Leicester City 3-0 Preston North End - Post Match Thread

[Mickyblueeyes]

Great win again. The hardest task Enzo has this season is going to be keeping the players focussed. It’s very evident that large parts of our squad are far too good for this league and complacency is a real risk. If they stay focus, we’ll be in the PL come the end of the season.

[Lcfc-1992]

1 hour ago, Spudulike said:

Haven't seen the angle to confirm if Nacho was onside for his goal. Three Preston defenders had their hands up, but they would, wouldn't they. Did they show a better angle on Sky to confirm? 

 

Another one where celebrations would've been muted expecting VAR to be all over it for 3 minutes before ruling it out. 

Doesn’t look like its offside from this angle

Edited 5 October 2023 by Lcfc-1992

[CUJimmy]

It felt to me like the game split into 3 periods.  
 

Their strategy, as expected, was a block so low that if it had been any further back it would have been in the family stand.  For the first 30 mins or so they weren’t even  trying to play on the counter, they had no attacking intent whatsoever.  We were like a boxer, circling the opponent while firing off jabs but not taking any risks.

 

Once they settled into the game they started to become a bit more attack minded and we struggled to get any real control which lasted until just after half time.  This was easily the period where they looked most likely to score, if they had I am certain they would have reverted to plan A.

 

I hadn’t picked up Ricardo’s positional change as described in Strider’s excellent (again) analysis but that explains how we regained control in the middle and could continue probing around the final third.  As their manager says they began to tire - it’s not only physical, the mental demands of keeping your shape under pressure and the knowledge that any mistake will concede a chance is exhausting.  Once that mistake came they were forced to try to attack and the end result was inevitable.

[les-tah]

4 hours ago, Lcfc-1992 said:

I wish we were more attacking, we’ve only scored 10 in our last 4 league games 

Do any team turn up to play Ipswich and immediately parked the bus with 11 behind the ball - i doubt it.  

 

if Preston turned up last night and tried to play through us we would of turned them over about 6-0 they was nothing special and wont be up there come end of season jn my opinion.

Edited 5 October 2023 by les-tah

[FoyleFox]

31 minutes ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Great win again. The hardest task Enzo has this season is going to be keeping the players focussed. It’s very evident that large parts of our squad are far too good for this league and complacency is a real risk. If they stay focus, we’ll be in the PL come the end of the season.

I don't disagree in the potential of a problem, but I hope that his experience from Man City is beneficial in that. He has experience of working with a team better than their competitors, of staying focused and winning.

Edited 5 October 2023 by FoyleFox

[Spudulike]

4 minutes ago, les-tah said:

Do any team turn up to play Ipswich and immediately parked the bus with 11 behind the ball - i doubt it.  

 

if Preston turned up last night and tried to play through us we would of turned them over about 6-0 they was nothing special and wont be up there come end of season jn my opinion.

That's an interesting point. I've not watched any Ipswich games so not sure if they are encountering the same issues as us. Five home matches so far for us and every opponent has tried the same formation/tactics. 

[Matt]

Really good!

 

Control throughout.

 

Hearing people this morning calling the 1st half boring. Jesus, where were all these people being so critical previous to this season?!!

 

Atleast there is reason for having to patient and play the way we are now.

 

Excellent, on to the next one.

[sacreblueits442]

4 hours ago, Bilo said:

It depends where we are in the league.

 

If we're 10 points clear at the top, it would be insane for anyone to leave to join a relegation battle in the Premier League, and potentially end up worse off than if they'd stayed, by the summer. 

....perhaps that was not the problem he was alluding to!!!

[st albans fox]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

I think you're getting a bit confused. First half he wasn't playing wide, he was a CAM, Fatawu was wide of him, KDH was more central. He was static because there was no room for anyone. It wasn't because he was lost. The formation was essentially 3-1-5-1 instead of the usual 3-2-4-1.

 

When he got moved backwards, he was still in midfield as he has been all season, but was able to recieve the ball, turn and free up Winks, which in turn gave Ndidi and KDH space. He wasn't marauding, he was manipualting space with clever passes and reading the game. Nacho's first goal comes from Ricardo playing an excellent first time pass blind - IE without even looking. He is so positionaly aware of himself and his team mate he could play it that way.

 

 

Maybe I confused you - I just think Ricky is better with the game infront of him - coming into midfield and pivoting with winks and having stuff ahead of him suits his game. In the first half he was way too far forward, had to take balls on his back foot and then look to see what was an option - all too busy and he gets quickly tackled.  My use of him being played ahead of Castagne was an illustration of this where he’s playing from a standing start more often than not and it didnt suit him 

[Happy Fox]

PNE fans are a bit thick aren't they?

 

We have been in the premier league the past 9 seasons, we were never going to not have a good team of premier league quality.

 

Matchday Thread - Leicester City v PNE - 04/10/23 - KO:7.45pm - Championship | Page 45 | PNE Online (pne-online.net)

[StriderHiryu]

15 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Maybe I confused you - I just think Ricky is better with the game infront of him - coming into midfield and pivoting with winks and having stuff ahead of him suits his game. In the first half he was way too far forward, had to take balls on his back foot and then look to see what was an option - all too busy and he gets quickly tackled.  My use of him being played ahead of Castagne was an illustration of this where he’s playing from a standing start more often than not and it didnt suit him 

No worries and good for picking him out! The new Maresca!

[CosbehFox]

18 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

PNE fans are a bit thick aren't they?

 

We have been in the premier league the past 9 seasons, we were never going to not have a good team of premier league quality.

 

Matchday Thread - Leicester City v PNE - 04/10/23 - KO:7.45pm - Championship | Page 45 | PNE Online (pne-online.net)

I don't mind their argument if they actually showed a shred of ambition like a number of teams have against us. But they didn't. 

[Happy Fox]

1 minute ago, CosbehFox said:

I don't mind their argument if they actually showed a shred of ambition like a number of teams have against us. But they didn't. 

 

I guess most teams cannot at this level have ambition against us because we will blow them away with our quality. I expect Leeds, Sunderland and Ipswich to be our most sternest test in the sense that they will attack us most of the teams in this league will try and contain us, but that won't work.

[white traveller]

5 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

I don't mind their argument if they actually showed a shred of ambition like a number of teams have against us. But they didn't. 

Just out of interest and as Preston fan that travelled last night would you be able to suggest an alternative set of tactics that you would have followed last night if you were in charge taking into account the squad that is available to its current manager Ryan Lowe.

 

Good luck for the rest of the season some of us are still Foxes fans from when you won the prem league....

[CosbehFox]

3 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

 

I guess most teams cannot at this level have ambition against us because we will blow them away with our quality. I expect Leeds, Sunderland and Ipswich to be our most sternest test in the sense that they will attack us most of the teams in this league will try and contain us, but that won't work.

Teams lower down the table and with lower budgets than Preston have tested us this season by being innovative and clever. Actually concentrating on our weaknesses rather than sitting in with a parked bus. Blackburn gave a very good blueprint on Sunday about pressing patterns. Rotherham took advantage of a weakness down our left hand side as did Hull. Huddersfield went with a balls deep man to man marking system. 

Edited 5 October 2023 by CosbehFox

[FrankieADZ]

thought be played well again; but not looking out of 2nd gear either

fair to say PNE was more than happy with a point; given the time wasting they was doing bits of the first half etc

 

cant fault any of them again, Coady looks a bit rusty but to be expected given its only his second game for us

[Pliskin]

1 hour ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Great win again. The hardest task Enzo has this season is going to be keeping the players focussed. It’s very evident that large parts of our squad are far too good for this league and complacency is a real risk. If they stay focus, we’ll be in the PL come the end of the season.

It’s why you bring in players like Coady, to stop that from happening. 

[KFS]

2 hours ago, AKCJ said:

Only just realised their number 3 was Greg Cunningham.

Good of you AKCJ, I’m not even registering players we come up against because they don’t deserve to be on the same pitch as our starboys

[steveherbe]

12 hours ago, Spudulike said:

Was Leicester grid locked again tonight trying to get out of the city? 

Yes. Took us nearly 2.5 hours to get to the M1/M69 junction at the end of Narborough Rd. Didn't get home to Winchester until 0240 thanks to M1 and A43 road closures, bloody nightmare.

[Spudulike]

5 minutes ago, steveherbe said:

Yes. Took us nearly 2.5 hours to get to the M1/M69 junction at the end of Narborough Rd. Didn't get home to Winchester until 0240 thanks to M1 and A43 road closures, bloody nightmare.

Jeez, are we expecting that again on Saturday? Wondering if there's an alternative by leaving the car in Fosse Park. But how to get in to the ground and back  Any park n rides?

[white traveller]

1 hour ago, CosbehFox said:

Teams lower down the table and with lower budgets than Preston have tested us this season by being innovative and clever. Actually concentrating on our weaknesses rather than sitting in with a parked bus. Blackburn gave a very good blueprint on Sunday about pressing patterns. Rotherham took advantage of a weakness down our left hand side as did Hull. Huddersfield went with a balls deep man to man marking system. 

Can you confirm as to what each teams budgets are please

[Holly B]

11 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Leicester City 3 - 0 Preston North End Post Match

 

 

Although the pre-match prediction did pan out as such, more happened in this game than you might first have thought, which is why it was a classic case of "a tale of two halves"

 

First Half

 

 

• Preston came to defend but sprung a surprise. They didn't defend 541, but 4411, as seen in the picture.
  • Enzo made a change, he pushed Ricardo up as an auxiliary additional CAM to complement Ndidi and KDH. This is because he wanted a superiority in the final phase to make it 6 vs 5.
  • However, Ryan Lowe second guessed this and had Duane Holmes man-mark Harry Winks.
  • This is why we were so lethargic in the first half, and why Winks (who was one yellow away from missing the next match) was restricted. He didn't have the bounce pass on to play around the corner like he would do usually.
  • The net effect was that KDH and Ndidi didn't receive the ball much. A problem of our own making... there was too much traffic! Wilf got it just 10 times in the first half!
    • Take a look at the average pitch positions, all of our players got in each others way. We were playing too centrally and right into Preston's hands.
• When we tried to force play in the first half, this is where we turned the ball over and gave chances away.
  • Coady was a prime offender in doing this. On current form you would play Vestergaard ahead of him for the CD quarterback role. Of course he is recovering from a fairly serious injury!

 

 

 

Second Half

 

 

• We made one very simple change. We moved Ricardo back to deeper on the pitch in his usual double pivot role with Winks.
• At the same time, Preston were tired, they were chasing us the entire game, and had just 22% possession.
• Ndidi and KDH started to receive the ball and began to run the game.
• We scored with our first real opportunity, but it was a tired lunge from McCann who was tired. If we didn't score then, we had 30 minutes plus stoppages... it would have been hard for them to hold out for that long.
  • This is especially true when the cavalry from the bench were sent on, with Iheanacho now free to drift between the lines as a false 9 having the freedom of the king Power.

 

Overall

 

This was the most defensive display a team has played against us for years. Tony Pulis for WBA during the home match against them in 2016 is the last time I remember something like this. Despite that, we kept it patient and found the answer. It's funny, as @cityfanlee23 and I were disappointed that we weren't going for it enough in the first half, but ironically we were poor in the first half because we were going for it too much! Actually, moving Ricardo BACKWARDS meant we were better at going forwards. Funny how football can work like that.

 

Enzo Maresca is a top, top, TOP manager. This era is going to be really enjoyable. Forza Enzo!

 

 

 

 

 

Was it my imagination or did KDH play more central than previously and Wilf further left ?

It was Wilf getting in front of JJ in the first half which didn’t appear to work very well in the final third as Wilf doesn’t really have a left foot. I think in the first 20 mins or so KDH only touched the ball a couple of times and I’m guessing his total touches throughout the game were well down on normal.End result was he scored 2 goals so no drama it just looked liked he play a slightly different role to normal.

 

[StriderHiryu]

1 minute ago, Holly B said:

Was it my imagination or did KDH play more central than previously and Wilf further left ?

It was Wilf getting in front of JJ in the first half which didn’t appear to work very well in the final third as Wilf doesn’t really have a left foot. I think in the first 20 mins or so KDH only touched the ball a couple of times and I’m guessing his total touches throughout the game were well down on normal.End result was he scored 2 goals so no drama it just looked liked he play a slightly different role to normal.

 

Not your imagination! First half that is exactly what happened, because Ricardo was supposed to be playing as the right sided 8. Enzo expected Preston to have 5 men back at all times, so he pushed Ricardo up to make it 6 v 5. But they didn't have 5 back (even though they did this in their last game), they had 4, meaning they had 4 midfielders. So his whole "idea" of having an extra man in the important part of the pitch didn't work. We have to give credit to Preston for coming up with that bait and switch tactic.

 

Second half KDH was not as central, he was back to his "usual" position.

 

I think Wilf wasn't that bad with his left foot, he got it down and played a few passes. The bigger issue is that neither he nor KDH were getting the ball much at all. But that's a subjective opinion.

[CUJimmy]

2 hours ago, white traveller said:

Just out of interest and as Preston fan that travelled last night would you be able to suggest an alternative set of tactics that you would have followed last night if you were in charge taking into account the squad that is available to its current manager Ryan Lowe.

 

Good luck for the rest of the season some of us are still Foxes fans from when you won the prem league....

First off all I hope the journey home was not too stressful, getting out of Leicester is a nightmare at the best of times and even more so at the moment as they seem to be digging up every road in the city.

 

At risk of sounding arrogant there is quite a gulf in class not just in the starting XI but even more the strength in depth we have on the bench so Lowe didn’t have too many options.  I certainly don’t subscribe to the view that visiting teams should play in such a way as to make it easy for us.  You devise a plan to give you the best chance to get something out of it, it’s our job to find a way through.  That’s what Enzo means when he talks about solving problems.

 

Anyway, all the best for the rest of the season and thanks for the kind words about 15-16.

 

[CosbehFox]

1 hour ago, white traveller said:

Can you confirm as to what each teams budgets are please

Are you suggesting Rotherham have a bigger budget than Preston?

 

As they had a goal disallowed against us, scored against us and our winning goal came in the 84th minute. They did that by utilising their wingers really well. Pinpointing a weakness we have on the left hand side of defence. 

Edited 5 October 2023 by CosbehFox