Matchday Live Talking Points: Fantastic Fofana, Schmeichel's Contribution & A Different Way To Win
- Matchday Live’s Iwan Roberts, Matt Elliott and Gerry Taggart review Leicester City’s 1-0 home win against Wolves
- The former Foxes trio were on duty for LCFC TV and LCFC Radio on Sunday
- Jamie Vardy’s penalty earned City three hard-earned Premier League points at King Power Stadium
The trio of former City stars were on hand to offer their opinions and analysis during LCFC TV's post-match coverage, after a Jamie Vardy penalty secured all three points for the Foxes, sending them to the top of the Premier League table.
Wolves pushed City all the way at King Power Stadium, however, and the Foxes were indebted to Kasper Schmeichel for producing a stunning late save, denying Rúben Neves an equaliser.
The Danish international's contribution was one of the many talking points discussed in-depth after the full-time whistle by Roberts, Taggart and Elliott.
Performances all over the park
Matt Elliott said: "It's been a magnificent afternoon for Leicester City. Three points against Wolves is always a big deal, it elevates Leicester to the very top region of the Premier League and it keeps the ball rolling, doesn't it? The standout players were probably [Youri] Tielemans and Wesley Fofana again. There were some other contributors of course, there were some excellent performances, [James] Justin, [Jonny] Evans, [Christian] Fuchs, I'm naming a lot of defenders there and it was that sort of performance. [James] Maddison was quality at times and Vardy gets the winner."
Defensively solid
Iwan Roberts said: "They had to dig-in in that second half. We knew that Wolves would come at them, we knew they would be far more attacking than what they were in the first half and if you look at the bigger picture, since Wolves beat Crystal Palace, Leicester have played twice, so you might have expected that. They've put to bed those two defeats against West Ham and Aston Villa, the last international break was on the back of that, so that sort of festered for a little bit. There'll be a much more positive feeling in that home dressing room at King Power Stadium. Top of the league, three more points than they had at this stage last season, four more points than in the title-winning season. I'm not getting carried away, but this season is wide open and it was so important that they got back to winning ways.
A big effort
Gerry Taggart said: "You could see the relief on Brendan Rodgers' face at the end of that game. A fantastic result. We knew it was going to be a tight affair and Wolves certainly played their part in an intense second half, an intense finish to the game. Brendan changing the formation slightly to make sure that they held on to that 1-0 lead and you've got to say we were all biting our nails watching that, but a tremendous effort from everyone involved and a few of them can have a deep sigh of relief because of the international break."
Fantastic Fofana
Gerry Taggart said: "I think [Papy] Mendy was excellent as well alongside [Youri] Tielemans, James Justin had another steady game but you can't really look past Wesley Fofana. I think in the key moments, his maturity was there for everyone to see and then he showed the opposite side of his game, he was bursting out from the back with the ball, making a few lung-busting runs forward and making sure he took a bit of pressure off the team, so I think his all-round game was, for a 19-year-old, pretty phenomenal at the moment. There's a lot more to come and he's got a lot more to learn, but Brendan [Rodgers] must be absolutely over the moon with the contribution he's made since he's come in to the side."
Schmeichel's contribution
Iwan Roberts said: "They rolled their sleeves up and when called upon, Kasper Schmeichel didn't have too much to do, but as a goalkeeper you've got to keep your concentration levels, you've got to keep talking to your defenders. And when he was called upon twice in that second half, the first one was a routine save from a tight angle from [Pedro] Neto, who got the left-footed shot in, but then that save from Neves, absolutely magnificent."
A different way to win
Matt Elliott said: "Brendan Rodgers is trying to get them to play in a certain way in an attacking sense and part of the process was to develop that ability to win in backs to wall situations. Leicester had almost forgotten how to do that because they were winning games in free-flowing football style, but they had to learn how to and I think they've got that as part of their mentality now. It also suits with the back three, all of sudden you've got that sort of mentality that you're quite secure defensively and you don't feel like a team that has to go and smash the other teams into oblivion to win a game.
"You've got that security there and the players, you've got a good blend of experience and youth, lots of different attributes, there's flexibility within the system. All the squad members seem to be improving as the squad goes forward individually to get that mentality. You knew what sort of game of it was going to be, you knew it was going to be tight. It was unlikely that Leicester were going to get three, four or five against Wolves and it was going to be a closely fought game and it would probably go down to the wire. That proved to be and they set their stalls out for it, but they have the physical capabilities to go on for 90 minutes and still be strong. It was a great win for a number of reasons."