New signings Conor Coady and Harry Winks were handed run-outs as Enzo Maresca tried two different 11s at Seagrave, where the League One outfit scored a late winner
Twenty-two Leicester City players were given a pre-season work-out on Tuesday afternoon as a behind-closed-doors friendly ended in a 2-1 defeat to Peterborough.
New manager Enzo Maresca watched on as his side put into practice his tactical ideas on the show pitch at Seagrave, with two different 11s used in both halves. Ricardo Pereira netted for City, but goals for the League One side in the first five minutes and in the final 10 minutes meant they were victorious.
New signings Conor Coady and Harry Winks both featured, with Ben Nelson and Wanya Marcal-Madivadua among the young players who were handed a run-out. Among the spectators were chairman Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha, director of football Jon Rudkin, and loans manager Robert Huth.
The new ideas were immediately clear to see, and they were familiar to anybody who watched City closely last pre-season. As soon as City were in possession, they moved out of their 4-3-3 shape, Ricardo dropping into a defensive midfield position alongside Winks, with Jannik Vestergaard, Coady, and Victor Kristiansen stretching out into a back three. This was a tactic deployed by Brendan Rodgers a year ago, but one that was abandoned when Ricardo ruptured his Achilles in the final pre-season fixture.
And it was a tactic that had teething problems too. Inside five minutes, Peterborough switched the ball from right to left, and with Ricardo out of position and Vestergaard failing to intercept as he dived in, it gave Kwame Poku the time in the box to slam past Jakub Stolarczyk.
For all City’s possession, there were very few chances, or even many ventures into the Peterborough box, with Jamie Vardy isolated. And the visitors had a chance to double their lead Ephron Mason-Clark worked his way into the box, Stolarczyk getting down well to save.
City’s equaliser came out of nothing, but was also as a result of their shape. Ricardo picked up the ball in an inside position, manoeuvred the ball onto his left foot, and curled into the bottom corner from 20 yards out.
Eleven new players came on at the break and City created chances much more frequently, with the high press more effective and Kelechi Iheanacho operating as a focal point. Within 15 minutes of the second half, Kasey McAteer had a shot blocked after Hamza Choudhury stole the ball, Tawanda Maswanhise bent an effort wide after intercepting a pass out from the goalkeeper, with the young forward then scuffing a shot past the post from James Justin’s low cross.
There were further opportunities as McAteer curled over the bar following more good pressing, and then Justin’s teasing free-kick forced the Peterborough goalkeeper to parry away. But in one of their only forays forward in the second half, the Posh scored a late winner, a low cross bundling its way to Joe Tomlinson, whose effort from the edge of the box deflected off Choudhury, wrong-footed Daniel Iversen, and bounced into the corner.
City mustered one opportunity for an even later equaliser, but Iheanacho’s whipped free-kick struck the inside of the post before being hooked away. Here’s a closer look at some of selected performances.
Conor Coady: He’s only known his new team-mates for just over a week, but he was not afraid to dictate, with the England international very vocal during his 45 minutes. He was the one to call when to start the press, while he also regularly looked to play clipped balls in behind for Dennis Praet, who consistently made deep runs from midfield.
Harry Winks: It looks like the new midfielder will be a lynchpin of the side. He operated, as expected, at the base of the midfield, receiving the ball from the defence and providing plenty of forward balls, linking tidily with the likes of Ricardo and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Wanya Marcal-Madivadua: Playing on the left wing, he went backwards a little too often to start with, but grew in confidence and produced the skill of the match to loft the ball over his marker and dash onto it. He made decent runs into the box too.
Hamza Choudhury: With Wilfred Ndidi at the base of the midfield, he was given licence to push forward, and he made good use of that. City were much more threatening in the second half, and that was in part because of the speed and tenacity shown by Choudhury in the press.
Kasey McAteer: Tucking in off the right wing, McAteer doubled up with Choudhury and snapped at the ankles of Peterborough’s defenders. There were no lost causes for the academy graduate, who ran hard and fast, but he may feel he should have hit the target with one good second-half chance.
First half (4-3-3): Stolarczyk; Ricardo, Vestergaard, Coady, Kristianasen; Winks, Praet, Dewsbury-Hall; Daka, Vardy (c), Marcal-Madivadua.
Second half (4-3-3): Iversen; Justin, Souttar, Nelson, Castagne; Ndidi (c), Choudhury, Soumare; McAteer, Iheanacho, Maswanhise.
