Bournemouth 4 City 2
Report by Kate Thompson
I approached this game with quiet confidence and the team started with more intent than we have seen so far this season. They were the better team for the first 15 minutes and should have gone ahead during this early spell.
Not only did they fail to do so but they were made to pay for it in spades. Ryan Fraser, who was supposed to be injured, scored two excellent breakaway goals in the 19th and 37th minutes,
Their cause wasn’t helped by some woeful defending and the usually reliable Maguire was booked as early as the 12th minute. He was lucky not to be sent off only 15 minutes later, and it has been suggested that he would have been if he wasn’t an England player. His fellow centre-back joined him on a yellow card just before the break.
A soft penalty just before half-time meant that City went in 3-0 down.
There were no changes at half-time (I would have replaced the ineffective Gray with Albrighton at this stage) but Albrighton and Iheananacho replaced Ghezzal and Gray in the 61st minute.
Morgan, who has been a great servant to the club, was struggling with the pace of the Bournemouth front men and he received a second yellow in the 69th minute, along with a booking for Schmeichel, presumably for protesting too much. The second yellow happened right in front of the Leicester fans and we thought he had won the ball cleanly, but sadly our opinion is worthless.
Another simple routine saw the ball pulled back for the in-rushing Adam Smith in the 81st minute to further dampen the spirits of the Leicester faithful who were witnessing some appalling defending.
Evans came on to replace Vardy in the 84th minute, presumably to shore up the leaky defence. Chilwell had a reasonable game but Pereira was caught out far too often. Vardy sadly had not been at his best but both he and Maddison worked hard for no reward; indeed both could have scored before and after the first Bournemouth goal.
To everyone’s surprise City made a game of it at the death, but it was far too late, and presumably the Bournemouth players had taken their foot off the gas, thinking it was done and dusted. Maddison scored a penalty after Pereira was tripped in the area, in the 88th minute and only a minute later Albrighton scored with a header from Iheananacho’s cross. However, it was too little too late, and players and fans were similarly shell-shocked.
I thought that Soyuncu might be brought in against Huddersfield next Saturday but having just watched the under-23s game I don’t think he is ready yet. His confidence could be destroyed if Premier League strikers pounce on any mistake.
One final point: I was horrified to hear on Match of the Day that the Leicester bench had been made to sit in the dugout because of foul and obscene language. This is not a good advert for the club and I, for one, was ashamed to hear it. I hope some action will be taken against them and that we will not learn of a similar incident again.
At least the under-23s have gone back to the top of Premier League 2!
Leicester City: (4-2-3-1) Schmeichel; Pereira, Morgan, Maguire, Chilwell; Ndidi, Mendy; Ghezzal, Maddison, Gray; Vardy. Subs: Ward, Evans, Iheanacho, Albrighton, Amartey, Iborra, Fuchs
Bournemouth: (4-4-2) Begovic, Smith, S Cook, Ake, Rico, Brooks, Lerma, Gosling, Fraser, King, Wilson. Subs: Boruc, Ibe, Surman, L Cook, Mousset, Defoe, Francis
Referee: Craig Pawson
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent