Steve Cooper changed the configuration of his Leicester City midfield to match Aston Villa physically and to be cautious with Facundo Buonanotte after his “stuttered” week.
Buonanotte scored his first City goal in the 2-1 loss on Saturday, doing so as a second-half substitute. The Argentinian was dropped from the starting line-up, with Oliver Skipp coming into the midfield, and with Wilfred Ndidi pushed into the more advanced of the three central roles.
It gave City’s midfield a defensive feel and that was the plan, Cooper said. With Villa fielding Amadou Onana, Youri Tielemans, and Morgan Rogers centrally, and with John McGinn coming inside too, Cooper wanted to be able to go toe-to-toe with them.
Plus, Buonanotte has had an issue with his groin this week, and so needed managing. The plan was always for City to open with attacking changes, Cooper explained, but the nature of the game meant that when Buonanotte, Stephy Mavididi, and Bilal El Khannouss came on, they were already trailing 2-0.
“Facundo had had a strange week after the Fulham game,” Cooper said when asked about his midfield selection. “He needed managing, with his groin. That kept him out of being available for the League Cup game. It’s been a stuttered week for him.
“Then, looking at what we felt the game might have needed in terms of the physicality that Villa have in the middle, we wanted to go toe-to-toe on that side and then hopefully open up the game as it went on. We conceded a couple of goals, but it didn’t play out that way (that City were beaten physically in midfield).
“We can make choices now with the type of players we need in certain areas from game to game, and with making in-game changes as well. That’s where you want to be.”
The substitutes made an instant impact, with Mavididi beating his full-back Lamare Bogarde to set up Buonanotte’s goal. City were also able to bring on Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Kasey McAteer, with Odsonne Edouard to join the squad after the international break. There are now plenty of options.
Cooper added: “You look at today, it’s not just about the guys who start, it’s about the people you want to bring off the bench. You look at Stephy, he did brilliantly when he came on. He’s been waiting for that. He deserves what he did today.
“That’s what you want. It’s more than a starting team nowadays. You’ve seen the changes that the three teams we’ve played have made and we want to do something similar so we don’t drop our levels when we want to make changes as well.”
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