City 1 Sevilla 0
Report by Ian Bason
The debate many fans faced today was whether to watch this pre-season friendly or stay at home to watch the Lionesses hopefully win the Euros. Certainly there were very few faces sitting around me who were regulars and I suspect there were a number of first time visitors to the ground today, as they tried to locate their seats
Prior to the game I had a long chat with a couple of Trust members, one of which used to work with my Dad over 40 years ago, and the discussion turned to younger fans grumbling about the lack of transfers and being dis-appointed if we didn’t challenge for Europe, thinking back to the time when having a good run of seasons in the top division would have been regarded as a real success.
As thoughts turned to todays game, success would be achieved by not picking up any injuries, with the horror of losing Fofana at the final friendly last season still being fresh in the mind.
My usual pre-match routine of watching the players warm up and trying to work out who looked “in the mood” was sacrificed as I (and many others) stayed in the concourse to watch the first half at Wembley
Once the team was announced, it was interesting to see Iversen start (is the Kasper to Nice story true?). While Ricardo, Castagne & Justin all starting brought me to the conclusion Ricardo would be playing the problematic (with no signing still made) advanced wide right role, wrong it was Castagne’s turn for a trial there.
The formation in midfield saw Ndidi deep, with Maddison & Dewsbury-Hall in front of him, Tielemans on the bench
The first half was a reasonable standard, City were largely untroubled, with Iversen only really tested with one low shot near his post and no issue from a corner. The other 2 dangerous attacks were stopped by Fofana, one a brilliant challenge in the box timed to perfection
We played the ball around well, Maddison & KDH were both constantly on the ball and probing, with most opportunities falling to Vardy who seemed slightly short of match sharpness, hence not converting throw balls into clear shots.
The crowd was in a good voice, but that related to England being 1-0 up at Wembley
Then in the 35th minute, the injury free game we desired was gone, as Ricardo went down, with what initially looked like his stud stuck into the turf, after lengthy treatment he went off, with what Brendan described after the match as an achilles problem, saying “it doesn’t look good”
Castagne went to right back, Tielemans in the centre and Maddison taking up the wide right role like many times last season, while the crowd were quieter (Germany had equalised)
Having caught up with the events at Wembley (still 1-1 and extra time underway), the second half commenced with Kasper & Armatey replacing Iversen & Fofana (I don’t think this was an injury). Another tactical swap, saw Maddison playing more in a 10 role, with Dewsbury-Hall, now wider right (assume the logic was to use his left foot cutting in)
One great bit of play saw KDH feed Youri, who skipped past 2 players before playing a lovely through ball to Vardy, whose attempt was blocked.
Just after 60 minutes Barnes burst through and hit the side netting, but landed heavily off the pitch, after a couple of minutes with the physios, it was decided he should not continue, hopefully this was a pre-cautionary decision.
A couple of further substitutions followed (Ndidi withdrawn soon after 60 minutes was no surprise), but the mood had lifted with England now 2-1 up, then we finally had a goal at the stadium as Maddison fed KDH, who cut inside with his left foot (was the experiment working?) and shot, however without the significant deflection I’m not sure it would have beaten the keeper who was wrong footed
We nearly went 2-0 up soon afterwards when Daka shot, which I initially thought had hit the base of the post, but the replay showed it hit the keepers’ feet on the line.
Sevilla’s challenges were not very “friendly”, from cynical pull backs to several robust challenges particularly on Maddison leading to 4 yellow cards. A couple of final Leicester subs saw Mendy take over the deep role, with Soumare now pushed further forwards.
With the crowd now in buoyant mood as England’s victory now confirmed, the last significant chance was a shot from Praet as he cut in from the left which was deflected over.
Much like Iversen, Kasper wasn’t really tested, just one shot that fizzed past him into the side netting and there weren’t many corners to judge how well the training sessions had solved last years defensive weakness.
So, a week to go before the Premier League commences, will we finally be able to get some players off the books who we originally planned to move on and were those who didn’t kick a ball today (be that by not coming off the bench or not being involved at all today) be around come next Sunday.
Certainly with 3 different players tried wide right today, it would appear to be the position where a solution is still proving problematic and perhaps where an addition will eventually be made if one of the targets for that role is still available by then
City: Iversen (Schmeichel 45); Ricardo (Tielemans 35) Fofana (Amartey 45), Evans, Justin; Ndidi (Soumare,65); Maddison (Mendy,76), Dewsbury-Hall (Albrighton 76), Castagne, Barnes (Praet 61); Vardy (Daka 65). Subs not used: Thomas, Soyuncu, Vestergaard, 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