The international break is *finally* over and we can get back on board Enzo Maresca’s train up the Championship.
We’ll hopefully be kicking off the weekend with a win on Friday night to bounce back from our first defeat of the season, although it is going to be our toughest test yet. Up against a team who were relegated alongside us last season, it is a clash of the two teams who the bookies have as favourites to win the Championship. Southampton themselves will be looking to bounce back, having been thrashed 5-0 by Sunderland on the same day we suffered a frustrating defeat to Hull. The Saints will also leapfrog us in the table, should they manage to take all three points.
Our first defeat of the season has unsurprisingly caused some unrest amongst fans. Those who sit near me regularly at home games have (much to my frustration) not taken yet to Enzo’s philosophy and still hold it in the same regard as ‘Brendan Ball’.
Ultimately, we were never going to go all 48 games unbeaten – we were going to lose eventually. What’s more important is seeing how the team can bounce back. Has their mentality upgraded from last season?
What better way to test that than heading up against one of their biggest promotion rivals away from home. As fans we need to give Enzo patience however, he has said himself we are still no more than 20% of the way there yet in terms of how he wants us to play. It is clear to see on the pitch that the players are still adapting to his style, and picking up 3 wins out of 4 in the league is hardly a negative, is it?
Should we make it 4 out of 5, we’ll be top of the league heading into Saturday’s fixtures.
Our opponents
Southampton, like Leicester are going through a clear transition period. Having lost their star man James Ward-Prowse to West Ham, they’ve been able to make some good business in the window, whilst also clinging onto some other key players.
At the end of the window, Southampton managed to bring in Taylor Harwood-Bellis, a defender on loan from Man City, a player some of the usual Twitter journos also had us linked with.
They’ll be hoping that he can help sure up their defence after letting in 5 against Sunderland. They’ve also managed to keep hold of Che Adams, who was playing for Scotland during the break, Smallbone in midfield is clearly also fit having played for Ireland during the past week. Bednarek, however, did hobble off the pitch for Poland, so whether or not he will feature is a big doubt.
It’s always a good sign if your Championship squad is still home to a number of Internationals.
You can expect after their heavy defeat that they’ll come out all guns blazing to try win their fans back over… I can’t imagine we’ll be scoring 9 goals at St Mary’s again this time.
Leicester City
We’ve also got some bouncing back to do and having had this long break to get back on the training pitch you will be expecting, or at least hoping, that Enzo has us well prepared.
One thing I have noticed in our games so far is we’re giving away too many chances. Some chances, in fact, that make me think we are lucky we’re in this league. The chances we gifted in the games to Coventry and Huddersfield, any Premier League striker would have put us 2 or 3 goals down.
Fingers crossed we might finally get to see Coady, who Enzo said would be back in training over the international break and has been spotted on City’s Instagram in training this week. Having been praised for his leadership off the pitch already, it can only be a bonus to have that voice on the pitch and offer a bit more pace than what is offered by Vestergaard.
I’ll be surprised if Enzo switches away from the way we’ve set up in our games so far (sorry if you’re one of those shouting out of frustration when Hermansen has the ball at his feet on the edge of his own box!).
Following the transfer window, and for maybe the first time in what feels like forever, we’re spoilt for choice on the wing. Mavididi, Akgun, Fatawu, McAteer and even with Albrighton still knocking about, we really have got a number of options on who to play in the attacking sense. New striker Tom Cannon from Everton is also in now to offer more competition for Kel and Jamie up tops, although he’s out injured for this weekend (the curse of Seagrave).
Having been (in my opinion) the brightest spark on the pitch during our defeat to Hull, it would be great to see Fatawu start. His effort which came off the post could easily have ended up being the best debut-goal I’ve seen from a City player in recent memory!
Praet is rumoured to still be out with a back injury, so you can expect he won’t be in the squad.
We’ve heard during the break that Enzo is prepared to give those players who didn’t get their move away a clean slate, maybe a second-chance to prove to him that they can bring something to the team this season?
Souttar, who is actually pretty well-rated amongst fans, was on the scoresheet for Australia in the week, as was Patson Daka for Zambia.
Avram Grant, former Chelsea boss and current Zambia boss even called on Leicester during the break to give Daka a fresh chance, urging Enzo to not ignore a “natural goalscorer.” Following his failed moves during the window, Patson now faces a battle for game time up against Iheanacho, Vardy and Cannon – until at least January, when maybe he’ll finally get his move.
Our 100%-win record might have come to an end, but we are still unbeaten on the road this season, so fingers crossed that record can keep up.
Predictions
Both teams will be going for it, which I think will work in our favour. Teams we’ve played so far have sat back and defended, and we’ve struggled to break them down. Whereas Southampton need this win just as much as we do and they’ll attack more, leaving them more open.
We’ve found a way to score in most games so far this season and I’m guessing we’ll get even more chances to do so on Friday night.
If Coady plays, I’ll expect our defence to be a lot less leaky too, but with the talent Southampton still have, I’ll be surprised if they don’t score.
I’m still going for a win on Friday night… can’t think of a better way to start off the weekend.
1-3 for a Leicester City.
Words by Joseph Smyth.
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