Manchester City’s tough stretch of games continues with a trip to Leicester City in the Premier League. The Foxes have been one of the best stories in the league this season. They currently sit third and get excellent contributions from a variety of young talents, but after Manchester City’s tough performance against West Ham United, they will be ready for what Brendan Rodgers’ side can throw at them.
Manchester City’s Tough Stretch Continues With Leicester City
Leicester’s Defining Trait
This Leicester side no longer rely on the Jamie Vardy patented counter-attack, but it’s still an option. That’s because Leicester are playing through their two young superstar midfielders; Youri Tielemanns and James Maddison.
The pair of 22-year-olds have a hand in almost everything Leicester create. Maddison handles the long balls and dead balls – he is excellent at igniting those old school Leicester counter-attacks. Tielemans is integral in Leicester’s attacking build-up.
Both act as Leicester’s attacking foils. Once the ball gets to Maddison or Tielemans, Leicester’s full-backs Ben Chilwell and Ricardo Pereira get forward to support. The timely fashion in which they push forward keeps them from getting exposed going the other way.
How Manchester City Can Exploit It
The conventional way to exploit Leicester would be to invite pressure and hit them in transition. There will be moments when Leicester control the possession on Saturday, and City will be able to counter when they win the ball. City won’t sit back forever, though.
Any effort to stop them will start with Rodrigo and City’s two centre-backs. It’s unlikely to be Aymeric Laporte with Real Madrid coming up in a few days. Whichever combination of Nicolas Otamendi, Fernandinho or John Stones will be integral to Manchester City’s tough test.
Rodrigo and the two centre-backs behind him have to stop Maddison and Tielemans from playing into their space. Their possession will be used to bring the rest of the team forward. Manchester City need to make that job as hard as possible and force Leicester to try and bypass those midfielders.
If City can force Maddison and Tielemans out of the game they will be on the way to winning. City ‘should’ have an easier time dealing with long balls over the midfield than Leicester’s intricate passing, but the ability that both teams have should make this a really entertaining game.
Looking Ahead in Manchester City’s Tough Stretch
As mentioned, this is only game two of Manchester City’s tough end of February stretch. Most importantly, this is Manchester City’s last game before their trip to face Real Madrid. Pep Guardiola will want to use this game as an opportunity to test some plans for the Champions League.
This puts extra importance on stopping Leicester’s midfield on Saturday. Whatever strategy they use against Leicester will likely be employed against Real Madrid as well. Although players like Toni Kroos and Casemiro are at a different level, City should be able to cause them problems.
They won’t win or lose the game in Madrid based on how they handle the midfield. There will be plenty of other factors in that game. But Manchester City’s ability to handle the midfield in Leicester will go a long way towards a positive result in Madrid.
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