Leicester 2 Watford 0
Post Match Analysis by Kate Thompson
Before the game we were treated to a tifo in the Kop, showing the clock tower and a sign, ‘Meet me at the clock tower’. People round me were a bit puzzled as its relevance to the match!
There was one change from the previous game, due to Harry Winks’ suspension, with Ndidi coming in to the starting eleven. As usual, City started slowly, and Watford defended stoutly. Both teams missed some absolute sitters, with Vardy (a 55th minute substitution for Iheanacho) the most surprising offender, missing two gilt-edged chances that he would normally bury. But, despite some sections of the crowd criticising him, he showed that he still has the ability to score. And if any Leicester player deserves a bit of slack being cut, then surely it is Vardy.
There was little of note in the first half, with the crowd getting increasingly irritated by the slow build-up, but whatever Maresca said at half-time had an effect, as the players notably upped the tempo. However, until Vardy’s goal in the 76th minute, it looked liking being one of those days. The lady behind was celebrating her 80th birthday and I did want her to crown it with a win!
After Leeds only drew at Rotherham on Friday night, City are now ten points clear of them in third, and Ipswich failed to win at West Bromwich Albion, widening the gap between us to three points and with a goal difference in City’s favour of eight. It was good to get another clean sheet, especially since Watford scored five in their previous match.
Nobody had a particularly poor game although Iheanacho continued to frustrate the fans (and his team-mates?). He seems to switch off rather too often – what Matt Piper described as being laid-back, but I believe he doesn’t concentrate for the whole game and seems slow to react sometimes. Having said that, it must be hard to concentrate for 90+ minutes.
The referee, Sam Allison, had been described on one website as ‘up and coming’ and he had a reasonable game. The one incident he ignored was when Iheanacho was clearly pulled back just outside the penalty area in the first half. It was nice to see a black man officiating at such a high level and I hope he continues to make progress.
After Vardy’s first goal, there was a bizarre incident when he was brought down by the Watford goalkeeper, who had earlier been booked for dissent. At first, I thought Vardy would be booked for diving, but the referee did award a penalty and a second yellow card for Bachmann; as Watford had used all five subs, an outfield player had to go in goal. Despite some concern that Vardy would miss, he struck his penalty with so much force – probably getting his frustration at missing such easy chances out of his system. The poor substitute goalkeeper didn’t stand a chance!
Vardy had been booked for kicking the ball away and he went into a forceful challenge just in front of the dugouts, after he had scored his first goal. The Watford manager said that he should have been sent off but apparently, he did win the ball.
Let’s hope that the two consecutive losses are not the start of a stutter, but there will be many challenges still to come. I for one will not be singing ‘Straight back up…’ just yet!
Leicester: Mads Hermansen, Ricardo Pereira, Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard, James Justin: Hamza Choudhury, Wilfred Ndidi (Cesare Casadei 64), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Yunus Akgun 84): Kasey McAteer (Abdul Fatawa 56), Kelechi Iheanacho (Jamie Vardy 56), Stephy Mavididi.
Watford: Daniel Bachmann (sent off, 2nd yellow 90+3), Ryan Andrews, Ryan Porteous, Wesley Hoedt, Jamal Lewis (Matheus Martins 84): Jake Livermore (Ismael Kone 56), Edo Kayembe, Imran Louza (Giorgi Chakvetadze 56): Thomas Ince (Yaser Asprilla 84), Mileta Rajovic (Vakoun Bayo 67), Ken Sema.
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation.