Leicester City 1 v 0 Newcastle United
Report by Stuart Dawkins
Ahead of this game, the big risk was that Newcastle’s new manager would spark a strong performance from the visitors. Indeed, had Newcastle possessed forwards with any confidence, they could well have taken a point, but instead City’s astonishing season continued with yet another win.
Ranieri picked his usual team to line up against the Magpies, dressed in their very non-traditional white shirts with aqua (I can think of no other description) shorts. The visitors were lively for the first quarter of an hour: Mitrovic and Sissoko looked particularly threatening, whilst City looked strangely hesitant. Slowly, however, the home team began to get into their stride and City created chances, including a Vardy header over the bar from a corner.
In the 25th minute, a Mahrez right-wing free kick was only half cleared by the Newcastle defence. Albrighton chipped the ball back in, Vardy headed across to Okazaki who spectacularly bicycle-kicked the ball into the net from six yards to give City the lead – cueing chants of “sacked in the morning” aimed at Rafa Benitez from sections of the home crowd.
Three minutes later, it probably should have been sealed for Leicester: Vardy and Albrighton played a fast one-two, leading to the winger being one-on-one with the Newcastle keeper, but his low curling shot went just the wrong side of the post.
Newcastle registered their first shot on target in the final minute of the half, a tame 25-yard effort that Schmeichel saved easily.
Leicester were not great in the first half. The midfielders, Kanté and Drinkwater in particular, broke play up well as they have all season, but the quality of passing – even from the usually dependable Drinkwater – was below par.
Nonetheless, it speaks volumes of Leicester’s creative abilities that even in a match when a high percentage of through balls and touches went astray, they can still cause the opposition problems with their pace and positive attitude.
Neither manager made any changes to the teams at half time, but City looked more settled. Benitez took off Anita for Townsend after 56 minutes, shortly followed by Schlupp replacing Okazaki – who had been his usual bustling self, in a display capped by his first home goal. Schlupp took his place on the left, with Mahrez taking a more central role which served to help City hold the ball better in midfield.
Benitez made a further change, and then Ranieri made another of his brave, aggressive substitutions: in a game that City were clinging on to, rather than dominating, he replaced Albrighton with Ulloa. Albrighton had run and chased well and put in a few decent crosses, but he, too, misplaced more passes than is usual for him. Ulloa played just behind Vardy, with Mahrez reverting to his wide role.
City were better in the second half, but still did not manage another shot on target. With five minutes to go, Newcastle played a good move that opened up City’s defence giving a clear shooting opportunity to Mitrovic, but for some reason he elected to pass to a team-mate whose scuffed shot was smothered by Schmeichel. That single incident summed up why Newcastle could not get any points from this match.
With just a few minutes left, Benitez took off his captain, Shelvey, for Doumbia. Ranieri wind milled his arms, urging the home crowd to raise the noise in support of their team – and the noise was duly raised.
City played out the final five minutes in a very professional, if a little dull, manner – holding the ball near the corner flags for a succession of throw-ins and corner kicks. At one point the ball broke to Mahrez near the edge of the box, but in keeping with the spirit of this whole match, his shot was misplaced – high and wide. The referee then blew for full time, and City’s five-point lead had been retained.
City have only played well in one of their last four games – the draw against West Brom – and yet they have picked up ten points from a possible twelve and kept three clean sheets. That is impressive form by any standards.
The defence looked solid again today, with Schmeichel having little to do. Vardy was strangely quiet, showing fewer of his runs into space than usual; the midfield were less precise than usual, the shooting less exact – City only had one shot on target all match – and yet they still won.
At the end of a match shown on Sky Sports, the hand-held camera usually follows the Man of the Match as he departs the field. Tonight, the camera followed Ranieri as he came on to the pitch to applaud the fans and his team – that was a fitting choice; there was no star player today, just a team achieving impressive results and – to use the Italian’s favourite word ‘fighting’ hard for their manager and their fans.
Newcastle were not bad, and caused City a few problems. Their fans seemed stoical, appreciating a bit of extra bite under the new manager, and half a dozen of them waiting for a lift after the match pretending to beg from City fans, saying “give us three points, you don’t need them you’ve got lots …”.
Leicester: Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Mahrez, Kanté, Drinkwater, Albrighton, Okazaki, Vardy. Substitutes: Amartey, Schlupp, Gray, Ulloa, Wasilewski, Schwarzer, Inler
Newcastle: Elliot, Janmaat, Taylor, Lascelles, Colback, Anita, Shelvey, Pérez, Wijnaldum, Sissoko, Mitrovic. Substitutes: de Jong, Saivet, Townsend, Darlow, Doumbia, Riviere, Sterry
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