What Alex Neil said about Leicester as teenagers stake Stoke City
Reaction from the King Power Stadium as injury-hit Stoke City lose 2-0 to Championship promotion favourites Leicester
Stoke City capped a testing and trying three-week international break sandwich with a defeat at runaway Championship leaders Leicester. Here are the talking points from the King Power Stadium…
A defeat hard to avoid but still not easy to take
Stoke, especially given the scale of their injuries, needed everything to go their way to upset the applecart at Leicester. They were disciplined and worked hard, created a couple of genuine opportunities but the odds were long for a reason. Stoke had two goalkeepers and two 16-year-olds on the bench, albeit that Sol Sidibe would be involved no matter.
Leicester are beating almost everyone, and when you take them on with only two fit defenders, the result doesn’t notably move the needle in terms of mood. But, in the fullness of time – and like the controversial Southampton game in mid-week – it still goes into the record books as a defeat and the statistics will be quoted in context or not as the season goes on. It’s scoreboard pressure.
REACTION: Leicester 2 Stoke 0
RATINGS: Marks out of 10 from King Power Stadium
The fixture list isn’t particularly kind when it kicks off again in a fortnight, but hopefully the injury list will improve and it wouldn’t be surprising if Stoke dabbled in the free agent market to help too. Yet whoever is available, Stoke and Alex Neil need points, no matter how they get them or who they get them against – and everyone knows it.
Nathan Lowe getting into scoring positions
Nathan Lowe was kicking himself that he didn’t score after getting the nod to keep his starting shirt – and it will ultimately be goals that dictate how much game time he gets and how quickly.
But the 18-year-old’s movement, athleticism and desire to score is getting him into dangerous positions behind defenders, which is a big part of the battle.
“He had two great chances today and he’s disappointed after the game,” said Alex Neil. “But what I said to him was that I’d be more concerned if chances weren’t falling for you. You won’t get many more difficult games in the Championship than today, particularly with the bodies we’ve got missing, but arguably he’s had two of the best chances in the game.”
Junior Tchamadeu gets stuck in
Josh Laurent and Jordan Thompson were prepared to try to stand up and be counted as they filled in as emergency centre-half and left-back – but they knew it was a case of needs must.
Junior Tchamadeu, on the other hand, looks to have seized his opportunity as he has come into the team at left-back then right-back. Powerful and urgent, keen in the tackle and strong going forward, the 19-year-old looks a useful player. There will be moments when he might look a bit raw as he steps up from League Two but what he brings to the table might already outweigh that.
Leicester set for only one season the Championship
There won’t be many Championship managers who will be able to throw on players like Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi to close a game out, and Leicester are on a roll. They came down with a core of a strong squad, look to have added wisely and don’t look like they will be hanging around at this level for very long.
If Stoke are a case study for highlighting that the longer you stay down, the harder it is to get back up, the Foxes hierarchy have taken heed.
Neil said: “It’s difficult (to assess just how good Leicester are) because when you’ve got your full team, you get a better feel of where they are and where you are, if that makes sense.
“But I don’t think there’s any question (of their quality). The minute you squeeze the space, we could hear the coach changing them and the minute we change, they got pace at the top end of the pitch and if you’re going to squeeze a line and try to compress the game, Jamie Vardy is going to cause you all sorts of problems. They’ll be one of the best Championship teams in a long time, I think.
“Just look at the stadium, the fans and the players. They have got four England internationals. I don’t think that or can’t remember if that has happened before.”
