Leicester 5-0 Southampton
Post Match Analysis by Chris Griffin
Leicester overwhelmed Southampton and thoroughly deserved this emphatic win. Some may say the opponents were off their game but that was due to City’s dominance. City for once did not monopolise possession, with statistics showing Southampton had 66% of the ball. But it made little difference. City’s defence coped well. The visitors did not have one shot on target.
Coady and Chaudhury found themselves on the bench despite their excellent performances against West Brom on Saturday. Pereria and Justin were restored. A pre kick-off pyrotechnics display stirred up the atmosphere.
City controlled the first 20 minutes. Immediately evident was an increased use of the longer pass from the back, especially from right to left, to bring Mavididi into the game. Dewsbury-Hall broke into the box on two occasions but delayed his shot and the opportunities were gone. On the other wing Fatawu forced a smart save from keeper McCarthy. Later Ndidi headed across goal but there was no one on hand to nod the ball in. Then McCarthy clawed away a cross from Mavididi.
City’s front four of Vardy, Dewsbury-Hall, Ndidi and Mavididi were having a terrific impact pressing the Southampton defenders and hurrying them into rushed clearances.
City broke through in the 17th minute. Faes dispossessed Adams in midfield. Well “dispossessed” hardly does justice to the defender’s thunderous tackle. The ball fell to Dewsbury-Hall who played a superb through pass which Fatawu latched onto and calmly stroked the ball past McCarthy into the corner of the net. Southampton players protested long and loud about the Faes tackle but referee Madley was having none of it. The goal did wake the visitors up a bit though and they started to have more of the ball. They also forced turnovers from Dewsbury-Hall, Ndidi and Mavididi.
Half time gave a chance to catch breath. There were lots of comments of the “if we can just nick one more – we’ll be fine” nature, but overall fans appreciated there was still lots to do. Not that anyone was predicting what came next.
Southampton were much more on the front foot in the second half. Justin and Faes had to be sharp on two occasions when clearing attacks. The crowd was very loud and fully behind City. Referee Madley was upsetting them. Both sides were going hard into tackles but it seemed that City’s were the more often penalised much to the fans’ irritation. A free kick for a Southampton foul on Justin was greeted with the loudest of ironic cheers.
Meanwhile Southampton, moving forward more, were leaving gaps at the back. Twice in a minute Fatawu attacked the Southampton penalty area only to send his shot over the bar. No matter. These would prove to be mere sighters. City comfortably absorbed the visitors’ attacks and then increased their lead in the 62nd minute. A cross field move saw the ball reach Mavididi whose inviting and curling cross from the left with his right foot teed the ball for Ndidi who arrived late into the box and headed firmly into goal.
This increased the confidence of players and fans alike. It was in the 75th minute that City started a manic six minute spell which felt as if it were raining goals. It began with Fatawu cutting in from the right to the edge of the penalty box. He unleashed an unstoppable curling shot into the far corner of the net.
Four minutes later a superb passing move saw the ball at the feet of Fatawu. He sent over an excellent low right foot cross. Vardy rolled back the years, ran across his marker and swept the ball into the net just inside the near post: superb play and a superb finish. In the 81st minute Vardy paid back the compliment to Fatawu by sending over a left foot cross which Fatawu rifled into the net at the far post: five nil and job done.
The reception for the team at the end of the game was loud and proud. Of course, as players and pundits alike have been saying, there is still plenty to do. As it stands at least one win against Preston or Blackburn is a necessity. QPR might help us on Friday night by beating Leeds. But I suspect most fans would rather we did it ourselves and not relied on others to help us out.
Enzo Maresca was as enigmatic as ever when interviewed after the game. He did affirm the amazing impact of the attack’s pressing. He said, “Most of the time people judge the results. I think the performance was good but I don’t think it was our best performance of the season. But overall it was a fantastic performance on the ball and off the ball, the way they pressed, the way they worked until the end.”
Fatawu quite rightly went home with the match ball. But my man of the match would be Vardy for his energy, his pressing, his leadership and his so smartly taken goal. What a player he has been.
Leicester City: Hermansen; Pereira (Chaudhury 64’); Faes; Vesteergard (Coady 87’); Justin; Ndidi (Praet 82’); Winks; Dewsbury-Hall; Fatawu (McAteer 87’) ; Vardy (Daka 82’); Mavididi.
Southampton: McCarthy; Bree (Manning 60’); Harwood-Bellis; Bednarek; Walker-Peters; Rothwell (Smallbone 40’); Charles; Aribo (Stephens 83’); Brooks (Edozie 61’); Adams; Southampton: A Armstrong (Fraser 83’)
Referee: R Madley Attendance: 31,872
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.