Blackburn Rovers 1-4 Leicester City
Ewood Park is one of the few Championship grounds I have never visited, but a combination of
family commitments and the TV-inspired move to a noon kick-off on Sunday meant I could not visit it this time either. Instead, I donned my lucky pants as if going to the match (we all have those, don’t we??) and did a TV-based match analysis, taking the opportunity to reflect on some differences between the Championship experience and that of the Premier League.
The first difference is TV coverage itself – or so I had thought. Surely being in the second tier would
mean fewer match dates moved on the whim of TV companies? Well, that should have been the
case, but City’s exceptional start to the season has had the unfortunate consequence of making their matches TV-picks seemingly more often even than they would have been in the top tier.
One positive is that TV pre-match coverage is typically only 30-minutes in the Championship rather
than an hour. To be honest, 30-minutes is more than enough for any match – even this one which
(as the TV informed us) was the first non-Premier League match between Premier League winners.
The next difference – no VAR. Now, I am a fan of VAR. But, like many others, I have significantly
disagreed with key VAR decisions in each of the last three televised Premier League games I have
watched. This included the bizarre offside decision for Diaz’s Liverpool goal that warranted a formal
apology form PGMOL (the body that runs VAR). Refereeing mistakes have been made in the City
games I have watched this season, but none have produced the feeling of “how on earth can they
come to that decision” which watching a VAR-replay for the umpteenth time can produce when the
decision still makes no apparent sense. I suspect PGMOL will be able to produce stats to show that
VAR has reduced the number of incorrect key decisions this season too, but the high-profile errors
and borderline decisions on TV must be leading the average fan to wonder if it is all worth the
bother.
Another factor is the perceived quality of refereeing overall. My view is that the refs so far this
season have been in aggregate as good as those in the Premier League. Not perfect, but plenty good enough.
Don’t get me wrong, I was as upset as anyone at City being relegated and want them back at the top as soon as possible. I am, however, enjoying watching football without it often appearing to be more about the TV experience (ironic given my viewing choice today, I know) or the hype about every little ‘issue’ designed as ‘a conversation point’ for ‘fans’ whose interest does not extend beyond the Premier League.
On to the match itself. Leicester will play better than this. Blackburn were the best team for considerable portions of the game, although they gifted City a goal early on, simply not marking Faes at the far post as he headed in Fatawu’s cross after a short corner.
To Blackburn’s credit, they responded well and for about 20-minutes they harried and caused some
poor decisions by City when playing the ball out from defence. Hermansen committed the worst of
these. His ball to Winks on the edge of the box was too easy to intercept and Blackburn duly equalised. Overall, Hermansen played the ball long more times than I can recall in any other match this season – a credit to Blackburn’s aggressive approach but also a welcome sign of a Plan B for City should it be needed.
Vardy looked more like himself today. Ndidi’s raking, speculative first-time low cross was reminiscent of Premier League Leicester at their very best, Vardy’s one touch control and finish was absolutely in keeping with the Vardy of old, giving City a slightly fortunate half-time lead.
Vestergaard was unlucky at the start of the second half, conceding a free kick on the edge of the box for what both his reaction and the TV camera clearly showed as being a dive. VAR would have made no difference, as it was just outside the box, and thankfully the resulting shot went harmlessly wide. The undeserved yellow card does mean that Vestergaard will miss the top-of-the-table clash with Preston on Wednesday. But refereeing mistakes happen, and today’s ref – James Linington – had a good game.
Indeed, the referee played an impressive role in Leicester’s third goal. It seems to have become the norm for defenders to get away with shirt pulling when defending corners – even in matches with VAR. Mr Linington rightly saw that Vestergaard’s shirt was practically being wrenched from his back and gave a penalty. Iheanacho, who had recently replaced Vardy as a substitute, hit a great spot kick to give Leicester breathing room.
Blackburn kept pushing, but City’s defence held firm with Hermansen required to make just one tough save – immediately followed up by a block from the (now) ever-dependable Vestergaard.
As time ticked on it became more and more reminiscent of the Southampton match. City looked more likely to score from a breakaway than the home team from throwing players forward. That view proved to be true in quite spectacular manner, when a fast break by substitute Akgün led to him feeding Dewsbury Hall who chipped over the advancing keeper to score from what looked to be an impossible angle.
The 1-4 scoreline was a bit harsh on Blackburn, but City can be pleased about many things.
Let’s start with the less good: McAteer’s first proper sprint after coming on as substitute was ended by what looked to be a torn hamstring. If that is the case, he will be out for a few weeks. Fatawu had already been removed, having played well, particularly defensively, as well as providing the assist for City’s opener. But this Maresca seems to be able to get any number of the squad to play in unfamiliar positions when needed, so Akgün swapped wings and KD-H became a winger … and City still looked smooth.
Blackburn had some good play down their left flank throughout the game, and Ricardo was replaced … whether to try to counter that fact or because countering it had over-tired him. Choudhury came on and, again, City carried on smoothly. Casadei – who has been rather poor since scoring in his debut appearance – came on and also looked smooth this time.
It was not a great City performance, but – yet again – it was enough to trounce decent Championship opposition and in so doing, set a Leicester City record of winning their first five away league matches.
Top of the table, with a match against third-placed Preston to come, City are in a great place, even without Vestergaard or McAteer for that game. It is too soon to get over-confident about the season as a whole, but to date this hopefully gap-year in the Championship is going really rather well.
Oh, and just in case you were concerned about it, I will get the lucky pants washed and ready for the Preston game and the trip to Swansea!
Blackburn Rovers
Pears, Brittain, Carter, Hyam, Pickering, Travis, A Wharton, Markanday, Moran, Sigurdsson, Szmodics
Substitutes
Hill, Tronstad, Dolan, Rankin-Costello, Wahlstedt, S Wharton, Gilsenan, Garrett, Telalovic
Leicester City
Hermansen, Ricardo Pereira, Faes, Vestergaard, Justin, Ndidi, Winks, Dewsbury-Hall, Fatawu, Vardy,
Mavididi
Substitutes
Coady, Casadei, Iheanacho, Souttar, Choudhury, Daka, Akgün, McAteer, Stolarczyk
Report by Stuart Dawkins