StriderHiryu

I'm truly trying to maximise the attention I get for posting this one, but Ricardo's pass in this move would make James Maddison proud:

If they slip up, it will be down to injuries. The way they play, they will make chances even against teams that shut up shop. Though I would expect them to make fewer chances in such matches.

Move of the Match ^ This is Enzo Maresca's brand of football at it's absolute finest! Look at how high our centre backs push up. Vestergaard gets to within 25 yards of the opposition goal WITH the ball. EIGHT players are involved in this move. Ricardo who starts the game as a right back, ends up in a number 10 position to put through an incredible goal. Look at the way we shift the Stoke City defensive block around during all phases of this move. We move it to the right, then back, then to the left, then centrally. Look at where the Stoke players start off, and where they end up moving to. This is not possession for possession's sake, this is like a game of Chess where we are moving their pieces around to setup checkmate. Look at how pivotal Vestergaard is in this move. He's had the most passes of any player in the Championship. But it's not pointless passing like Puel / Rodgers, look what he's doing with it. Ricardo's pass is simply sensational, the run from Iheanacho timed to perfection. The finish is superb. When the goal is scored, Stoke have NINE outfield players in their own box, plus their keeper and we still score. I think this might be the best team goal we've scored in a long, long time. And that's because this is relatively early in the game against a super deep block and we broke them down systematically because of great coaching. A beautiful goal!

Move of the Match ^ This is Enzo Maresca's brand of football at it's absolute finest! Look at how high our centre backs push up. Vestergaard gets to within 25 yards of the opposition goal WITH the ball. EIGHT players are involved in this move. Ricardo who starts the game as a right back, ends up in a number 10 position to put through an incredible goal. Look at the way we shift the Stoke City defensive block around during all phases of this move. We move it to the right, then back, then to the left, then centrally. Look at where the Stoke players start off, and where they end up moving to. This is not possession for possession's sake, this is like a game of Chess where we are moving their pieces around to setup checkmate. Look at how pivotal Vestergaard is in this move. He's had the most passes of any player in the Championship. But it's not pointless passing like Puel / Rodgers, look what he's doing with it. Ricardo's pass is simply sensational, the run from Iheanacho timed to perfection. The finish is superb. When the goal is scored, Stoke have NINE outfield players in their own box, plus their keeper and we still score. I think this might be the best team goal we've scored in a long, long time. And that's because this is relatively early in the game against a super deep block and we broke them down systematically because of great coaching. A beautiful goal! If anyone ever asks you "What is Leicester's / Maresca's style of play?", show them this move.

It's worth watching Ipswich, because we aren't the only team doing special things this season. They play a really nice attacking brand of football and some of the individual goals they have scored this season have been top draw. One thing I will say though is that I've noticed that teams continue to disrespect them and play quite open against them. Look at the number of men Preston committed forward at times in this game compared to against us. Not taking anything away from the Tractor Boys, but it reminds me a bit of our own team in 15/16 where teams kept pushing up high against us... and kept getting beat. Regardless, Kieran McKenna is doing an amazing job for sure.

Sorry, but this just shows such a massive misunderstanding of the modern game and the way we play, it's laughable. He's doing exactly what is being asked of him, and is doing it very well. So well in fact that we have won 10 out of 12 games in total. There aren't many fullbacks or CDMs in football that are good enough to play a role like his, where he has to change position and role depending on the phase of play and ball position. It's because he is so good at doing it that it gives us a platform of stability to base our attacks on. In the last two games we've only given up two shots on target against us, but scored 5. And one of the key reasons for that is because Ricardo makes the extra man with Winks to give us all the benefits of a double pivot, without sacrificing an offensive player. In the last two games he's also been pivotal to goals with key passes forward in the offensive third. When teams sit back as deep as Bristol, Preston and Stoke, there is no space for Ricardo to run into or attack. Enzo Maresca's system is about shifting the defensive block of the opponent such that one of our wide players is 1v1 versus a defender. And the way we are able to shift their block so successfully is because of the Winks / Ricardo partnership. Ricardo could be one of those wide players, but he isn't as fast or as tricky as Fatawu, Mavididi or Yunus. We should be applauding him for taking like a duck to water to a role that is extremely complex. Some high profile players that have been asked to do a similar job and failed badly are Sofyan Amrabat at Man United and Thomas Partey at Arsenal.

As shown today though it’s not just passing for the sake of it. 95% of those passes are just to pop the ball around but he also makes decisive ones to open up play. Our defenders made tons of passes under Puel and Rodgers, but they were nowhere near as valuable.

Leicester City 2 - 0 Stoke City Post Match A very routine game this one. Stoke turned up and parked the bus even more than Preston North End did, which is saying something. This game was over after 24 minutes. Even if somehow they equalised, it was only going to end one way. ^ Here are our average pitch positions for the day, it's crazy how high our CBs pushed up to join in with the play. Stoke parked the bus from minute one, spaces were at a premium. The key man for Leicester was Jannik Vestergaard. He's had the most touches of any Leicester player this season, but today he was able to push up so high he almost took over from Winks as the Regista of the team. He was inching his way patiently up the pitch, at times playing just outside their D! He was controlling the pace of play, as well as the angle of attack. He was clever at pushing / probing the ball down one side, so either he or someone else could switch to the other side to open up the game. He also played a number of great through balls to our attackers. We played a really patient game, looking to create high quality chances. This was shown with the first goal where around 7 of our players were involved, the attack was sustained and shifted from left to right, back to the middle and through. Ricardo deserves a lot of credit. It's said on here a number of times that we miss his marauding runs, but when teams turn up and park the bus, his clever use of the ball and through balls have opened up teams. He did it with a blind pass against Preston and did something similar again. Overall, over the last two games, Enzo Maresca shows his absolute class and coaching ability. His tactics systematically open up deep blocks and make space. Everything is controlled, so there's no need to rush the play. The control also means that teams are reduced to almost no chances against us at all. On paper it looks like he has created the most dominant Championship team of all time. The game against Ipswich will be really interesting as they seem like the only team that will be able to give us a proper game. Hull beat us, but that was a lucky victory. Another word about his squad rotation and use of players. Everyone is fresh, the team is the fittest it's been for years. Ricardo is playing consistently and doesn't look made of glass anymore. Ndidi looks physically back to his best too. Even Vardy looks good when he comes on. Keeping a team fluent despite making lots of changes is the sign of a top class manager, and we've got one.

Yep this is the clear takeaway. We've actually got lucky that Ndidi has been so spectacular, because if he wasn't / was shipped out, then with Praet's injury, we might look a bit short in this position. Although perhaps Yunus or McAteer would play there instead? I thought the defensive side of his game was not bad today at all, but he's guilty of what happened to Ndidi at the start of the season, the move broke down with him pretty frequently, although sometimes this was because he was fouled. Let's not write him off, he's here all season and has plenty of time to shine. Vardy and Nacho started the season pretty badly, but both are now bang on it, so it's unfair to expect young players to hit the ground running. He's easily been the least impressive of the new signings so far, but as it's a loan, that's no problem whatsoever.

Leicester City 2 - 0 Stoke City Post Match A very routine game this one. Stoke turned up and parked the bus even more than Preston North End did, which is saying something. This game was over after 24 minutes. Even if somehow they equalised, it was only going to end one way. ^ Here are our average pitch positions for the day, it's crazy how high our CBs pushed up to join in with the play. Stoke parked the bus from minute one, spaces were at a premium. The key man for Leicester was Jannik Vestergaard. He's had the most touches of any Leicester player this season, but today he was able to push up so high he almost took over from Winks as the Regista of the team. He was inching his way patiently up the pitch, at times playing just outside their D! He was controlling the pace of play, as well as the angle of attack. He was clever at pushing / probing the ball down one side, so either he or someone else could switch to the other side to open up the game. He also played a number of great through balls to our attackers. We played a really patient game, looking to create high quality chances. This was shown with the first goal where around 7 of our players were involved, the attack was sustained and shifted from left to right, back to the middle and through. Ricardo deserves a lot of credit. It's said on here a number of times that we miss his maruading runs, but when teams turn up and park the bus, his clever use of the ball and through balls have opened up teams. He did it with a blind pass against Preston and did something similar again. Overall, over the last two games, Enzo Maresca shows his absolute class and coaching ability. His tactics systematically open up deep blocks and make space. Everything is controlled, so there's no need to rush the play. The control also means that teams are reduced to almost no chances against us at all. On paper it looks like he has created the most dominant Championship team of all time. The game against Ipswich will be really interesting as they seem like the only team that will be able to give us a proper game. Hull beat us, but that was a lucky victory. Move of the Match ^ This is Enzo Maresca's brand of football at it's absolute finest! Look at how high our centre backs push up. Vestergaard gets to within 25 yards of the opposition goal WITH the ball. EIGHT players are involved in this move. Ricardo who starts the game as a right back, ends up in a number 10 position to put through an incredible goal. @Raj take notice Look at the way we shift the Stoke City defensive block around during all phases of this move. We move it to the right, then back, then to the left, then centrally. Look at where the Stoke players start off, and where they end up moving to. This is not possession for possession's sake, this is like a game of Chess where we are moving their pieces around to setup checkmate. Look at how pivotal Vestergaard is in this move. He's had the most passes of any player in the Championship. But it's not pointless passing like Puel / Rodgers, look what he's doing with it. Ricardo's pass is simply sensational, the run from Iheanacho timed to perfection. The finish is superb. When the goal is scored, Stoke have NINE outfield players in their own box, plus their keeper and we still score. I think this might be the best team goal we've scored in a long, long time. And that's because this is relatively early in the game against a super deep block and we broke them down systematically because of great coaching. A beautiful goal!

As said in the match thread, I think he deliberately waits for the opposition to get tired before putting him out there. But I know what you mean!

I hope someone on Twitter makes a compilation of his passes from this game, that was an absurd display with the ball from him. In this style of play, he opens up the game a lot, helping to make chances. Unlike Brendan ball where our CBs had the ball a lot but did nothing with it, Jannik is probing the space, shifting their block and opening the game up. He played a few killer through balls, that put players in 1 on 1. He ends up being one of our most creative players and not in a bad way, it's like adding another midfielder to the play, so with him and Ricardo we overload the attacking third with two extra men. I will be really interested to see if our style works in the Premier League. I suspect it will work quite well against teams 12-20, be OK for teams 6-11, and get found out by the top teams. In this division, players aren't great at pressing so thus far haven't been able to steal the ball from him, which might not be the case against better players.

I thought he had a good game again. I'd love him to score, I feel like if he and Fatawu got a few, they would really come alive. He's a clever player who is pretty creative.

He'll get there, give him time. Should have had a goal and an assist today I think at minimum. He's a raw product, learning the game. Iheanacho started the season badly, got a goal, got his confidence back and got on a run. I think the same will happen with this guy.

All he does is score goals

Ndidi with another assist after being on for about 3 minutes. REBORN!

Watching the full goal back again, it was so good. Sustaining the attack, dragging their block from right to left, then opening them up through the middle. I think 7 of our players were involved in the move!

I think it's a tactical ploy from Maresca to start players in some positions and then move them around at 60 minutes when the opposition will start to feel tired, he's done it in most games so far. Basically he's getting them to both tire out their opposite number and then when they are, he will swap them over and cause carnage. Or he brings on Mavididi, who does the same thing. It can be frustrating for us, but this is the best manager we've had so far in terms of someone knowing how to break down a deep block. He knows what he's doing!

It's the style of play, simple as that. It will be interesting to see how he would fair in the Premier League in this setup. His ability to dictate the pace and play the passes won't change, but the issue is that when we get caught on the transition, he's going look even more like he's running in treacle. Our style of play can definitely work, see Brighton, but Premier League sides punish every mistake. That chance Duane Holmes had for Preston for example gets tucked away by Salah, Haaland, Saka, etc. But make no mistake, he's properly opening up the game. Coady is a decent passer of the ball, but this is some serious Pirlo-esque regista play. You won't find many CBs who can do that.

Defensively he still has issues, but with this style of play, you see what he brings to the team, and he brings a lot. It's a bit like how Dortmund supporters laughed at Man City for signing Manuel Akanji... until they saw him start for them as they won a treble thanks to his ball playing abilities and football intelligence.

Might have spoken too soon after that yellow

MOTM for me is Vestergaard, he's so good on the ball. He's dictating the entire game. He's going to end up getting a new deal, and he's going to deserve it. He's playing like we have another Winks in the team, just at centre half.