Leicester City thumped Plymouth Argyle 4-0 on Saturday afternoon as their defence was once more broadcasted as the best in the division.
Leicester’s dynasty under Enzo Maresca has been built on the foundations that have been laid in the defence and consistent team selection.
From the exceptional Mads Hermansen in goal to the unbreakable partnership of Jannik Vestegaard and Wout Faes, the Foxes are statistically the hardest team to break down in the Championship.
Leicester City have the strongest defence in the Championship
After 20 matches in the second tier, Leicester have only conceded 12 goals, which is a remarkable statistic considering how poor they were defensively in the Premier League last term.
He’s managed to transform a team that conceded 1.78 goals per game in the top flight to one that ships 0.6.
Whilst that can be attributed to dropping down a level, it’s also the result of Maresca’s philosophy and the acquisition of Hermansen in goal.
Mads Hermansen sets the tone in-between the sticks
After being captured from IF Brondby in the summer, few knew who Hermansen was, but he’s soon endeared himself to the Foxes faithful as a supreme shot-stopper and a goalkeeper comfortable with the ball at his feet.
In the Italian’s possession-based philosophy, it is imperative that the man in-between the sticks can handle the pressure of being the first phase of build-up.
The 23-year-old, who has shown he’s superb at distributing the ball, has recorded a 94% pass completion in his own half, as per Sofascore, while recording 4.5 accurate long balls per game.
When you’ve got speedy wide players – like Stephy Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu running in behind – the latter statistic serves as a reminder that an aimless punt can so often be a profitable route to goal.
And that was the case against Plymouth on Saturday as Hermansen played a huge part in Patson Daka’s goal, floating a pass into Fatawu, allowing him to set up an unmarked Daka, who dispatched his chance superbly.
The “complete package” was also impeccable with his short-range passing as he completed every single one of his 71 passes that were under 30 yards.
This just demonstrates how influential a goalkeeper can be at starting attacks, whether that is caressing passes to his defence or splitting the lines with his accurate long distribution.
If Leicester are to win promotion this season, Hermansen’s performances in goal are just as important as those grabbing the headlines at the opposite end of the pitch.