LEICESTER CITY 1 SPURS 1
Report by Paul Weston
A fervent and expectant crowd awaited the City team at the King Power on a sweltering hot day and it was The Birch’s 70th birthday too! Ranieri picked the same team as at West Ham with Inler a high profile new signing among the substitutes. We were encouraged that danger man Eriksen was not fit enough to play for Spurs and hoped that Kane would not score his usual goal against us.
We all expected that City would make the usual high octane start but Spurs very soon started to dominate possession and City played a cagey game. Spurs’ wide men worked close to the lines and, although Spurs created very little in the way of chances, City struggled to get a foothold into the game.
It soon became clear that the City team were following instructions to conserve energy, not surprising when two drinks breaks were ordered by the referee during the game due to the heat.
Drinkwater and King were working hard in midfield but mainly breaking up play rather than creating much. Vardy looked sharp and dangerous but Okazaki seemed unable to control the ball effectively and kept losing possession.
Mahrez prowled on the wing and perhaps should have won a penalty when tugged to the ground by Vertongen. However, Mahrez’s main input mainly was to leave De Laet exposed too often to Spurs’ wide men.
The first half ended at 0-0 with few memorable events or alarms and it began to feel like the match would be won with one goal from a mistake or a breakaway goal.
The second half began with Kane somehow breaking through and Schmeichel saving his shot. Mahrez started to work his way into the game more and created a great chance for Drinkwater who should have hit the target. At the other end Chadli selfishly shot over when a cross into the box to Kane would surely have created a better chance.
Soon after Mahrez broke through and surprised Loris with a right foot shot which rebounded off the post. By this time Spurs had brought on substitute Ali. Ranieri brought on Inler and Kante for a tiring Drinkwater and Albrighton.
With about ten minutes to go Spurs broke through the middle, aided by Inler, of all people, losing possession. A Chadli cross somehow evaded Morgan and Schmeichel and Ali scored with a header from point blank range. It seemed a soft goal and summed up Schmeichel’s day whose game seemed slightly off-key throughout.
However, the City crowd roared its immediate support and encouragement from the kick off, and immediately Mahrez struck back to level the score. It started with a brilliant flick on by Vardy and Mahrez controlled the ball well and fizzed the ball in past Loris with his left foot. It was a truly superb goal.
City then could have won it with a Morgan header from a great Mahrez cross, which somehow bounced off Loris. The last minutes of the match though surprisingly ended up with City defending, rather than in attack, and so in the end a draw seemed the fairest result.
This was a very different match to the Sunderland goals fest and it shows how far we have reached when we are slightly disappointed with a draw against Spurs. Although Mahrez had a really good second half, the stars of the match for me were Huth and Morgan who were rock solid. This was a triumph of tactics and hats off to Ranieri. Whilst we conceded possession to Spurs we still created quite a few chances against a good side.
The League Cup match in the week ahead is a good opportunity for Ranieri to give some more game time to his new signings. I would then not be surprised to see Inler in for the away game against Bournemouth who will be a real goal threat. As I write this City are still top of the table. Pinch me- I must be dreaming!
Leicester: Schmeichel, De Laet, Huth, Morgan, Schlupp, Mahrez (Ulloa 90 +3:45), King, Drinkwater (Inler 80), Albrighton (Kante 78), Okazaki, Vardy. Subs not used: Kramaric, Fuchs, Benalouane, Schwarzer
Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies, Dier, Mason (Bentaleb 88), Dembele (Carroll 77), Lamela (Alli 65), Chadli, Kane. Subs not used: Rose, Vorm, Trippier, Onomah
Attendance: 31,971 Referee: Martin Atkinson
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