Leicester vs Liverpool a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
February 28, 2017
1,974 Views
- Claudio Ranieri will be sitting at home wondering where that performance come from
- Champions Leicester pull themselves out of the bottom three as caretaker boss Craig Shakespeare’s first act is an impressive one
- By all accounts Liverpool were poor but many will have been scratching their heads as to how Leicester found a performance like that all of a sudden
- In a sense it’s almost an insult to Ranieri for the players to then turn it on like that (That is a Stan Collymore approved tweet)
- For Liverpool it highlighted a lack of defensive options as Lucas and Joel Matip were torn apart by a Jamie Vardy which resemebled last season’s 24 goal haul
- And Leicester’s opener was a goal straight out of the 2015/16 playbook
- Vardy who has not been afforeded the space to run into in most matches this season would have been grateful that Matip and Lucas were pushed too high
- A long ball over the top and it was all Vardy needed as he latched on to it before firing past Simon Mignolet
- Leicester’s first league goal in 2017
- And what relief it bought to The King Power
- That relief would turn to joy just 10 minutes later when Danny Drinkwater doubled Leicester’s advantage
- He hit a sensational volley from outside the box which Mignolet had no chance of stopping
- 2-0 to the champions going into the break
- And the rest of the country bemused as to where that 45 minutes had come from
- Had Shakespeare simplified the tactics? perhaps he did
- But the conspiracy theorists will have no doubt be saying it was all a ploy to nudge Ranieri out of the door
- And on the hour the game would be wrapped up as Vardy bagged his second of the night to make it 3-0
- Christian Fuchs’ cross was expertly met by the England international and a very welcome three points would be heading Leicester’s ways
- With half an hour left to go there was still time for Liverpool to earn a scant consolation goal through Philippe Coutinho
- He tapped home from close range to little fanfare in what was a poor night for Jurgen Klopp’s side
- They passed up an opportunity to return to the top four
- And now Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United have a game in hand
- The advantage now rests with that trio of clubs in the race for the top four
- Tottenham fans will also enjoy that result as it nullifies Liverpool’s win at Anfield a fortnight ago
- Have Liverpool got the squad to mount a Champions League challenge? On the evidence of this game you would say not
- This would have been the perfect game for Mamadou Sahko to play in
- But with him frozen out, Liverpool had to do with a patched up defensive pairing
- If Leicester can play that every week then they will no doubt avoid relegation
- And it could also mean that Craig Shakespeare will get the job on a permanent basis
- But you do have to feel sorry for Ranieri after watching last night’s Leicester performance
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