Foxes lack a goal threat ..........
Aug 31, 2024
Premier League: Leicester City- Aston Villa
If Villa play like they did in an opening day win at West Ham and defeat to Arsenal last week, they should have more than enough to beat City, who were pretty awful for 45 minutes against Spurs (should have been 3-4 down at HT) and for 90 against Fulham. Preseason I wrote .....
Leicester City have been on a roller coaster ride for the last decade or so. Top 10 in 6 of 7 seasons including the most unlikely EPL title win ever in 2015/16 and an FA Cup victory in 2021, before a shock relegation in 22/23, followed by a Championship title win last season. They were unfortunate to be relegated with 51 goals and they should have come back to the top flight with real optimism. However, they lost head coach Enzo Maresca and six members of his staff .....
Six staff have come with him from Leicester, fresh from winning the Championship:
- Roberto Vitiello (Assistant): Played alongside Maresca at Palmero from 2014 and 2016 during a career that took in 490 senior appearances. After retiring in 2020, started coaching at Fiorentina, before assisting Maresca at Parma. Duo were dismissed after just 14 games in charge. Then joined him at Leicester in 2023/24 .
- Willy Caballero (Assistant): Won Champions League, Europa League & FA Cup with Chelsea and the League Cup with Manchester City. Was a team-mate of Maresca's at Malaga in Spain. Played for Southampton for 18 months before joining Leicester in July 2023 .
- Danny Walker (First Team Coach): Maresca's assistant with Manchester City's U23s. Became Peterborough United's Senior Professional Development Phase Lead Coach in 2022/23, after Maresca had gone to Parma, and then reunited with him at Leicester.
- Michele De Bernardin (Goalkeeper Coach): Coached with both the Academy and first team during four years at Parma, where he worked with Maresca. Was Goalkeeper Coach and First Team Coach with Sampdoria in 2022/23 before joining up with Maresca again at Leicester .
- Marcos Alvarez (Fitness Coach): First worked with Maresca at Parma and then went with him to Leicester and now Chelsea. Had previously worked at Tottenham under Juande Ramos, as well as at Sevilla, CSKA Moscow, Real Betis and SPAL in Italy's Serie B.
- Javier Molina Caballero (Analyst): Brought to Leicester by Maresca, with whom he had worked at Parma. Has also worked at a number of Spanish clubs, including Atletico Madrid.
It is Graham Potter and what happened to Brighton Mark 2, a five year big salary contract for the head coach and lucrative deals for his staff, leaving the selling club (City received about £10m compensation for all seven...... about half a transfer fee!) in a mess and unlike the Seagulls, City were not as prepared for such stripping of resources. Steve Cooper has come in as head coach.
Cooper was sacked by Nottingham Forest just before Christmas and it is a nice/lucky appointment for him, but I remain to be convinced he is a good EPL "manager". I have no doubt he is a decent coach and his record in the Championship is good (48.46% win rate and 6-4-4 finish across three seasons), but the rules in the second tier are very different and there Cooper can play to his strengths, especially in loan markets, which are far less an option in the EPL and where he has won just 11 of 54 games (20.37%). Five of those wins came versus teams that were eventually relegated and six by a 1-0 scoreline and Cooper has a lot to prove.
Kelechi Iheanacho who contributed 10 goals in the relegation season has departed on a free transfer to Sevilla. Kiernan Dewsbury- Hall has followed Maresca to Leicester-on-Thames (Chelsea) , he scored 12 goals and provided 14 assists from midfield, was their stand out player and is a huge loss.
They have made the loan of Issahaku Abdul Fatawu from Sporting permanent and also signed CB Caleb Okoli from Atalanta, the 23 yo could be anything, but has only played one full season in Serie A and never outside Italy and he is under pressure to hit the ground running, as City have real issues in central defence. The only other addition was Bobby Cordova-Reid on a free from Fulham, he does have plenty of top flight experience but mainly from the bench last season and he is now 31 yo.
City have PSR issues and an appeal against an upcoming points deduction was dismissed. The mood at the club amongst supporters is possibly at an all time low, no more signings are imminent, Dewsbury-Hall has not been replaced, there is limited competition for starting places ,Cooper is already being criticised and in preseason his team have lacked any creativity and been physically outmuscled, I am not sure what the positives are and this feels like another long season for the Foxes.
They have subsequently signed DM Oliver Skipp from Tottenham for a large fee and 32 yo striker Jordan Ayew from Palace. I don't see how either are going to help address the goal shortfall much, especially at the higher level. Ayew has had a very decent career, but 37 goals in 276 EPL appearances is not a huge return and if it is he and Jamie Vardy sharing duties up top, as it seems currently, that is a Dad's Army pairing and neither seems up to playing the full 90 minutes.
2.25 units Aston Villa -1 ball @ 2.44 asian line.
Good luck!
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