‘Hungry’ Maddison inspires fightback after early shock
Under 46, Tielemans 51 pen, Maddison 71
James Maddison won plaudits following victory over Chelsea last week with his warm, open, enthusiastic interview. But here, against a smart Brentford side who beat four Premier League sides on their way to the Carabao Cup semi-final, the Leicester No10 proved he was far more than a talking head. As he drove his side to the FA Cup fifth round, he was simply magnificent.
“He’s a player that loves football,” said Brendan Rodgers, his manager. “He plays with that joy in the game. He’s got a real hunger and desire to be a top player and he’s well on the way to that.”
Rodgers was not exaggerating. Maddison was at the heart of everything Leicester did. And what they did in west London was start this tie at a real lick. Within the first five minutes, Ayoze Perez had shot wide from Maddison’s pass, then Cengiz Under, terrorising Brentford’s 17-year-old full-back, Fin Stevens, with every run, had an effort well saved by Luke Daniels.
Leicester’s approach to attack, however, was rather at odds with their defence. The issue was that centre-back Daniel Amartey, replacing the rested titan Wesley Fofana, appeared to be unleashing his inner “Bambi on Ice”.
Nervy and uncertain, within 10 minutes he had given away a corner by dithering. And when the cross came in, his colleagues seemed to have been infected by his unease. Nampalys Mendy saw the ball ricochet off his knee and, with goalkeeper Danny Ward standing off, Mads Bech Sorensen stepped in to poke the ball home. It was a smart finish to give Brentford an unexpected lead, but Rodgers, looking to the heavens in despair, knew full well it was the consequence of a shambles.
Leicester immediately tried to respond. Maddison set up Perez, whose shot was blocked by Ethan Pinnock, who then hooked away Harvey Barnes’s shot. Youri Tielemans put a long effort wide, before Maddison’s fine free-kick drifted just past wide with goalkeeper Daniels nowhere near.
But even without their leading scorer, Ivan Toney, suspended after being sent off in their last league game, against Luton, Brentford were causing Rodgers’s revamped back line all sorts of issues.
First, Tariqe Fosu galloped forward, crossed and Caglar Soyuncu nervously carved the ball away for a throw-in. Sorensen arrowed a long throw into the box which was cleared straight back to him. His fierce low cross was unconvincingly scrambled behind by Amartey. As they did at every set-piece, Leicester looked vulnerable, and this time Fosu found himself unattended at the back of the area. He volleyed towards goal and Ward was obliged to palm the ball behind.
Rodgers labelled his team’s defence “sloppy” in the first half. “But I knew if we cut out the mistakes we’d be OK.”
The reassuring news for the Leicester manager was that he could call on Maddison, who has long espoused the notion that the best form of defence is attack. Within moments of the second half starting, Soyuncu won the ball and gave it to his No10. Maddison swayed past
three defenders, then laid a perfectly weighted pass out to Under, who bent the ball beyond Daniels for a superb equaliser.
A couple of minutes later, Fosu clipped the heel of Tielemans as he ran across the area, with sufficient force for Michael Oliver to point to the spot. Tielemans converted the penalty and Leicester had restored the prevailing order.
And once they had taken the lead, their passing got slicker and smarter. It was all there in a glorious move in which the magnificent Tielemans dispatched a long ball over the top into space. Muchmissed full-back Ricardo Pereira
demonstrated he was well on the way to recovering from his long injury by belting forward and supplying a precise cross into Under, whose first-time shot went just past a post.
Maddison, however, was not in the mood for merely going close. When Barnes moved at pace into the area, and blasted a shot at Daniels, there he was to scoop the rebound into the net.
Leicester now face a home tie against Brighton in the fifth round. Brighton manager Graham Potter will already be working on what may be his only route to success: how to stop James Maddison.