Comfortable FA cup win! Report by Simon Mack!

Leicester City 2 Wigan Athletic 0

FA Cup 3^rd Round

4^th January 2020 5:31pm

King Power Stadium

Attendance: 30,330

Over 30,000 fans turned up for this FA cup encounter as foxes boss Brendan Rodgers rang the changes once again as Leicester progressed to the 4^th round with a comfortable win against Wigan.

Danny Ward, James Justin, Wes Morgan, Marc Albrighton, Nampalys Mendy, Dennis Praet and Harvey Barnes all started for city along with Croatian centre back Filip Benković who made his first senior appearance for the club since his return in the summer from his loan spell at Celtic.

The visitors gave young defender Tom Pearce a debut on the evening and it was the former Leeds man that put the foxes in front on 19’ turning a Marc Albrighton cross into his own net in an attempt to avoid Harvey Barnes from getting a shot on target. On the night it was Barnes that was deployed in the central attacking role with Albrighton and Gray either side and the trio were spritely in their endeavour whilst seeming to lack a focal point at times.

David Marshall in the Wigan goal was the main reason why the score line wasn’t worse for the visitors making a point blank save from Barnes who latched onto a neat threaded ball from Demari Gray, and as the first half continued the competitive unfamiliarity of the side selected by Rodgers seemed to cause passes to be played into no man’s land at times despite positive intent from the city eleven. Wes Morgan was withdrawn having picked up an injury and replaced by Caglar Soyunchu as the 1^st half entered its final 15 minutes. It was later revealed that the foxes skipper has a groin issue and Rodgers will be hoping it won’t keep the experienced defender side-lined for long.

Whilst honest in their endeavour the lactics struggled to live with their hosts often losing their way in the final third with poor passing or lack of position when it came to the crunch and as the first half came close to a conclusion city broke from another fruitless Wigan attack and it was a slide rule pass from Dennis Praet that gave Harvey Barnes the chance to double the foxes lead with an effort across the latics keeper that Chey Dunkley in the Wigan defence deflected past Marhshall behind him giving the stopper no chance of a save.

Two up at half time Brendan Rodgers would have been hoping to see his side go on and punish their visitors lack of cutting edge with further ruthless intent. But post match the Northern Irishmen expressed his dissatisfaction as his side’s inability to put Wigan to the sword in the manner he’d implored. Filip Benkovic pulled up with pain in his knee and was replaced by Christian Fuchs which was a huge shame for a lad just getting some senior action after a long layoff. The young Croat had done his chances of further 1^st team opportunity no harm with his performance and with Wes Morgan already on the physio’s treatment list from the game Rodger’s hunt for additional defensive options in the January transfer window might have become more pressing?

Wigan did get the ball in the back of the net via Jamal Lowe’s toe poke from Pearce’s low left wing cross but the dreaded VAR review chalked the goal off for offside and the foxes 2 goal lead was reinstated. As usual for the paying fan in the stadium the only evidence to go on was a notification on the big screen that the goal was being checked for offside. No replay was shown and no further clue given. Isn’t it about time the fan that pays to go and support their respective teams was given a little more respect in regard to a replay on the screen within the stadium?

The foxes 3^rd and final substitution came in a like for like manner as Mendy was withdrawn and replaced by Wilfred Ndidi and soon after the foxes had a penalty claim turned down by the referee after Nididi was pushed in the back by Lowe as he drove into the box. VAR looked at the replay once again leaving the 30,000+ in attendance in the dark and also turned the penalty claim down. Having since seen the incident from the tv footage the only way that cannot be a penalty is for the foul to have been committed outside the box, either way it was an absolute clear foul.

Wigan’s very capable keeper Marshal denied Demari Gray once again and that was that full time and into the pot for the 4^th round draw on Monday Leicester go. The foxes had won this game in what was more of a disjointed at times 2^nd or 3^rd gear type of performance. Rodgers alluded post match to his disappointment at this sides failure to be more ruthless and this tenacious drive to punish opponents in something very evident in the city manager’s core ethics and was born out in displays such as Newcastle at home and Aston Villa on the road. Rodgers is ravenous for his team to extract every ounce of possibility out of every moment they play for him on the field and today whilst not at any detriment to city’s progression that was missing for portions of the game.

The selected side felt a little unfamiliar with each other at times on the night and for me whilst Barnes scored and had chances to put more into the net the team selected was a tad lacking of that focal point an out and out striker would have given them.

MOTM? Harvey Barnes was very good on the night and late on almost ran past the entire Wigan team to get a shot off that was parried by the impressive David Marshall in the latics goal however for me I was hugely impressed with the engine, endeavour, guile and intelligent passing of Nampalys Mendy. We don’t see masses of the little French midfield dynamo in first team action but in my opinion this performance put the former Nice man a step closer to the bright lights of Premier League action. Could Mendy be another reborn under Brendan Rodger’s tutorage? Time will tell but great shift from the lad in a game that lacked that ‘spark’ and offensive flow we’ve become so used to enjoying from Leicester City’s superb season to date.