City Wilt in the Heat

Leicester City 2 Brentford 2 – 7th August 2022

Report by Tish Krokosz

Why do we have to play Spanish teams as a final pre-season friendly? They only bring injuries to our first team. Admittedly, these were not the result of cynical tackles, but it was frustrating to see Brendan’s unaltered squad depleted by two critical players before the first kick of the 2022/23 season.

However, the bright sunshine, free drinks outside the ground, flags to wave as the players entered the pitch and pyrotechnics around the ground meant that there was a semi carnival atmosphere and a hope that the remaining squad was good enough to bring results during this peculiarly interrupted season. The only surprise for me was to see Amartey start in a back three playing on the left, a position more suited to Söyüncü. Ward, who has been waiting patiently for a game, was chosen as the replacement for Schmeichel.

City started confidently and had possession of the ball for long periods of time. The visitors were happy to defend deep and try and counter attack when possible. Tielemans had a crack at goal from distance but Raya palmed the ball away and Maddison was very close with a diving header. (I never thought I would write the words Maddison and diving header in the same sentence). Ward looked comfortable and dealt confidently with the few chances that Brentford created.

After half an hour, Vardy made a run down the left and won a corner. Fofana made a late run into the box distracting the Brentford defence. This left Castagne clear to make a run to the near post and flick Maddison’s delivery past Raya. City’s first goal of the season coming from a set piece and a corner at that – could this be a new style?

City continued to press with shots from Maddison and Tielemans, the latter hitting the post not long before half time. This was a half that had been totally dominated by the home team and the Blue Army were in good voice. All that was needed was to continue this control in the second forty-five minutes.

The home crowd were well rewarded, as City attacked down the right wing straight from kick-off. Ben Mee made a hash of trying to clear a cross, Vardy flicked the loose ball to Dewsbury-Hall who slammed it into the corner of the net from well outside the penalty area. City were cruising and the home fans were looking forward to an easy three points from the first match.

Until Thomas Frank made the first of his changes.

He sent on DaSilva and Lewis-Potter for Jensen and Mee and changed the formation into a more attacking one. This brought almost immediate rewards. City had a throw in on the left in a defensive position. The ball bobbled around and nobody in a blue shirt took control of it. Maddison was dispossessed and Brentford fed the ball out to their left side where Henry had acres of space. His pass to Toney was well controlled and Amartey was too far away from him to stop him slamming it into the centre of goal, giving Ward no chance of stopping it.

City could have responded soon after when Maddison directed a free kick to Fofana on the left of the penalty area. His looping header to the far post eluded the goalkeeper and bounced off the woodwork to safety. A goal at this point would probably have dented the Londoners’ confidence. Instead, they grew in confidence and were showing much more intent and interest in going forward.

The response from Rodgers was to take off Dewsbury-Hall and replace him with Daka. At the same time Frank brought on Baptiste for Norgaard and ten minutes later made another double substitution. The fresh legs made all the difference to the game. Brentford took control of the midfield and the City midfield was wilting. We looked particularly vulnerable on the left side as the Bees always seemed to have a man extra. Toney should have equalised with fifteen minutes to go when he had a free header, but it went wide.

However, the equaliser did come with five minutes to go on the clock. Again, the ball was played down their right side and nobody was there to challenge the opposition. Eventually, Amartey moved forward to try and stop DaSilva who took the ball onto his left foot and struck a shot to the far left of the goal with Ward stranded. Where was the midfield? Where was the challenge?

The game finished with the teams sharing the points. Brentford probably felt it was a fair result for them as they had made positive changes and showed their intent for the last half hour. It was a frustrating result for City who had totally dominated for the first hour and hit the woodwork twice. The home team looked tired after that and I believe Rodgers should have made more changes than he did. There were five international outfield players on the subs bench and only one was used. The midfield was where City had control in the first half and Rodgers should not have given up that advantage in the second.

However, it was good to see that City were not threatened at any corner and Ward looked confident in goal. His distribution was more effective than Kasper’s and he was communicating well with his defence. Vardy had a very quiet game by his standards and Daka looked lost when he came on as if he did not know what his role was meant to be.

The pundits have been making a big issue of the fact that City have not made any signings during the summer. I think it is more important that we keep the top players that we currently have and do not lose any to the vultures that are looking on and hoping to gain from any of City’s financial frailties.

Leicester City: Ward, Justin, Amartey, Fofana, Evans, Castagne, Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall (Daka 72), Tielemans, Maddison, Vardy. Subs not used: Iversen, Söyüncü, Thomas, Mendy, Albrighton, Perez, Praet, Iheanacho

Brentford: Raya, Hickey (Sorensen 84), Jansson, Mee (Lewis-Potter 58), Henry, Jensen (DaSilva 58), Norgaard (Baptiste 73), Janelt, Mbeumo, Toney, Wissa (Dervisoglu 84). Subs not used: Onyeka, Strakosha, Roerslev, Stevens

Referee: J. Gillett                             Attendance: 31,794

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