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davieG

Pre-season 2016

By davieG, in Leicester City Forum

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davieG

davieG

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Can Hamza Choudhury help fill N'Golo Kante void? Five key talking points from Oxford friendly

By James_Sharpe  |  Posted: July 20, 2016

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As Leicester City continue to build up to the defence of their Premier League title, James Sharpereviews the opening pre-season victory at Oxford.

Pace, pace, pace!

Premier League defences beware. Claudio Ranieri's RAF is coming to get you.

 

A glorified fitness exercise the trip to the Kassam Stadium may have been but, blimey, fans quickly got a sense of the blistering pace in this City front line.

City's record signing Ahmed Musa joined the club with the reputation of being as quick, if not quicker, than Jamie Vardy. It took him all of a few minutes into his debut at Oxford to show just how much horsepower he has in his engine.

 

 

image: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276308/binaries/Jamie Vardy Liverpool goal.jpg

Jamie%20Vardy%20Liverpool%20goal.jpg
 

 

From a standing start, with his back to goal, he turned and galloped past his helpless marker who could only stand clutching at thin air.Rumour has it Musa's been doing that to City's defenders in training, too.

Leicester could have Musa, Vardy, Jeff Schlupp and Riyad Mahrez all running at defenders in unison this season. Good luck.

How to solve a problem like N'Golo?

Life without N'Golo Kante has begun. But will they need to sign anyone else to replace him? If the victory at Oxford is any sort of guide, then maybe not.

City have plenty of options in there still: Danny Drinkwater, Nampalys Mendy, Andy King, Matty James, Daniel Amartey, Gokhan Inler...even Liam Moore played there at the Kassam Stadium.

There is also youngster Hamza Choudhury. The 18-year-old Choudhury spent last season on loan at Burton and is one of the most highly-rated products of the City academy. He played a huge role in Burton's promotion to the Championship and impressed so much they want him back.

 

image: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276308/binaries/pjimage (62).jpg

pjimage%20(62).jpg
 

 

Reportedly once touted by Barcelona, Choudhury is a tough-tackling defensive screener… a little in the Kante mould. He was impressive in the first half at Oxford.

Inler is expected to leave, but if Ranieri feels Choudhury has what it takes to step up and play a part this season, City might not have to dip into the market to replace Kante after all.

Welcome back, Matty!

It was great to see Matty James return to action at Oxford. It brings to an end a hellish 14 months for the City as he recovered from a serious knee injury.

info-blue.png

James was due to return to action in January but he injured the knee again in a development squad game and needed another operation.

But he is back, having worked harder than ever. If City can get the player back who formed such a strong partnership with Esteban Cambiasso in the survival season, it will almost be like having a new signing.

 

image: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276308/binaries/Matty James injury 1.jpg

Matty%20James%20injury%201.jpg
 

 

Morgan deal is much-needed good news

Leicester City have been in desperate need of some good news.

N'Golo Kante's departure, followed by Steve Walsh's impending move to Everton, has left City fans feeling worrisome. Was a mass exodus on the way?

So, it came with excellent timing that Wes Morgan signed a new contract with the champions.

 

image: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276308/binaries/Wes Morgan lifts trophy Shaun Botterill 51.jpg

Wes%20Morgan%20lifts%20trophy%20Shaun%20
 

 

Contracts mean little in football these days, after all Walsh only penned a new deal eight weeks ago, but to have the club's captain, and leader make a statement that this is the place to be was right on cue. Hopefully, more will follow in his footsteps.

Big season for Demarai?

It is an exciting campaign ahead for City winger Demarai Gray.

The 20-year-old showed glimpses of his potential in his 12 Premier League appearances last campaign and he looks, albeit after one pre-season game, to have pushed on again with a goal and plenty of attacking threat at Oxford.

 

image: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276308/binaries/Demarai Gray Ozford.jpg

Demarai%20Gray%20Ozford.jpg
 

 

Gary Lineker was there, too, having brought the Premier League trophy out before kick-off, and the City legend was also impressed with what he saw.

"Demarai Gray will be one hell of a player," he tweeted.


Read more at http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/can-hamza-choudhury-help-fill-n-golo-kante-void-five-key-talking-points-from-oxford-friendly/story-29534421-detail/story.html#wRveOKUL7UKohlm1.99

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justfoxes

justfoxes

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Looking forward to seeing the likes of Choudary Chillwell and Gray to step up and show what quality we have in our up and coming youngsters,was absolutely superb to see Matty James back after his horror injury and he still looks sharp.

Ahmed Musa looks a find so does Mendy was really impressed with the Oxford game albeit I only managed to catch the second half live but the highlights we looked pretty sharp in the first half and were unlucky to not have scored a couple more goals.

We have a tough test over the next few weeks to see how we handle the likes of Barcelona and PSG and their superstars but a trip to Celtic tomorrow to take on the Scottish champions should give us a benchmark of how we can deal with a stronger side?

im going for a 1-2 win for us really would love to see Musa destroy their defence don't know if Vards is fit yet to face Celtic but the thought of him and Musa terrorising defences with bursts of speed and Mahrez with his fancy footwork skills my god we will do well next season !

been looking at ICC coverage and it seems sky sports and Espn will be airing the games live so for those who can't make the trips at least we can watch what looks like a really decent competition and I really hope we can do well would be great to add this trophy to our cabinet and stick two fingers up at the haters and doubters who say we were lucky !!

:scarf::chant::scarf:

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Guest CityFan 06

Guest CityFan 06

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The Development Squad take on Sheffield Wednesday in a pre-season friendly at 12pm. 

 

Leicester XI to face Sheffield Wednesday: Iversen, De Laet, Trialist, L. Moore, E. Moore (c), Kipre, Nduwku, Inler, Muskwe, Lawrence, Barnes.

Subs: Knight, Johnson, Elder, Choudhury, Rowe, Bolkiah, Mitchell, Miles.

 

 

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filbertway

filbertway

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11 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Choudhury can't have impressed that much in Austria and vs Oxford as the last two development games he hasn't even started. Can't work it out as it's quite clear he's more than good enough.

Dno man, he hardly blew me away when I watched him for Burton last season.

A full season at Championship level for him should give an indication if he's likely to make it or not.

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Ric Flair

Ric Flair

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2 hours ago, filbertway said:

Dno man, he hardly blew me away when I watched him for Burton last season.

A full season at Championship level for him should give an indication if he's likely to make it or not.

Just surprising he wasn't at least taken to Glasgow and possibly LA as James is fcuked again and we were possibly short of numbers. All the top teams don't hesitate in integrating their youngsters during pre-season yet we seldom do bar Chilwell in the last two summers. Perhaps they just aren't anywhere near ready but there's only one way of finding out.

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