Sport

I Got Misunderstood about the ‘unnecessary’ move that changed Leicester City

Published

12 months ago

October 3, 2023

Silas

Despite making a mistake during Leicester City’s 4-1 victory over Blackburn, Mads Hermansen has significantly improved the team’s style and control.

I Got Misunderstood about the ‘unnecessary’ move that changed Leicester City

Due to being relegated to the Championship, Leicester City was obliged to undergo a summer roster overhaul. As a result, many players left on free transfers, and the club was left with less alternatives in many positions due to the need to sell its most important assets.

In goal, they didn’t really need to make any fresh acquisitions. The three goalkeepers that City had on their Premier League roster all remained, whilst most other positions had lost players.

Among them was Daniel Iversen. He had come in for the final 12 matches of the campaign and had done pretty well. His shot-stopping ability was on a level above Danny Ward’s, the Dane single-handedly earning City a point in their draw with Everton thanks to a series of superb stops.

The last time he had been in the Championship, a year earlier, he had been named player of the season on loan at Preston. It felt like, when so many other areas needed attention and money to be spent strengthening them, that Iversen was plenty good enough to be the club’s number one in the second tier.

His kicking and footwork was not up to scratch, and certainly not of the level that Brendan Rodgers wanted when Kasper Schmeichel was sold and he thought he would get a new goalkeeper last summer. But in the Championship, City were likely to dominate possession, and high up the pitch too, and so they didn’t need a goalkeeper who was especially good with his feet until they returned to the Premier League.

So when Mads Hermansen came in for £5m from Brondby, it felt like it wasn’t a priority signing. At that point, City were still drastically short on wingers, and they were running low on midfielders too.

However, Hermansen has made a remarkable difference. Without him, City would not have been nearly as successful as they have been this year.

This follows his first significant mistake while serving as City’s starting goalie. When the midfielder was under significant pressure against Blackburn, the decision to attempt to locate Harry Winks with a goal kick was poor, and it cost the team.

However, it won’t alter City’s strategy, and for good reason. City now plays as an 11-man team on the ball, which has considerably enhanced their control of the ball and their ability to assemble attacks.

Hermansen will advance into the back line and position himself as a potential alternative. A staggering 38% of his touches occur outside of his own penalty area, as opposed to only 19% of Ward’s touches in his Premier League games previous season. While City frequently positions themselves high up the field, Hermansen participates significantly more frequently than his predecessors, averaging 53 touches per game as opposed to 38 for Ward and 34 for Iversen.

That’s where he can perform his magic if he’s on the ball. Hermansen has slipped a ball through the defensive line and into the foot of a midfielder on numerous occasions this season, a feat Ward or Iversen have seldom if ever accomplished.

Hermansen’s passes cover 634 progressing yards on average each game. Iversen averaged 313 yards per game last year; this is far more than Ward’s 403 yards. To increase those statistics, he does not pump the ball long to a big man; rather, he just plays the ball into the hands of teammates or, on occasion, goes long to find a winger or midfielder who is on the move.

After Hermansen’s error on Sunday, Maresca chose not to attempt to defend him because he understood it was an error. Additionally, he predicted that there will be more mishandled passes that resulted in goals in the future.