Extra-Time Talking Points: Khun Top, Stages Of Preparation & Upcoming Progression
Alongside an analysis of the Foxes’ goalless draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers, the panel spoke of Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha’s role as Leicester City Chairman and his address to the Blue Army in CITY Matchday Magazine.
In addition, The Athletic’s Tanner, NBC lead football commentator White and 2000 League Cup icon Elliott spoke of City’s progression in their upcoming fixtures, which next sees them take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday (4:30pm BST kick-off).
The Chairman’s Blue Army address
Rob Tanner said: “In the time that they’ve been here, I’ve seen the transformation of this Football Club under their guidance and vision. It’s been a remarkable story up to now. With the sense of a new season and Khun Top now taking on that Chairman’s role, he’s been brilliant considering everything he’s been through on a personal level. It was poignant on Sunday as well, because we always used to look forward to seeing Khun Vichai’s programme notes. He didn’t speak publicly very often and that was probably the only time – in the opening home game’s programme. It was obviously Khun Top that gave the address this year, which really maps out the vision for the Club for the season.”
Khun Top: A massive football fan
Arlo White said: “Leicester City fans have won the lottery in terms of the ownership group that came in. It’s changed absolutely everything, and fans are genuinely appreciative of everything that the family has done. It’s a natural progression now for Khun Top to take over. Khun Top is a massive football fan and he absolutely adores Leicester City.”
Different stages of preparation
Rob Tanner: “There’s obviously that physicality that they (Wolves) had because they’ve been in pre-season training earlier than Leicester and they’ve been playing those games. They had that long journey to Armenia, a 6,500-mile round trip, and they only landed in the early hours of Friday morning to prepare for the Leicester game. They just cancelled each other out, but it’s interesting because the two teams are at different stages of their preparation.”
Solid Wolves
Matt Elliott said: “There was a crazy 4-3 last season and the stage was set on Sunday. Leicester tried to force the issue against a solid, hard-working Wolves team. People forget that about Wolves – they say they play nice football and break well and have attractive players, but they’re actually a solid unit, too. It was so condensed in the middle of the park, there were bodies everywhere and Leicester tried and tried.”
Congested midfield
Rob Tanner said: “We were waiting to see what line-up Brendan [Rodgers] utilised. He’s been using different shapes and different formations in pre-season and towards the end of last season. He went with that rather narrow midfield. Wolves had that back three, with wing-backs that sat back quite a bit when they didn’t have the ball but looked to bomb on. It was in that midfield area where it was really congested.”
An interesting set of fixtures
Arlo White said: “There’s a really interesting set of fixtures to come. Leicester have got Chelsea away, Sheffield United away and then home to Bournemouth. Then it’s Manchester United and Tottenham – it’s the Premier League, it comes thick and fast at you once it gets going. There are lots of very well organised, talented teams. There’s no reason why Leicester won’t go down to Chelsea full of confidence to see if they can repeat what they did last season.”
Maximum fitness to come
Matt Elliott said: “You’ll probably see maximum match fitness after three or four games, when they’ve got into a proper rhythm. Having said that, they’re fit lads. Wolves started both halves well, but fair play to Leicester for reacting to the goal that they conceded, that was eventually ruled out by VAR.”
Gerry Taggart and Matt Elliott will return to the LCFC TV studio at 12:30pm BST on Friday 16 August for the latest episode of Matchday Minus Two, which will preview Sunday’s trip to Chelsea.