It’s been a long summer, but finally the Premier League is back! It was a fantastic opening weekend, and we saw a shock defeat at Old Trafford, some fantastic goals and even a couple of missed penalties as well. One of the matches of the weekend was Leicester City vs Everton, and both teams entertained in a 2-2 draw. Everton had the lead, twice, but both times they lost it; their fans are frustrated that they couldn’t keep the lead, so what went wrong?
The Line-Ups
Leicester City played in a 4-4-2 formation, which was very tough for Everton to break down and the work of Dean Hammond and Andy King in central-midfield did affect The Toffees. Hammond making 4 tackles, 1 interception and 1 clearance whilst Andy King made 2 tackles and 1 interception. Meanwhile, The Toffees lined up in their 4-2-3-1 formation, Leighton Baines and John Stones pushing forward whilst James McCarthy and Gareth Barry covered the left-back and right-back spots.
Passing & Possession
Everton dominated possession, which is what you expect from a Everton side. Leicester City didn’t touch the ball in the first 15 minutes, mostly dominated by Everton’s passing from the defence and trying to build into attack. The Toffees enjoyed 64% of the possession, but nothing really came out of it. Everton made 600 passes in total, with 504 completed.
Via FourFourTwo StatsZone
Meanwhile, Leicester City had to cope without the ball most of the time, but when they did they countered and should’ve punished Everton a few times. Leicester had just 36% possession, 336 passes in total and 259 completed.
Via FourFourTwo StatsZone
The Goals
There were 4 goals to enjoy in yesterday’s match. Let’s analyse what happened and how they could’ve been prevented…
The first goal was from Aiden McGeady, who scored a fantastic goal curling the ball into the top corner. McGeady took the corner but it was cleared from the Leicester defence, it arrived to Leighton Baines whose shot from long range was deflected into the path of Sylvain Distin. His shot was saved from Kasper Schmeichel and it fell to Aiden McGeady.
The moment Aiden McGeady gets the ball, 4 Leicester City players are in the 6 yard box but not one player closes down McGeady which gives him the time to pass or have a shot on goal
No player is two yards away from Aiden McGeady, apart from the goalkeeper who was stranded away from his goal. Now 5 players are in the 6 yard box but not one could get close to Aiden McGeady’s fantastic shot.
100 seconds later and it was 1-1. The hosts won a corner, the ball came in but Leicester got lucky as you will notice.
Sylvain Distin tries to clear the ball out of the penalty area, but the ball hits Leonardo Ulloa…
… and all he needs to do is fire home.
The Toffees then put themselves back into the lead, with Steven Naismith scoring just before half-time with a fantastic shot that hits the underside of the bar. The build-up is sensational from Baines + Pienaar.
As Steven Pienaar makes the pass into Leighton Baines, he makes a fantastic run into the area as Baines makes his pass.
It’s poor defending from Anthony Knockaert, who should’ve stuck with Leighton Baines and closed him down in the corner rather than let Leighton Baines make the pass.
Steven Pienaar gets the ball, makes a instant pass and Steven Naismith finishes.
Everton hold on in the second half, as Seamus Coleman comes on to give Everton more defensive strength and to survive the last 5 minutes of the match.
In build-up to the goal, Mahrez is on the ball and you can see Chris Wood (number 39) being marked by John Stones…
… as Mahrez shot is deflected, John Stones drifts away from Chris Wood. Meanwhile, Seamus Coleman (who is just in front of the Stones) is in midfield and not getting back into the right-back position.
Another Leicester shot is deflected, Coleman hasn’t got back and John Stones leaves Chris Wood in acres of space…
… the ball arrives to Wood who finishes off and makes it 2-2.
Man of the Match: Steven Pienaar
It was a tough choice for Man of the Match. Wes Morgan was fantastic in defence, Steven Naismith was terrific in attacking mid for Everton and the work of King and Hammond was fantastic, but Steven Pienaar was terrific. Made a assist and worked well with Leighton Baines on the left, Leicester couldn’t get near them in the first-half. Pienaar was terrific for Everton.
Conclusion
Losing the lead is gutting for Everton fans. In the first-half Everton were fantastic, especially on the left with Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar linking up fantastically and Leicester’s defence was exposed again and again. However, the Leicester defence adapted in the second-half and Baines couldn’t get over the half-way line! Everton should’ve held on, but Leicester did deserve to get something out of the game. A great start from a Leicester point-of-view.
