Brendan Rodgers welcomed Pep Guardiola to the King Power Stadium for Saturday nights late kick-off, hoping to beat his Catalan counterpart for the first time ever – previously having lost two and drawn two in their battles.
However, with the stadium buzzing and Manchester City’s recent woes in playing there (having lost two out of their last three away to Leicester), an excellent match was on the cards.
It was the home side who nearly drew first blood, with Vardy being put in behind the City backline by Youri Tielemans, before striking the base of the upright. The remainder of the half saw City control the tempo, but like has been the case this season, they were simply not clinical enough.
Kasper Schmeichel kept Leicester City in the game in the second half, with an excellent stop from a Kevin De Bruyne shot off a counter-attack, and soon thereafter a penalty stop off Kun Aguero. The Englishman then denied Aguero once more in the next 2-3 minutes, before finally being beaten by a clever finish from Gabriel Jesus on minute 80.
Following the goal, City simply looked to retain possession and kill of the game, and they did so successfully; taking all three points back to the city of Manchester to complete a league double over Rodgers’ side.
City’s tragic penalty record
Manchester City have missed five of their last seven Premier League spot-kicks this season. Often, what’s perceived as a guaranteed goal has left City fans frustrated beyond measure, as the quality of their shots from 12 yards has been extremely underwhelming, to say the least.
These past couple of weeks saw Ilkay Gundogan forego his 100% career success rate from the spot, Aguero miss the third of his last six, and Gabriel Jesus do neither his confidence nor the confidence of fans in him any good.
As Guardiola himself put it, Ederson Moraes is the best spot-kick taker at the club, but there is a fair degree of confidence in journalists worldwide that Pep would not be calling upon his sweeper-keeper to become his penalty-kick messiah anytime soon, mainly because of the threat it opens up on the counter-attack.
Harvey Barnes: Leicester City’s enigma
The left side of the pitch has been a minor concern for City over these past 3 seasons, with Benjamin Mendy good enough to dominate the entire flank on his own when at his bulldozing best, but barely able to stay fit long enough to fulfil the full 90 minutes.
On Saturday, Mendy did well against Ricardo Pereira and Caglar Soyuncu, keeping his width out wide and bringing Bernardo Silva for help to keep the Leicester right back pinned back well in his own half. This tactic did not go unnoticed by Brendan Rodgers, and he made a half-time substitution to counteract it.
Within his 1st minute on the pitch, Barnes left Laporte completely stranded with a sharp turn to whip in a great cross into the middle that just evaded Jamie Vardy. It was a preview of things to come; while Leicester admittedly threatened much lesser throughout the half than what that 46th minute promised, Barnes was a constant thorn in the City defences’ side. I firmly believe that Brendan Rodgers’ best XI involves him.
Gabriel Jesus to take over from Aguero?
Gabriel Jesus replaced Sergio Aguero late on in the second half, but vindicated Guardiola’s decision to bring him on for Aguero, and not alongside Aguero. Jesus looked completely ‘free’ of all burdens, and was enjoying his football on the pitch, making up the ground and linking up play.
A deftly executed finish saw him emerge from his cameo as the match-winner, as he allowed the ball to run completely across him, before coolly slotting it under Kasper Schmeichel, who had committed his body to the cause.
Jesus is perhaps the Premier League’s best back-up striker, but doubts remain as to whether he is the right man to take over from one of the league’s top three strikers of all time. The argument doesn’t just pertain to the fact that the two are different footballers in general, but also about Jesus’s clinicalness in front of goal, which has been seen to be quite erratic; missing five sitters across three games, but then scoring a hat trick away in the Champions League.
Leicester’s long-term plan
When Brendan Rodgers signed a contract extension days after mentioning in public that he had a ‘get out early’ clause should a Premier League heavyweight come calling, it was seen as Rodgers asking the club to reciprocate the level of commitment he was happy to show them.
Qualifying for the Champions League would be stage one of Rodgers’ and the board’s plan and while they have set the quality of their football, and indeed that of their results to make that a firm possibility, they have been handed a rather challenging run-in to the league’s finish; Arsenal, Sheffield United, Tottenham and Manchester United making up four of their last five fixtures – all direct CL berth competitors, with Bournemouth away being the missing piece of the puzzle.
Some good recruitment will then be required in the summer. As Leicester have shown, they are extremely smart movers in the market, but perhaps the real challenge will come from clubs above and around them, with Chilwell, Ndidi, Soyuncu and Maddison all being linked with moves away from the club.
All in all, an exciting summer and immediate two years beckon for Leicester City from how things are looking right now, but an important precursor to that is Champions League qualification. Their next five fixtures look very winnable, so let’s hope they have it secured before the run-in kicks in.
Up Next
Leicester City travel to Carrow Road to take on Norwich City in the league on Friday evening. Manchester City travel to Spain to take on the mighty Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League, in a fixture that has been built up to monumental proportions, owing to City’s ongoing battle with UEFA.
