LEICESTER CITY 3 WEST HAM 1
Post Match Analysis by Paul Weston
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.
It is never boring following Leicester City, and the past few days had been eventful ever since the spineless performance against Chelsea, the sacking of Steve Cooper and the pathetic display against Brentford.
Whether our new manager Ruud proves to be an inspired choice is anyone’s guess but, for once, the Board had been decisive. Pundits may have other opinions but, having watched most of the matches this season, it became clear to me that either there was a muddled team strategy, or the players were not following instructions. Either way the result was that players had lost belief, confidence and our style of play was negative. I can just about cope with losing but I want my Leicester City team to be fully committed, play with intensity and to attack and create chances.
RVN’s first selection was to drop Faes to the subs bench. Faes has been culpable of so many errors it was a no brainer and should have happened earlier. Vestergaard was brought in from the cold to partner Cody, probably for the first time, which was a gamble. Winks was sadly injured so we had Soumare (a rare bright spark recently) partnering Ndidi in midfield. McAteer continued to replace Fatawu.
Play had only progressed for just over a minute when El Khannouss played a lovely through ball to Vardy on the left who moved forward and stroked the ball past Fabianski. The linesman immediately flagged offside and of course VAR was consulted. Time stood still as the crowd waited and waited. Perhaps the offside call was closer than we thought….? After a long wait the goal was given and Vardy enjoyed his celebration in front of the West Ham fans who had been giving him abuse. The goal immediately lifted the crowd and players, and confidence started to seep back.
West Ham were undeterred by the goal, and it was not long before they were carving openings on both flanks, but particularly on City’s right where Justin and McAteer were struggling to contain the crosses. Players clearly knew their roles and were playing bravely, contrasting to times with Cooper, but, nevertheless, the first half then became a match of West Ham v Hermansen who was absolutely superb. I lost count of the clear chances West Ham created but which were saved by Mads. City players did their best but, all too often, the move broke down on the final pass. Vardy did have the ball in the net, but this time VAR ruled against him.
And so, the half ended 1-0 to City and we were all shaking our heads at the score. Had we used up all our nine lives in one half?
RVN changed things around at the second half, which was good to see. McAteer was switched to the left and Buonanotte and El Khannouss repositioned to give better protection to Justin. This changed the pattern of play somewhat although Coady had to stop a shot on the line and Hermansen was somewhat fortunate when he punched the ball into the net under pressure from Soucek which was deemed a foul. City scored a super second goal in a move featuring Buonanotte, McAteer and slid in by El Khannouss for his first goal at the KP. 2-0 did not seem enough and, although West Ham continued to press, City started to threaten more on the break and Cordova-Reid had a goal ruled out for offside.
In the 60th minute Daka, bereft of confidence and the butt of criticism, had come on for Vardy to muted cheers. The crowd however did their best support him as he chased and harried. In the 90th minute, from a long ball from Kristiansen, he took a touch around a defender and hared towards goal. Just as we were waiting for the ball to be blasted into Row Z he thundered in a goal in the top corner. 3-0 and City fans were in dream land. Faes had been brought on for a flagging Vestergaard and it was no coincidence that our defence lost some of its shape and allowed West Ham to score a simple flicked on header in injury time to make it 3-1. Fortunately, time ran out for West Ham to make any further inroads, and City had a home win and a very welcome and unexpected three points.
RVN was after the match clearly pleased but not fooled by the score line which looked like a comfortable win – it certainly wasn’t! It is only a first step after a few training sessions, but it is obvious that RVN has a clear method of play, building on Maresca’s principles, and the players have much better direction than before. Everyone played their part in the match and Soumare and Ndidi worked so hard in midfield. Vestergaard’s accurate passing often set up City’s attacking breaks.
It will be fascinating to see how City will play against a skilful Brighton side on Sunday, especially with Buonanotte not eligible to play. I doubt whether Brighton will be so profligate in from of goal as West Ham, but RVN has already injected some optimism for our fight. For the first time this season I can look forward to a match!
City Ratings: Hermansen (9) Vestergaard (8) Cody (7) Justin (6) Kristiansen (7) Ndidi (7) Buonanotte (6) Vardy (7) Soumare (7) El Khannouss (7) McAteer (6) Daka (7) Cordova-Reid (6) Ayew (5) Faes (5) Mavididi (5)