Formation clues, missing player, teenager call-up – what we spotted in Leicester City training
Leicester City have been training on the banks of Lake Geneva since Monday in their second week of work under new manager Steve Cooper, with pre-season matches coming soon
Leicester City have been away in France this week, ramping up their preparations for the new Premier League season.
Being together in Evian-les-Bains gives new manager Steve Cooper more time to put in place his plans for the upcoming campaign, and allows the summer recruits to bed into the squad. For onlookers, it means there’s more to analyse.
Here, we’ve noted down a few things we’ve spotted from the pictures and videos to emerge from City’s training camp before we get a proper look at Cooper’s side at Shrewsbury next Tuesday.
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One of the big unknowns at the moment is whether City will start the season in a back four or back five. Cooper used both at Nottingham Forest, but did seem to lean towards a back five, deploying wing-backs to great effect, particularly in their promotion out of the Championship.
But a few pictures from Evian showed an attack versus defence exercise where City looked to line up in a back four. On one side it was, from right to left, Ricardo Pereira, Harry Souttar, Conor Coady and Luke Thomas, and with Hamza Choudhury as a defensive midfielder in front of them. At the other end of the pitch, the back four was Brandon Cover, Ben Nelson, Caleb Okoli and James Justin, with Harry Winks sitting.
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It looked like City were attacking as a group of five, much in the same way they did last season under Enzo Maresca. So there were two wingers, two attacking midfielders and one striker.
This could have been a warm-up exercise and not indicative of any plans Cooper has. But equally, it wouldn’t be a surprise if City had started training in either the defensive or attacking shape they plan to take into the season. More will be revealed at Shrewsbury on Tuesday
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