Aston Villa 2 City 4
Match report by Kate Thompson
City fans were excited to discover that the three new signings would start this game against a tricky Aston Villa. There had been some doubt about Souttar’s fitness but he started in the absence of Amartey, apparently because of illness. Some of the feelings of negativity around the club recently had been reduced and the result changed the mood music completely – let’s just hope it isn’t a one-off but the start of something better.
It started badly, when Villa scored in the 9th minute through Watkins; he was the first to react after Buendi’s rocket hit the crossbar and bounced back into his path. Ward seemed slow to react and was punished for his hesitancy. However, Villa’s lead was only to last for three minutes when the first bit of sloppy defending from Villa enabled Dewsbury-Hall to rob Kamara in the six-yard box as the home side looked to play out from the back – a tactic often fraught with potential problems. He slipped the ball to Iheanacho, who picked out Maddison to his left, who scored an excellent equaliser.
Sadly all this good work was undone in the 32nd minute when the unfortunate Souttar could only divert another Watkins’ shot into his own net. Fortunately he did not allow this to distract him too much and he went on to have a steady game, making some timely blocks and clearances.
Harvey Barnes has had a lot of criticism lately but having been found twice in quick succession by the excellent Kristiansen, he played a sublime pass to Iheanacho, who managed to stay onside and scored with an unstoppable header.
It got even better in time added on at the end of the first half. Our new hero, Tete, who had already demonstrated his myriad skills, was released by a fantastic pass from Iheanacho and walked the ball into the net.
In the second half Villa upped the tempo, as was to be expected, and City had to deal with some tricky moments. Coutinho thought he had equalised when the score was still 2-3, but thankfully one of his team-mates was offside so no goal.
The icing on the cake came 11 minutes before time when Harvey put in another excellent cross to Praet, who was able to take the ball at pace as it sailed over the head of a Villa defender and score a fourth goal.
Souttar rather surprisingly played the whole game while the other two debutants were replaced respectively by Thomas in the 81st minute and by Soyuncu two minutes later. The latter seemed a strange choice but clearly Rodgers had decided to bring on another defender; sadly, Soyuncu got a yellow card within seconds of coming on, one reason I suspect why he does not play very often. I must admit that he worries me with his rashness too often for comfort.
On the questions of bookings, Castagne and Tielemans were also booked but no Villa players. They were doing a lot of diving to get free kicks which the referee was fooled by, but fortunately when they looked for one at the end of the first half it was not forthcoming, and it was from this move that Tete scored.
Nobody had a poor game and they looked like a team reborn. It is interesting what new faces can bring – not just competition for places but an increase in confidence. Apart from the excellent performances from Kristiansen and Tete, I would single out Iheanacho, who had an exceptional game. He took his goal well and his two assists led to the two goals either side of his own. He is a player who I always want to do well but he often flatters to deceive. This game should have done wonders for his confidence especially and – sadly – I don’t think Vardy will be in front of him in the pecking order anymore. And the other concern is how long it takes before one or more of the ‘big’ clubs try to poach Tete.
Leicester City: Ward; Castagne, Souttar, Faes, Kristiansen (Thomas, 81); Tielemans, Maddison (Praet, 67), Dewsbury-Hall (Mendy, 67); Tete (Soyuncu, 83), Iheanacho (Vardy, 67), Barnes. Subs not used: Iversen, Brunt, Marcal-Madivadua, Daka
Goals: Maddison (12), Iheanacho (41), Tete (45+2), Praet (79)
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