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Leicester's Tete: The little name with a big part to play in survival push

Tete scores Leicester's third goal at Villa Park - Aston Villa's defence falls apart as Leicester finally show ruthless edge - Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Tete scores Leicester's third goal at Villa Park - Aston Villa's defence falls apart as Leicester finally show ruthless edge - Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

He’s got the shortest name but early impressions suggest he’s going to continue to make a sizeable impact.

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers said it felt like he’d got his team back after this handsome and hugely entertaining victory – their first three points since November 12 – and arguably no one had more influence than Tetê.

The Brazilian winger, who arrived on a short-term deal from Shakhtar Donetsk until the end of the season, scored one and could have had two more.

What did he bring to the team?

As Rodgers said afterwards, the 22-year-old gave Leicester a new dimension, bringing pace, width, chances and a decisive goal.

His record of 31 goals in 108 games for Shakhtar and eight in 30 for Lyon suggests his classy, one-against-one strike at Villa Park was no fluke.

But his mere presence means Leicester pose more danger. It means they have an outlet and a real threat on their right wing that has been missing from their armoury for a while.

And, with opposition becoming aware of the threat Tetê carries, they must plan to deal with that.

On Saturday, Aston Villa used two left backs but neither Lucas Digne or his half-time replacement Alex Moreno are at their best when put on the back foot – as Tetê continually looked to do and was largely successful in doing.

How did he fit in, how did he perform?

Slotting into the forward line of a fluid 4-3-3 formation with Kelechi Iheanacho and James Maddison, Tetê spent a large portion of the game as a right-sided attacker.

It was interesting that when Leicester are building their play, Iheanacho in particular drifted to a deeper position on the right, between the left back – this case Digne in the first half – and midfield in an attempt to find a pocket of space.

James Maddison and new Leicester signing Tete - Leicester's Tete: The little name with a big part to play in survival push - Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
James Maddison and new Leicester signing Tete - Leicester's Tete: The little name with a big part to play in survival push - Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

Maddison is well known for finding these spaces but not so much Iheanacho, yet his movement at times was both telling and effective. Iheanacho’s movement meant Tetê was able to drift along the front line – a tactic that proved decisive in first half time added on. He pulled away from Tyrone Mings with a superb diagonal run to latch onto the striker’s defence-splitting pass before rounding Emiliano Martinez to score Leicester’s third goal.

In the second half, Tetê drove in from the right onto his favoured left foot but his radar wasn’t as sharp and he twice failed to seriously test the goalkeeper.

Why did he make them better?

Rodgers says his own command of Spanish is helping overcome the communication barrier with the Portuguese-speaking Tetê with on-pitch instructions.

But Leicester manager is effusive in his analysis of the forward: “It brings another dimension to our team.

“We’ve been having to ‘swing’ it so often by having a full back play there because Tim (Timothy Castagne) is probably the runner whereas Youri (Tielemans) plays deeper but we want him playing centrally.

“You could see Tetê coming in on the blind side – his timing was perfect and we have Harvey (Barnes) with his pace on the other side, so it gives us a great balance to the team.

“Suddenly James [Maddison] has a natural right winger to his right and everybody benefits.

“So just being able to get the right balance allows me to say it’s a team of mine in terms of how we play and the aggression and the attacking spirit.

“You could see the ball was going from either side when it was probably very lop-sided the way we played before.”

Brendan Rodgers on the touchline at Villa Park - Leicester's Tete: The little name with a big part to play in survival push - David Klein/Reuters
Brendan Rodgers on the touchline at Villa Park - Leicester's Tete: The little name with a big part to play in survival push - David Klein/Reuters

What does the future hold for him?

This is the big question, and one no one knows the answer to at the moment.

Tetê is currently taking advantage of the rule introduced by FIFA last March, stating that, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, all the contracts of foreign players in Ukraine are suspended until June 30, and they are allowed to sign with clubs outside Ukraine until then.

Tetê initially joined Lyon in France until the end of June 2022.

With the war ongoing, football’s world governing body has extended the rule to June 30, 2023 and so Tetê extended his contract with the Ligue 1 club to January 2023.

After June 30, the future is unclear with no indication as yet as to FIFA’s stance, although with no end to the conflict in sight, it looks as if the rule will be extended further.

If so, Tetê will be free to sign another short-term deal with a club, or interested parties can negotiate with Shakhtar Donetsk for his permanent transfer.

But if this performance is anything to go by, there will no shortage of takers.


Match report: Leicester's January signing give Brendan Rodgers his team back in rollercoaster win

If Leicester City have had something of an identity crisis in recent months, manager Brendan Rodgers believes he has his team back after this thrilling victory at Villa Park.

Leicester had to twice come from behind after Villa led through Ollie Watkins and a Harry Souttar own goal, only for James Maddison, Kelechi Iheanacho and Tete to trump that in a thrilling first half.

Substitute Dennis Praet punished another defensive error from Villa as Leicester won in the Premier League for the first time since November 12.

And Rodgers is convinced the impact of new signings Harry Souttar, Victor Kristiansen and Tete give Leicester a much more familiar look.

“It felt like a team of mine, being offensive and aggressive,” said Rodgers.

“Big Harry is a presence but he can play football and anyone who saw him at the World Cup would have seen he’s outstanding.

“He was unfortunate for the own goal but he recovered and kept going.

“Victor is full of enthusiasm – he has great energy, he’s a good size and he’s still in the early part of this pre-season, so we’ll have to be careful with him.

“But he was very good and Tete was what I’ve been talking about for about 18 months.

“He’s a right winger who can take the ball, pass it, look after it and make runs and work. The three of them were very good.”

Leicester City's Harry Souttar tackles Ollie Watkins - Leicester's January signing give Brendan Rodgers his team back in rollercoaster win - John Sibley/Reuters
Leicester City's Harry Souttar tackles Ollie Watkins - Leicester's January signing give Brendan Rodgers his team back in rollercoaster win - John Sibley/Reuters

Villa took a ninth-minute lead when Watkins steered home after Emiliano Buendía’s tremendous curling shot crashed off the underside of the bar.

That lead lasted just three minutes however before James Maddison fired home after World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez put Boubacar Kamara in trouble, he was tackled by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall then Iheanacho’s shot was saved by Martínez.

Villa grabbed a deserved – albeit fortuitous – second goal in the 32nd minute when Souttar deflected Watkins’s low cross beyond Danny Ward.

But again Villa were undone by their sloppy defending in the 41st minute when Harvey Barnes’s cross was met by the unmarked head of Iheanacho.

Iheanacho put a superb pass in behind the Villa centre back and Tete rounded Martínez before slotting home Leicester’s third in added time at the end of the first half.

Aston Villa's defence falls apart as Leicester finally show ruthless edge - Isaac Parkin/PA
Aston Villa's defence falls apart as Leicester finally show ruthless edge - Isaac Parkin/PA

Villa conceded a fourth goal in the 79th minute.

Alex Moreno misjudged Harvey Barnes’s deep pass to allow substitute Dennis Praet to steal in and beat Martínez.

Villa head coach Unai Emery said: “Today, we can be disappointed but we have to do the same idea and be better next time and to practice a lot.”