and two defeats, but it is too early to get despondent, and we need to remember that both the opposition teams we have faced had already played a few games already.
Leicester Line Ups
1st Half: Iversen; Ricardo, Forfana, Soyuncu, Thomas, Ghezzal, Ndidi, Soumaré, Mswanhise, Daka, Vardy.
2nd Half: Stolarczyk, Amartey, , Nelson, Benković, Sowah, Albrighton, Dewsbury-Hall, Choudhury, Suengchitthawon (sub Daley-Campbell, 60), Maddison, Iheanacho.
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