Watford 1 City 2
Post Match Analysis by Kate Thompson
The contrast between last week’s comfortable win and the Watford game was very stark and illustrated perfectly how no team can be taken lightly. City made three changes, bringing in Justin, Praet and Nelson. Watford are a big team and tried to bully Leicester from the outset, so it was a relief (and a bit of a surprise) when we got a penalty in the 9th minute, which Daka dispatched confidently.
It was more surprising that it took until the second half for another goal to be scored but when it did, it was a thing of beauty! It was the archetypal ‘team goal’, Winks bringing the ball out from the back and only three other players involved in a slick move.
However, only a few minutes later Winks uncharacteristically made a terrible mistake; receiving the ball from Hermansen, he attempted to play it back and for some reason did not see Dennis – recently introduced – between him and the goal. It was arguably the easiest goal he or any other player had ever scored, and it built belief in Watford that they could turn the game around.
For about half an hour the City fans had to bite their nails as Watford pumped ball after ball into the box, but fortunately Leicester’s defence held firm. After reading an article about Hermansen in Saturday’s Times, about how he hates to concede a goal, he must have been spitting about this one!
It seemed that after City had scored the penalty, they took their foot off the gas, and it needed the second goal for the fans to feel really completely secure. So, Winks’ moment of madness was the last thing we wanted, but luckily it did not change the score and another three points were in the bag.
No player had a bad game, but some were more effective than others, what one might call the usual suspects – Dewsbury-Hall, Winks, Faes, Pereira and Hermansen.
The two wingers were a bit quiet, with McAteer the busier. Marasca used four substitutes, perhaps sensibly leaving one for a possible injury. This was quite a change from some recent matches when he has been criticised for not using the bench more effectively.
I was surprised to see the ground so full as a friend who used to have a season ticket did not renew this season, as he was so fed up with Watford’s style of play; however, he is clearly in a minority. There were only about a thousand short of capacity.
Things are looking good for Leicester and many fans of other clubs seem to take it for granted that we are being promoted, but what supporting the team for many decades teaches us it to take nothing for granted!
Watford: Hamer; Sema (Dennis 60), Porteous, Hoedt, Lewis; Livermore, Kone, Martins (Andrews 60), Chakvetadze (Ince 72), Dele-Bashiru; Bayo (Rajovic 4, Asprilla 60). Subs (not used): Pollock, Bachmann, Sierralta, Morris
City: Hermansen; Pereira, Faes, Nelson (Doyle 62), Justin; Winks, Dewsbury-Hall, Praet (Choudhury 82), McAteer, Fatawu (Mavididi 82); Daka (Vardy 72). Subs (not used): Stolarczyk, Coady, Alves, Akgun, Cannon
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.