Notice to Fans: Stoke City and Everton Women
The Club’s Men’s First Team will play Stoke City on October 7 at 3 p.m., followed by LCFC Women’s home match against Everton on October 8 at 3 p.m.
Almond Road and Aylestone Walk are both impacted by the Aylestone Road construction, which is expected to be finished on Wednesday, October 25.
Additionally, there are extensive ongoing roadworks being done for at least 40 weeks on Raw Dykes Road and Upperton Road.
Additionally, De Montfort University will be conducting an Open Day on Saturday, which could affect fans’ travel plans both inside and outside of the stadium.
Therefore, fans wishing to visit King Power Stadium this weekend are recommended to provide more time for their travels.
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Everton and Stoke City were scoreless at halftime in what appeared to be a preseason match. Both teams made numerous unforced errors and lacked any real desire to score goals.
starting positions
The Blues started the match in Sean Dyche’s preferred 4-5-1 configuration from the previous campaign, with Jordan Pickford, the number one goalkeeper for England, in goal. James Tarkowski served as captain, with Michael Keane and Ashley Young serving as the center halves.
Idrissa Gueye, James Garner, and Abdoulaye Doucoure made up the midfield three. Dwight McNeil and Alex Iwobi were the wide players, and Arnaut Danjuma made his debut start for the Toffees up front.
starting places
The first goalkeeper for England, Jordan Pickford, started the game for the Blues in the preferred 4-5-1 formation from the previous season. Michael Keane and Ashley Young were the center halves, with James Tarkowski serving as the captain.
The midfield trio consisted of Idrissa Gueye, James Garner, and Abdoulaye Doucoure. The wide players were Dwight McNeil and Alex Iwobi, and Arnaut Danjuma started at the front for the Toffees for the first time.
Everton, though, made things far more difficult for themselves by consistently misplacing passes or being caught out of position during the first half. The most kind thing we could have said about Everton was that the Blues commentary crew had mentioned that the players were “leggy.”
You could take your pick of any one of the Everton starting lineup and point out at least a couple of mistakes they made, such was the level of incompetency on show. If Dyche was seething half as much as the fans were, then the halftime talk in the dressing room would have certainly rung clear throughout the corridors of the bet365 Stadium.
Doucoure missed an early chance when his volley from close range was charged down, but that aside there was little else for chances as crosses into the box weren’t met by any blue shirts.
Stoke won what felt like a dozen corners, most of them on the near side, Everton’s left, but were unable to take advantage of the Blues’ incompetency.
A late dangerous challenge on a breaking McNeil from Stoke’s Enda Stevens earned him a booking, with both Garner and the captain squaring up to the offender in anger. The freekick from Young was good with a header played back into the box, but the ball was cleared and that was that for the first half.
The second stanza started with a number of changes across the board – Jarrad Branthwaite, Amadou Onana, and Neal Maupay came on for Keane, Garner and Danjuma respectively. Everton showed more intent to begin the half, but that quickly dissipated.
Pickford was forced to make a smart save from a narrow angle before another couple of Stoke shots and crosses were blocked in the box. The tactic of hitting long aerial balls to Maupay might sound daft on paper or on this screen, and looked exactly that in execution as well. The one opportunity that did fall to him in the box thanks to a fortunate ricochet, the Frenchman sent where just about every one of his shots usually goes, Row Z of the stands.
At the hour mark Alex Neil made a slew of changes to conserve his players ahead of their season opener, and the clash was pretty much over as a contest. Then things got almost worse for the Blues – McNeil had a shooting chance on the edge of the box but tangled with a Stoke player and went down in a heap clutching his left lower leg. After some medical attention he was able to hobble off with Lewis Dobbin coming on for him at the three-quarter mark of the game.
Branthwaite and Patterson both were forced to make goal-saving challenges late on to preserve the clean sheet. Everton snatched at any chances they got, usually from outside the box, while lazy defending meant they kept giving away freekicks from dangerous areas.
The Potters looked the more likely to score in the closing minutes but the Blues did get two more great chances, both fluffed by substitute Dobbin. First, Onana’s ball into the box was met by Dobbin coming in late, but he wasn’t able to make good contact and his shot went well-wide. Then he ran on to Tarkowski’s fantastic diagonal ball, but he slipped the ball under the onrushing goalie and wide of the near post and 0-0 it stayed.
Where the ref found six plus minutes to add on late on we will never know, but the Blues won a corner on the right in the 96th minute. Dobbin’s corner was poor, Iwobi put it back in the box, Branthwaite nodded it backwards, Tarkowski headed the ball across the goal, Onana gambled and slid in, and in the melee of limbs with the goalie, the ball trickled in in front of the cheering away support! 1-0, final score.
The Blues do have one more friendly next weekend, but you would really have expected a less disjointed performance from a squad that has spent this much time together over the last few weeks.
Quick Thoughts
On his first start, Danjuma didn’t necessarily blow anyone away, though part of that is the side’s overall dysfunction as well. With little service or support, it doesn’t matter who we have up there.
Branthwaite looked calm and composed in the middle of defence, but is Dyche going to have the confidence in him to replace Keane the first week of the season?
No Demarai Gray in the squad likely means he’s gone isn’t he? There have been rumours of Crystal Palace, West Ham, Besiktas and even a bid from Saudi Arabia.
Another week, and still no striker. Dominic Calvert-Lewin was back at training this week, but it’s looking more and more unlikely that he’ll be fit for the first weekend of the season. Just a fortnight to go now before the season opener against Fulham.
