Leicester City 0 Manchester City 2: Play like that again and we might be fine?
The last game of 2024 and Leicester needed a win over struggling Manchester City to avoid ending it in the relegation zone. Despite it being our most complete ninety minutes, it wasn't to be. But it did inspire hope and more importantly, support from the stands.
When the media were despairing for Manchester City last weekend and asked “when will their misery end”, every Leicester City fan knew.
We've enjoyed being quite the disruptors to Guardiola over the years but while his team gave up a lot of chances and possession, they came out on top. Such is the quality in moments that matter of a team with Haaland, De Bruyne and who have the luxury of Gündoğan, Grealish and Walker on the bench.
For all the woe is me coverage about their injuries and current plight, Pep Guardiola’s starting lineup was a daunting one and their bench compared to ours told a story. So perhaps it's no surprise that we squandered our three big chances and Manchester City scored both of theirs.
Our own bench featured Will Alves, sound that klaxon, and 20 year old Thomas Wilson-Brown for context. Our opponents had younger players on their bench but it’s the calibre of the other players that showed the difference.
Ruud van Nistelrooy's team will be rightly disappointed to come away with nothing. This was a more complete ninety minute performance, and had we managed to be more clinical and ruthless in the penalty box, maybe we could have salvaged a draw or more.
Injuries and suspensions have dictated some of the starting eleven of late and Jordan Ayew serving his one match ban for five yellow cards, plus not having Mads Hermansen or Wilfred Ndidi back all had their impact. Jakub Stolarczyk started his second consecutive game and Harry Winks and Jamie Vardy were both fit enough to come back.
Winks and Facundo Buonanotte coming back into the starting lineup feel like the two difference makers. We had been asking to see more of Buonanotte and Bilal El Khannouss together. It was unclear who'd take the central one and who'd be in support of James Justin but the reality seemed to be fluid and depending on the moment in the match.
It was a bright enough start although our ongoing issues down the right side were set to continue. Man City opted to line Savinho up against James Justin, which felt targeted. However, for all of our initial attacking moves and generally more positive appearance, the away side took the lead.
Stolarczyk will feel he could have done better, parrying a shot to Savinho rather than holding it or putting it out behind for a corner. It didn't feel wholly deserved for Guardiola’s side but a reminder of their quality even when down on their luck.
The Foxes should have been level at the half hour mark, brilliant work from El Khannouss was left by Vardy, out of reach for Justin and Buonanotte unable to convert and taking it out by headbutting the post. The efforts were applauded at half time.
The second half was good again. We looked dangerous on the attack. Which is what made the Erling Haaland goal that killed the game so frustrating to concede. Letting them get to 2-0 having done nothing for a large portion of the second half was a bit deflating.
Our best (available) attacking line
Admit it, you spent at least a few seconds daydreaming of having Abdul Fatawu in this game. Of what he could do and how his spark was exactly a missing puzzle piece we needed. However, with his absence ongoing, credit needs to go the front four, who connected and worked together well. The only thing they didn't do between them was score.
Bilal El Khannouss should be up for a Man of the Match award again. He was here, there and everywhere against Man City. It was a performance that deserved a goal and something to honour his efforts.
He's a joy to watch and the type of player that I cannot help but love. While young and new to this level, he's so determined and resolute where getting the ball is concerned and some of the things he did with it were skilful and smart.
Whoever took Marc Albrighton’s number was always going to have big shoes to fill. BEK is a different type of player but that workhorse ethic and the constant trying make it a good fit for him.
It wasn't just him though, Buonanotte and Mavididi and the three of them together started to find a lot of joy in overlapping with one another and clever, one two passing. Boubakary Soumaré even got himself involved in the fun on occasion. There's some synergy forming between these players and it's exciting.
It’s hard not to imagine the what if for when we get Fatawu back next season. We’re yet to see how he and El Khannouss could line up together and what that partnership could look like but you’d expect they’ll enjoy one another’s creativity and movement.
Hopefully Ruud has realised that Buonanotte needs to be in our starting lineup. Fingers crossed that the alleged rumours of a recall are just that because he is a cut above and vital to our attacking efforts. Having him alongside BEK takes the pressure off both of them and allows us to swap their positions depending on the moment and the defensive matchups.
Contributions to the attack came from all over the pitch. Victor Kristiansen put in a very valiant effort from the left, trying to support the attack and do his part. His final balls have been hit and miss this season but you couldn't fault the Dane for effort and he was a key cog in the machine.
On the other flank, Justin had a strange game. So often he stood in acres of space, just waiting. The defenders had no interest in closing him down or marking him but his own teammates frequently looked up and opted to pass elsewhere or just ignored him completely.
His struggles defensively have knocked his confidence as too many times he opted to not take on his man or run and passed backwards. Despite that, he did come close to scoring before he was replaced by Hamza Choudhury.
Offsides and missed chances
If you were looking for a critique of our attacking players, the only real one is that we couldn't put more pressure on the Manchester City goal or convert our chances.
Presumably of all the things Ruud and the team have been focusing on lately, staying onside and the offside rule aren't two of them. Every football fan has something that irrationally annoys them and for me, it's professional players with bags of experience who keep getting flagged offside. Vardy got caught out a few times in ridiculous fashion.
We threatened the defending Champions, who were surpisingly open. Having to mark Vardy, even when he's not quite landing the shots or touches in usual fashion is still a task and Nathan Ake never looked wholly comfortable doing it. We had some early moves that should have generated saves or a goal but it was one of those afternoons, particularly for our talisman.
Our best two chances came in the second half. Mavididi put an outrageously good cross into the box but Vardy somehow tipped it over instead of into the net. Having struggled with his own chances, Vardy had been the instigator of a move that almost saw Justin nab a goal too.
A football team has to make their own luck, to spare you relying on officials to get decisions correct or other teams to drop a clanger, but you need some residual luck. Lady luck wasn't wearing Leicester blue this time.
We've seen Vardy bury countless chances that are either identical to or harder than the ones he couldn't finish here and for all of our positive play and build up, we just couldn't get the ball into the net.
Perhaps we could have looked to bring Daka on earlier in the game, but it served to underline our need to have another striking option available. With Edouard likely to be heading back to Crystal Palace with no fanfare, we have options.
Tom Cannon bagged the winning goal again for Stoke this weekend, presumably we could recall him if we wanted to. Or there’s the transfer window opening shortly if Ruud has his eye on somebody.
Hoping it's New Year, New Us
We'll have something on the site this week about New Year's Resolutions we're hoping to see. The easy one is to say play like that again. This was our best full ninety minute performance of the season.
There was fight, passion and doggedness to a lot of our play. The impact it had on the crowd shouldn't be overlooked. There were moments of quiet deflation, understandably, but the crowd stayed to the end and cheered on the players. The players fed off that energy too.
It's not wise to remind people of the infamous James Maddison tweet but it was hard not to think of ‘play like that and we'll be fine’. Perhaps we might if we can match this approach every week. It's frustrating that we didn’t try the tactics and get even a fraction near this level against Wolves.
For van Nistelrooy, it’s channelling all of that and making sure the players who looked dejected at the end, take away the positives and build their confidence.
He’s had three weeks at the helm now and today showed some progress. He's not had it easy, our best lineup isn't possible with the injuries at present but he does seem to have found out how to work with the available squad members.
The gaps in the squad are still incredibly visible and we really have to nail this next transfer window, but today offered something to be proud of. A lot of the players looked very disappointed at the end of the game and Guardiola appeared to be complimenting a few on their efforts.
If this is the type of play we can impose while still weak in some areas, imagine what we could do. If we could bolster the defensive positions and add a decent striker into the mix, plus get some of our injured players back, it would help.
Today looked more like what Ruud may want this team to be. At times, it still looked new. We seemed to be taking a lot of risks when passing out from the back, but not so many for our wingers and forwards. Though it did start to balance out as the game went on.
We saw some exciting, passing football in moments and pressing and determination to win it back when out of possession. It’s strange to have a 93% pass completion rate against Manchester City, but it underlines that this time, the scoreline wasn’t wholly reflective of the game.
Here’s to 2025, where only one thing is assured, it’ll never be dull for Leicester City.
