Due to being relegated to the Championship, Leicester City was obliged to undergo a summer roster overhaul. As a result, many players left on free transfers, and the club was left with less alternatives in many positions due to the need to sell its most important assets.
In goal, they didn’t really need to make any fresh acquisitions. The three goalkeepers that City had on their Premier League roster all remained, whilst most other positions had lost players.
Daniel Iversen was one of them. He had entered the campaign’s final 12 games and performed admirably. His shot-stopping skills were superior than Danny Ward’s, who by himself gave City a point in their tie with Everton with a string of outstanding stops.
He won player of the season honors while on loan at Preston the last time he played in the Championship, which was a year prior. Iversen appeared to be more than capable of holding down the club’s top spot in the second division, even if there were so many other areas that need attention and financial investment in upgrading.
When Kasper Schmeichel was traded and Brendan Rodgers assumed he would receive a new goalkeeper last summer, his kicking and footwork were not up to par and certainly not at the level Brendan Rodgers desired. However, until they returned to the Premier League, City didn’t require a goalkeeper who was extremely skilled with his feet because they were likely to control possession in the Championship and play high up the pitch.
Therefore, it appeared that Mads Hermansen’s £5 million acquisition from Brondby wasn’t a top priority. City still had a serious shortage of wingers at that point, and they also had a shortage of midfielders.
However, Hermansen has made a remarkable difference. Without him, City would not have been nearly as successful as they have been this year.
This follows his first significant mistake while serving as City’s starting goalie. When the midfielder was under significant pressure against Blackburn, the decision to attempt to locate Harry Winks with a goal kick was poor, and it cost the team.
However, it won’t alter City’s strategy, and for good reason. City now plays as an 11-man team on the ball, which has considerably enhanced their control of the ball and their ability to assemble attacks.
Hermansen will advance into the back line and position himself as a potential alternative. A staggering 38% of his touches occur outside of his own penalty area, as opposed to only 19% of Ward’s touches in his Premier League games previous season. While City frequently positions themselves high up the field, Hermansen participates significantly more frequently than his predecessors, averaging 53 touches per game as opposed to 38 for Ward and 34 for Iversen.
That’s where he can perform his magic if he’s on the ball. Hermansen has slipped a ball through the defensive line and into the foot of a midfielder on numerous occasions this season, a feat Ward or Iversen have seldom if ever accomplished.
Hermansen’s passes cover 634 progressing yards on average each game. Iversen averaged 313 yards per game last year; this is far more than Ward’s 403 yards. To increase those statistics, he does not pump the ball long to a big man; rather, he just plays the ball into the hands of teammates or, on occasion, goes long to find a winger or midfielder who is on the move.
After Hermansen’s error on Sunday, Maresca chose not to attempt to defend him because he understood it was an error. Additionally, he predicted that there will be more mishandled passes that resulted in goals in the future.
Given how much Hermansen contributes to the team’s passing game, though, those issues will be minor ones in the overall context of City’s season and the project under Maresca.
