Mendy’s new deal is proving to be a shrewd decision
DRAMATIC CHANGE IN FORTUNES FOR FRENCH MIDFIELDER
LEICESTER City started their King Power Stadium campaign with a thrilling victory over Burnley.
Here, we analyse five of the key talking points from the 4-2 win.
Eyebrow-raising deal proving to be shrewd
Papy Mendy is not supposed to be a Leicester City player any more.
Eight months ago, he was getting ready for the exit. But circumstances changed and the pandemic tightened finances.
So instead of spending £15 million bringing in a deep-lying ball-player to both deputise for, and provide a alternative to, Wilfred Ndidi, City offered Mendy a new deal.
Those that raised their eyebrows at the Frenchman’s fresh three-year contract – and there were plenty – may now feel a little differently.
Preferred to Hamza Choudhury with Ndidi filling in at the back, Mendy has been excellent over the first two games.
While not all-action like Ndidi, he defends by cutting off passing lines, and then retaining possession so well that the opposition do not get a sniff.
He seems to be at home with Youri Tielemans and Dennis Praet ahead of him, the duo able to find the halfspaces in which Mendy can slip them the ball.
With Jonny Evans back for the next Premier League game, Wilfred Ndidi is likely to be shuffled back to his usual role and Mendy may well be on the bench.
This won’t be a slight on his displays because, so far, that new contract looks like shrewd business in a difficult window, especially as it freed up funds to focus on other areas for strengthening.
New signing puts pressure on Perez
For fans, new signings are a cause for optimism. For players, they can be a cause for concern.
When Cengiz Under was announced as a City player on Sunday morning, there was excitement for a fanbase that have long craved a tricky winger in the Riyad Mahrez mold.
But when he’s come to take your place, you can be forgiven for not being swept up by the excitement – because for Ayoze Perez, the news of Under’s arrival means stronger competition for his spot.
So what the Spaniard needed to do against Burnley was show Under and manager Brendan Rodgers that the Turkey international won’t be able to stroll into the starting 11. But Perez did not do that.
For the second successive week, he was below the level of his teammates. Not by much, and not to a level where his performances could be described as poor, but noticeably so.
He was not nearly as big a threat as Harvey Barnes, and did not find space to provide options for his team-mates often enough.
His touch wasn’t as sharp as it could have been, although he linked play reasonably well and his movement, intentionally or not, did create space for Timothy Castagne to profit from.
But is that enough? When Brendan Rodgers is talking up Under as the man who can dribble through tight spaces, and who can feed intricate passes into the box, Perez needed to do more.
His brightest moment was his final moment, the 27-year-old showing neat feet to dig out a ball across the box for James Justin’s goal. He was still substituted immediately afterwards.
With Under’s clearance not yet through, Perez may get one more chance against Manchester City, but he must know he now has a fast, dynamic talent ready to usurp him should he stutter.
Praet in undroppable form
After watching Praet rocket a shot into the top corner from 20 yards, you may have asked: “Is there anything he can’t do?”
The Belgian’s performance was, in every attacking and defensive aspect, excellent. It was the sort of display that makes him undroppable.
He has shown he can press, he can tackle, he can read play, he can make the right off-the-ball runs, he can pass, he can shoot.
These are the fundamentals of being a box-to-box midfielder in a Rodgers team, but when you do all of them to the level Praet does, you are looking at one of the best allaround midfielders in the division.
Rodgers has an almighty decision to make when James Maddison is fully up and running.
After shrugging off a shaky first 10 minutes at West Brom, Ndidi made this centre-back lark look easy.
But then he played against two very good Premier League centreforwards in Chris Wood and Jay Rodriguez, and things got a little trickier.
Ndidi coped fine with the physical parts of the job. When Wood escaped one-on-one a couple of times, Ndidi rushed back to shepherd him away and avert danger.
But it was the nuances of the role where he struggled.
So much of being a centre-back is keeping shape and being in the right place, and Ndidi was dragged around too much, too often leaving his post.
Beyond the two Burnley goals, Wood had two further excellent chances from the edge of the box that he would have converted on another day.
Rodgers will be relieved that Evans will be back to face Manchester City next weekend.
‘Superstar’ Barnes answers question immediately
Almost as soon as the question had been asked, Harvey Barnes answered it.
His three efforts straight into Sam Johnstone’s midriff at the Hawthorns saw his finishing brought into focus again.
Within 20 minutes of Sunday’s game, he had swept a shot into the bottom corner.
Moments later, only an instinctive hand from Nick Pope denied him a second.
To score so early in the season should halt those questions for now.
Hopefully, it won’t be the same as last term, when he scored in his second appearance of the season, and then did not get his second in the Premier League until game 21.
A long wait seems extremely unlikely with the form he is in. Once again, he tore a defence apart with his speed and confident, direct dribbling.
Rodgers has described him as a superstar in the making. City fans are in for an exciting season watching him.