Report; Post Match Analysis by Stuart Dawkins Swansea City 1 v 3 Leicester City

The postponement of last night’s Rotherham vs. Ipswich game due to Storm Babet ensured that Leicester would finish today’s Championship top-ranked team regardless of the outcome; yet, the traveling supporters obviously expected more.

Somehow, Swansea was spared from the storm that swept throughout much of the nation. As we strolled along the Porthcawl seafront before the game, the sky appeared ominous. Suddenly, a coach carrying City supporters materialized, accompanied by the sun. Could this be a sign of good luck?

During the warm-up, both teams donned Give Racism the Red Card t-shirts; City’s away uniform was inspired by the Leicester Fosse. A minute of silence was observed before kickoff in observance of the victims of the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as the anniversary of the horrific Aberfan accident in 1966, which occurred only a few kilometers from the ground.

Vardy was chosen ahead of Iheanacho in Maresca’s probable starting lineup vs City. A large portion of the match adhered to themes that have been commonplace for Leicester City this season. City generated opportunities right away. It may be argued that their opponents were overly respectful, positioning their two banks of four players so closely that, for the majority of the first half, all twenty outfield players were inside a thirty-yard strip of the field. Swansea’s extremely high line encouraged Leicester to hit a few more longer balls through the lines than they often would have. Numerous of these resulted in favorable possibilities, but none of those initial ones were seized.

Then, in the nineteenth minute, Swansea got a corner with one of their few efforts. The corner was freed up so that

City continued to control play, with Fatawu having creative moments and Mavididi largely having the run on his full back.  The chances came often, but Ndidi screwed a shot wide, Mavididi’s cross was just missed by Vardy and KD-H’s header was straight at the keeper.

I was preparing to summarise the first half as being reminiscent of the Hull match: one deflected goal conceded and otherwise a match of continuing frustration.  Then, with a minute to go, Swansea dozed off for the first time, allowing a short-corner routine which led to Ndidi heading a cross back across goal and Vestergaard bundling the ball into the net with some part of his anatomy.  It was the least City deserved for the half, and great reward for Vestergaard’s efforts all this season so far.  Swansea almost hit back straight away, requiring a decent save from Hermansen pushing the ball onto the crossbar before the half time whistle was blown.

The second half started in familiar fashion: Leicester in control but Swansea getting the occasional break.  And, as in almost every game in this remarkable season, Leicester’s patient pressure eventually paid off.  A long sequence of passes led to KD-H getting free down the left.  He cut the ball square and it fell to Fatawu to score from 15-yards.  A scoreline of 1-2 was a fair representation of the game.

Going behind prompted Swansea to press for the first time.  They pushed forward and for 15-minutes it was a competitive game with both teams getting half chances.  Indeed, one dreadful pass across City’s 18-yard line – straight to an unmarked Swansea striker – should really have resulted in an equaliser, but Hermansen made a great save.

Swansea’s more aggressive approach put pressure on City but, this being Maresca-ball, it also led to City getting moments with four players breaking on three.  It was now a really entertaining game.  Swansea brought on substitutes, but they could not find a way past Leicester’s defence.  Iheanacho came on for Vardy in the 83^rdminute, and his fresh legs soon found a way to finish the game off.  Pereira played a perfect through ball to release him, and he rounded the keeper to score to make sure it was going to be eleven wins out of twelve.

One worrying moment was that Younus, who had come on as a substitute for Fatawu immediately after he had scored, pulled up with what looked like a groin strain and was substituted – the match ending with Choudhury playing at right back, Faes at left, Coady joining Vestergaard in the centre and Justin pushed forward to the right wing.

Swansea is a great location for football viewing. It’s a lovely stadium with welcoming spectators in a lovely setting. It was disheartening that following Leicester’s third goal, most home supporters left the stadium empty, signaling the end of the match. The players for Swansea were entitled to better. They presented City with the most competition of the entire season. Leicester City has outperformed every team they have faced this season, though I hate to say that for fear of coming across as superior. Would the outcome have been different if Swansea had been on the front foot for the whole game instead of