Nathan Opoku scored the winner for Leicester City against Bristol Rovers
Leicester City continued their pre-season preparations with a 2-1 win over Bristol Rovers in a two-hour friendly.
Russell Martin once again used two different teams at the Memorial Stadium, with the first XI drawing 1-1 and the following team winning. Kirsten Otchere and Nathan Opoku got their first goals of pre-season after Ellis Harrison levelled for the hosts.
Just like they did at the weekend, Leicester started on fire with an early goal. Good play from Wout Faes and Otchere looked like it was enough to play Hamza Choudhury though on goal, only for his run to be well tracked, before Otchere’s resulting shot deflected over Brad Young.
Experienced striker Ellis Harrison got himself on the scoresheet early in the second half-hour after previously hitting the post. Wout Faes’ well-timed challenge fell kindly for Harrison before he beat goalkeeper Fran Vieites.
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Following a complete change of XI, City began to look the better team with Lorenz Hutchinson, Bade Aluko and Sammy Braybrooke all impressing.
The Foxes restored their lead after early dominance with Nathan Opoku converting from close range after Braybrooke’s strike was well saved by Luke Southwood.
Leicester now turn their attention to Saturday’s trip to Burton Albion before they travel to Spain. Here’s how we rated the players in Bristol…
First-half
Fran Vieites
Played higher than he did on Saturday and looked to get involved in the build-up play more. Couldn’t have done much for the goal but recovered well by coming out to collect the ball.
Jayden Joseph
Interesting performance with plenty to be excited about. Played somewhat inverted at times to create an advantage in the centre. Very strong and physical in duels on the touchline and ventured forward well.
Wout Faes
Surprise captain choice but a good performance. Strolled in midfield to spray passes and stayed composed throughout. Played like an experienced player, which is what you would expect.
Kevon Gray
For a player with only one senior appearance to his name, he looked so comfortable in his duels and on the ball. Could have done better for the goal but the ball fell to Harrison behind him. Recovered well and won plenty of balls afterwards.
Tom Wilson-Brown
Started brightly at left-back and after being left to chase Forde, he recovered with some good tackles. As a centre-back playing at full-back, he didn’t get forward much but that’s expected.
Hamza Choudhury
Consistent with passes and challenges. Played further forward than expected and attempted some dangerous threaded balls between Rovers’ defence that just didn’t come off.
Louis Page
Deployed in a deeper role to Saturday and wanted to get on the ball all the time. He made the odd mistake, but that’s expected. Mentality to keep getting on it.
Will Alves
On the ball all the time for City with similar positions that caused havoc for Northampton inbetween the lines. Linked up well with Stephy Mavididi but let himself down at times with his decisions in the final third.
Riley Carr
Another encouraging performance by the teenager on the right wing. Ran at his full-back and showed electric pace down the right. Delivery lacked the quality needed when in a position to hurt the home side.
Stephy Mavididi
Nearly made it two goals in two games in the first half-hour, but had his effort blocked. Showed good signs of a partnership with Alves down that left, but went quiet after the break.
Kirsten Otchere
Early goal to raise his confidence after an impressive 45 minutes against Northampton. Came deep and linked-up well with the two attacking No.8s.
Second-half
Jakub Stolarczyk
Made some good low saves, which were quite easy for him, to keep Bristol out. Pulled off the save of the game with a neat low-save from close distance. Strayed outside of his box throughout to be a passing option for the defence and picked out some neat balls.
Bade Aluko
Another positive step for the defender with him showcasing his offensive threat down the right. Unlucky not to score after good play alongside Woyo Coulibaly. Like Joseph, took up central positions at times and it worked a treat.
Caleb Okoli
Strong in his challenges and brave on the ball. Looked rapid when chasing balls down and looked to play dangerous balls into midfield.
Ben Nelson
Made a great block to keep Rovers out and looked a class above. Organised the defensive line throughout and pinged some lovely passes behind the home side’s defence.
Luke Thomas
Confident performance from the left-back with no errors and a confidence about him. Looks a completely different player from last season.
Oliver Skipp
Screening midfielder with confidence. Passed forward constantly and moved into the final third at ease. Really impressive performance by the midfielder.
Sammy Braybrooke
City’s best player by some distance. Moved freely with the ball, shrugged off so many challenges in the middle of the park and got into the final third. Combined well with Skipp and Tommy Neale.
Tommy Neale
His first senior outing and he would have come away from it with plenty of learning. Some early signs of being a similar player to Will Alves. Glad to see him for the first time.
Woyo Coulibaly
At times, he looked quite comfortable at right wing. At other times, his two efforts for example, it was obvious he was out of position. To be fair to Coulibaly, he played decently and actually was a threat for City down the right.
Lorenz Hutchinson
Better performance from him compared to Saturday. Had a couple of opportunities to score but his attacking positioning is really impressive. Competitive in his duels against strong players despite being half the size of many of them.
Nathan Opoku
First goal for the club and it did his confidence the world of good. Probably should have scored before only for a good reaction save from the goalkeeper. Didn’t look out of place.
Josh Holland’s talking point
Two games into pre-season now and we can start to put together a list of players that have done enough to start for City. Sammy Braybrooke is the obvious one after his best performance yet.
Alongside 20-year-old Tommy Neale, Braybrooke looked levels above Bristol Rovers at times and the way he shrugged off challenges, sprayed passes and got forward would have impressed Martin.
Bade Aluko is proving why he is the best right-back at the club, but Jayden Joseph’s performance is a nice reminder of the competition. Oliver Skipp and Louis Page can also leave their heads high with excellent performances.
One thing that is becoming clear is that mistakes are happening and City have, so far, reacted to them well. Page lost the ball inside Leicester’s half under pressure and two minutes later, he was demanding the ball from Fran Vieites.
The game against Burton will be another opportunity for all players to get 60 minutes into their legs before the strongest XI available, before arrivals start to come in, becomes clear for the double-header in Spain.
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