Villa 2-1 Leicester: Three Foxes Talking Points | OneFootball

Defensively minded

There were promising signs in the home defeat by Manchester City that Ruud van Nistelrooy was beginning to impose his tactics on the team. Central to the game at the King Power was the employment of two number 10s in the form of Facundo Buonanotte and Bilal El Khannouss, the latter having a terrific performance in the 2-0 defeat. The Leicester boss didn’t feel it appropriate, however, to employ such an attacking formation at Villa Park, replacing Buonanotte  with the more defensively-minded Jordan Ayew.. Harry Winks and Boubakary Soumare formed the midfield pivot, Jakub Stolarczyk continued in the absence of Mads Hermansen and Luke Thomas replaced the injured Victor Kristensen at left back.

Yet more mistakes

Leicester went into the game in 19th place in the Premier League following a run of only one win (and five points) in the last 11 league matches. Something has to change, and quick, if the Foxes are to avoid being marooned in the relegation places. Getting anything at Villa Park is, however, a difficult task. So it proved on Saturday, with City going down 2-1 to the West Midlands side.

Mistakes, once again, proved very costly for the Foxes as their relegation fears intensified The first half was very cagey with the Foxes happy to sit deep and absorb Villa pressure. Not that there was much of that. We had to wait until first half injury time first half for the first meaningful save by Stolarczyk. Leicester defended stoutly but created no chances of note, a El Khannouss  shot which ballooned over the bar their only attempt on goal.

In the second half, two mistakes cost Leicester the game. The first, after 58 minutes, was a weak and poorly directed header by Jannik Vestergaard straight into the path of Ross Barkley who opened the scoring with a precise shot into the corner of the net. In the second, after Stephy Mavididi had equalised for the Foxes, James Justin in the right back position, loitered on the ball too long and Villa substitute Ian Maateson nipped in to cross for Leon Bailey to score. With only 15 minutes left, it was too late for an equaliser.

Coming away from the game, I couldn’t help thinking that this was a missed opportunity for the Foxes. An under-strength Villa side offered little going forward and Tyrone Mings, playing his first match for a long time, looked shaky at the back. Leicester mustered only three attempts on goal in the entire game. Relegation form indeed.

Transfer priorities

It is becoming increasingly obvious that City do not have enough to avoid an immediate return to the Championship. Given their current form, it is difficult to pinpoint what Leicester specifically need in the January transfer window, Two goals in the last five matches, and 14 goals conceded (contributing to a league-worse record of 44 this season) suggests reinforcements are necessary at both ends of the pitch.

To that end, it is probably true that the Foxes are, as FoL reported, targeting a full back (in the form of Southampton’s Kyle Walker Peters) and a striker (in the form of Middlesborough’s Emmanuel Latte Lath). If these two get on board and City can also capture Cesare Casadei from Chelsea, it would, I’m sure, be regarded as a good transfer window. If they can also entice another winger, in the absence of Abdul Fatawu, it would be an excellent one. In this position, both Newcastle’s Miguel Almiron and Villa’s Jaden Philogene have been linked. Whether January recruits will be enough to turn the club’s fortunes around is, of course, a different matter.