Leicester 1-1 Villa and Drinkwater; Belated thoughts

I can’t rave enough about last night’s performance.
It wasn’t because it was an outstanding result, although it was pretty decent, with many of us expecting to get our arses whupped.
No, it was more about the fact that I saw really encouraging signs.

It was much more about the setup and the way we actually played.
Yes, on the face of it, Luiz and Nakamba just don’t seem to work together; I agree.
But some of our passing in the middle of the pitch was, I thought sublime on the odd occasions.
We were quite rightly being harried by a decent midfield, yet still managed to play quick 4-5 yard passes with good effect. There was one occasion where 3 mids combined with a bit of showboating that also worked to get us out of trouble.

Ok, this isn’t a demonstration of anything in itself and noone else seemed to comment on it, but I thought it was encouraging, because it’s the way we need to go.
My point is that our quick passing has often been a weak point if you look at the way Dean smith wants to play the game.
I saw things improving against a very good side.

And then there’s the way we set up.
You can call it three at the back if you like and I’m sure some of you will, but my opinion says that’s utter rubbish.
It’s a five, with it turning into a three, if we get the chance to attack.
Let me emphasise what I think is the difference;

If you want to batter the opposition with attack, it’s a 3.
If you want to defend, it’s a 5, simple.
How did we play the game last night?

Whatever, we look miles better for it.
Mings was an absolute tower of strength. Him being in the middle of a defence, commanding things and shouting advice to adequate resources is what he’s all about.
Put him in a back 4, with insufficent resources around him and while he still looks decent, it’s a different thing.

We just look so much more likely to not concede, when playing the 5, imo.

And then, I just have to hand some massive credit to the whole side.
Yes, you can pick out individual weaknesses, but that was an outstanding team performance, where we quite simply didn’t bottle it in any sense.

Then add in that I thought Jack Grealish was nowhere near his normal game, where he usually drags the team with him and seemed to be lacking energy (possibly a bit of this cold/flu that’s going around?) and it made the performance even better.

A very good, battling performance all around, where we didn’t bottle it away to a very good side, sums it up.

And then there’s Danny Drinkwater.
It’s only a quick mention, because he’s never been a player I’ve watched closely.
But I do remember him not putting a foot wrong at Leicester.
No doubt going to Chelsea for a massive pay-rise was the right life-style move, but it hasn’t done much for his career, has it?
It probably didn’t need too, as he’s now well sorted for the rest of his life and it was probably more about taking the opposition out on Chelsea’s part.
That’s a cynical view, but is backed up by the fact that he hasn’t played that much.
Hence it depends if he still has enough hunger for the game.
He could be great or crap for us.
I don’t see him working any instant magic and think he’ll need a bit of time.
An interesting signing, I think and hopefully a good one.