Matchday Live Talking Points: Extra Class, Attitude & Synchronisation
Broadcast live and free on LCFC TV, Elliott and Guppy watched on in Gloucestershire as Jamie Vardy and Marc Albrighton sealed a comeback victory for the Foxes.
City have now won both of their pre-season fixtures, having defeated Scunthorpe United 1-0 earlier this week.
As part of a new feature on LCFC.com, the matchday commentary team have picked out the major talking points from Leicester’s most recent encounter.
Extra class took its toll
Matt Elliott said: “With the track record that Cheltenham have had in pre-season, you feared they might be in for a little bit of a chasing in the way that Leicester played on Tuesday against Scunthorpe, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. They gave a valiant effort and played their starting XI for the majority of the 90 minutes, or certainly as long as they were capable. They were resilient, but that little bit of extra class took its toll in the second 45 minutes.”
Flashes of brilliance
Steve Guppy said: “I think the usual names, Youri Tielemans showed some flashes of brilliance and showed a lot of tenacity to set up Jamie Vardy for his goal. Obviously Vardy’s movement is always a handful and Marc Albrighton on the wing as well. I think Albrighton and Christian Fuchs played well. Also, Ricardo Pereira and James Justin showed some promising signs. I think all round, everyone did their job and looked thoroughly professional.”
The right attitude
Matt Elliott said: “The attitude was there, and I think you need that. I said on Tuesday, pre-season or not, you need to be focused and on top of your game, preparing for that Premier League kick-off. Those are the standards that Youri Tielemans has set for himself, really. He’s capable of opening up defences and he did that on occasions.”
Full value for victory
Steve Guppy said: “Fitness is what it’s all about at this stage of the season, and getting everyone through the game without any problems. We had a chance to see some of the younger players, and it was an opportunity for them. I think this Leicester side, without reaching the heights of anything too amazing, have controlled the game and showed flashes there. I don’t think anyone can really argue that they weren’t full value for a victory, albeit a really hard-earned one.”
Getting things ironed out
Matt Elliott: “It’s good to iron out a few issues. Perhaps you could look at the first 45 minutes, the heading was a little bit off. You can say that it’s pre-season and they will get their timing in sync. Wes Morgan and Kelechi Iheanacho would have liked to have scored their headers, but that’s part and parcel of pre-season. Generally, Brendan [Rodgers] will be reasonably pleased with this afternoon’s work.”
Leicester City’s next pre-season fixture sees them head to Abbey Stadium to face Cambridge United on Tuesday evening (7:30pm BST kick-off). The match will be broadcast live and free on LCFC TV from 7pm BST.