Matchday Live Talking Points: Rhythm, Cutting Edge & Maddison’s Movement
- Analysis of Leicester City’s loss to Manchester United was provided by Steve Walsh, Gerry Taggart and Matt Elliott on Saturday
- The former Foxes were speaking on LCFC Radio’s Matchday Live
- Further reflection will be available on Extra-Time from 6pm BST on Monday
With Walsh and Elliott in the LCFC Radio studio at King Power Stadium, and Taggart on co-commentary duties in the Old Trafford pressbox, the former Foxes were on hand to analyse City’s first defeat of the 2019/20 season at the full-time whistle.
Pinpointing several talking points following the loss, the trio discussed the Foxes’ fluency, possession dominance and the display of James Maddison, as Marcus Rashford’s early penalty settled the match in Manchester.
Leicester looked likely to score
Steve Walsh said: “When you look at the stats and the chances for both teams, there just simply wasn’t enough. Leicester can feel a little bit sorry for themselves, I think they should have got something out of the game. They deserved something, a draw would have been a fantastic result, but it wasn’t to be. It was a frustrating afternoon in the end because that fluency wasn’t there. If you look back at that second half, we pushed Manchester United back and we looked more likely to go on and score.”
Disappointment in defeat
Matt Elliott said: “Not enough went right for Leicester, as it has done certainly in the last two games, and generally over the early part of the season. The rhythm wasn’t there and both sides were counteracted by their opponents in terms of the pressing and closing down, and they were unable to get any sort of fluency to their play. It was a disappointing result.”
Second half glimpses
Gerry Taggart said: “By the end of the game, Manchester United were desperate to get the win under their belt. It feels like a missed opportunity because I felt confident that Leicester could go to Old Trafford and win. There were glimpses in that second half where they were probing and pinning Manchester United back, but there wasn’t a cutting edge to finish them off.”
Maddison’s creativity
Steve Walsh said: “When James Maddison received the ball in the second half, you really felt an urgency, and his deliveries were going straight to his targets. He was so accurate with his passing, and so sharp with his movements. Maddison seemed to be the main creator today.”
Impressive possession
Matt Elliott said: “If you look at certain stats, 58 per cent possession away from home, against Manchester United at Old Trafford, on the face of it is impressive. If you see the context of the game and look at Man Utd, they got the lead, but for the rest of the game they were trying to play the game out rather than going on to win it convincingly. They were happy to sit on their early penalty.”
Elliott will return to the LCFC Radio studio on Monday evening, when he accompanies Iwan Roberts and Arlo White on the latest episode of Extra-Time.
The hour-long show will be broadcast live and free on LCFC.com, Twitter and Facebook from 6pm BST.