We’re not buzzing any more: Leicester City 2 Brentford 2 (07 August 2022)
Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today.
Leicester kicked off the 2022-23 season by putting on a heartfelt tribute to the year just passed. Utterly dominant and without a care in the world for the majority of the game, we ended up with a solitary point, a hearty roar of boos at the final whistle, and fresh doubts over whether we actually are going to be rid of Jannik Vestergaard.
We picked out a few talking points from amongst the rubble of our hopes and dreams. Isn’t it good to be back?
The Premier League all stars
The most notable thing about this weekend’s game is that all the transfer saga victims started. Despite the media having sold all of our best players to various members of the Sky Six or the Saudi royal family, the team that started against Brentford was the best team available.
It is somewhat of a classic Leicester situation that the best team available did not include two first team players who were stricken in a pre-season friendly seven days before, but we can’t have everything. This was a hugely positive step, as the danger of a Mahrez-esque strike was averted for at least another week.
After the game, there was some buzz about Wesley Fofana’s body language at the final whistle and his general performance. This seems completely misplaced; he was good in this game and repeatedly showed how badly he would be missed if he leaves. The prospect of a mad trolley dash for this window’s Vestergaard to replace him is not very appealing.
Ward of the skies
While it might seem like throwing away a two goal lead at home was the worst-case scenario for opening day, the truth is that the really apocalyptic turn of events didn’t come to pass.
If one of Brentford’s six corners had ended up nestled in Danny Ward’s net, we may as well have packed up and gone home. Instead, every one was cleared without much trouble and Ward himself snapped up virtually every cross. His size advantage is noticeable; the internet informs us that he’s only a couple of centimetres taller than Kasper Schmeichel, but his reach makes him look like a giant.
Ward was one of quite a few positives from this game that have been lost in the disastrous way it ended. It was only a first step, but we may quickly see the end of the wild cheering that accompanied every catch in the first half. Perhaps we need to start reacting like that to encourage the novel concept of making a substitution instead.
Who’s got two thumbs and four subs in the bank?
“It’s first game of the season and there was a bit of fatigue kicking in. I think what happens is when you tire a bit, you suffer technically”
For those of us who are Richard Keys aficionados, there comes a point in every one of his blogs where you’re forced to confront the possibility that he might be self-aware. Are we in a similar situation here? Is it possible that Brendan is having us on? Is it all a lampoon?
It is not ideal for your manager to develop a reputation for using subs as sort of accidental Trojan Horse, that roll in and promptly smash up his own team. But it is always possible for individual changes to go wrong. There is, maybe, a timeline where Patson Daka and Jamie Vardy proved to be a devastating counter-attacking duo when Brentford were chasing the game.
But Leicester were already losing control of the game before that change and it was quickly apparent that the switch didn’t work. The failure to react at all after that with four more substitutions available, and then to blame tiredness for the collapse, is a bewildering state of affairs. The truth is that Rodgers is under pressure already and things could get toxic fast against Southampton in a fortnight.
The week ahead
On the subject of Trojan Horses, next week Leicester travel to Arsenal in the Youri Tielemans transfer derby. The football Gods have chosen to sprinkle narrative all over the early fixture list, as we also have a trip to Stamford Bridge to look forward to before the end of the August window forces everyone to start writing January transfer clickbait instead.
We could probably do with some good news this week.
