LEICESTER CITY 2 WATFORD 1
Match Report by Paul Weston
It was a wet and windy day for the Remembrance Day fixture against Watford. Fortunately this did not stop the match ball being delivered by helicopter- always a fantastic sight. The Watford players warming up seemed loath to clear the pitch area for it to land. The Last Post was played perfectly and City fans held up their white faced clappers in unison.
I had chatted to some Watford fans before the match. They were nervous about Vardy and said Flores’ tactics would be to starve the supply line to him. My response was that, though Vardy was at present getting all the plaudits, our unnoticed stars were Kante and Drinkwater.
Watford confidently dominated possession from the start and City seemed off-key with passes going astray and our attack starved of the ball. It looked like Flores’ tactics were working. Before long City had a huge let-off when Ighalo’s shot came back off the post and a follow-up shot was punched clear by Schmeichel.
Most of City’s attacks broke down with Schlupp in particular losing possession frequently. Vardy had a half-hit shot comfortably saved by Gomes. Mahrez was losing out in possession too and Albrighton was only in the game in phases.
Towards the latter part of the first half City switched Schlupp behind Vardy and switched Marhrez and Albrighton on the wings. This brought some improvement but as the half came to a close, with the City fans a bit quieter than normal, Watford had had the better of the match so far.
Ranieri, as is his style, had immediately spotted the problem. He made an immediate change at the start of the second half, bringing on Okazaki for Schlupp. Mahrez went onto the wing. The effect was immediate and there was a 10 minute burst of pressure on a Watford defence that suddenly looked wobbly. Okazaki did not give the Watford players a moment’s peace and this increased the tempo of the team. Vardy had a shot saved by Gomes with his legs during this period.
City scored from an unexpected source. Kante, who so far had been excellent, worked his way into the penalty area and hit a rather tame shot towards Gomes. The goalie did not get his body behind it and the ball rather apologetically trickled off his right hand and into the corner of the net. It was an absolute howler for a goalie- especially in front of the Kop end which did not let him forget it for the rest of the match.
City continued to improve but the buzz of the crowd was silenced when Vardy went down apparently badly injured. He got up gingerly after treatment and took some time working off the injury. He came to life though when he was put through by a pass from Wes Morgan. Vardy hared after it. Gomes foolishly came out too quickly and clattered into Vardy. It was an obvious penalty. Surprisingly Gomes was only given a yellow card.
At first it looked like Mahrez had turned down the request from Vardy, and the Kop, to take the penalty to keep his goal run going. However, at the last moment Mahrez turned round and handed the ball to Vardy. He promptly absolutely leathered the penalty kick it down the centre- his ninth goal in a row and closer to that amazing record. Well done to him and to Mahrez too- a fine gesture- just as well that Vardy scored!
2-0 and there were only about 15 minutes to go. The match seemed in the bag and Watford had run out of ideas. However, LCFC fans never take anything for granted and Kante, who otherwise had a fantastic match, lost possession in our area and brought down Paredes- a definite penalty from which Denny emphatically scored to make it 2-1 and an unnecessary nervy end to the match.
Mahrez nearly scored afterwards with a typical left foot shot well saved by Gomes. Dyer came on for Mahrez, and King substituted Drinkwater. Watford never really threatened and City relatively calmly saw out the match to win 2-1.
It was not a great performance but good in patches. The defence was excellent with Fuchs an absolute rock and who also excelled in attack. The central spine of Drinkwater, Kante, Huth and Morgan were for me the players which saw us to victory. Okazaki made a real difference when he came on with his link up play and constant harassment of the Watford defence
Vardy seemed close to exhaustion at the end and we were surprised Ulloa was not brought on in the latter period. We now go into an international break again and, as I write this, City are joint top of the league. Is this a dream?
There is no doubt we are getting a little bit of luck during this fantastic run we are having at the moment so let us recognise this and enjoy the moment. Only 15 more points for Premiership safety!
Match details
Leicester: Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Albrighton, Kante, Drinkwater (King 90), Schlupp (Okazaki 46), Mahrez (Dyer 84), Vardy. Subs not used: Ulloa, Benalouane, Schwarzer, Inler
Watford: Gomes, Nyom (Diamanti 76), Cathcart, Britos, Ake, Anya, Capoue (Paredes 70), Watson, Abdi, Deeney, Ighalo. Subs not used: Prodl, Behrami, Guedioura, Holebas, Arlauskis
Attendance: 32,029 Referee: Roger East
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