Another VAR controversy?! Report by Simon Mack

Leicester City 0 Manchester City 1

22^nd February 2020 5:30pm

King Power Stadium

The football gods seemed to favour the visitors in a highly entertaining battle for 2^nd spot match where it was difficult to separate the teams.

Foxes Manager Brendan Rodgers made three changes to the side that drew away to Wolves the Friday before with Christian Fuchs coming into the side to make a central defensive trio, Dennis Praet starting in the middle of midfield in place of suspended Hamza Choudhury and Kelechi Iheanacho getting the nod up from alongside Jamie Vardy.

Early on it was Leicester that should have taken the lead when Youri Tielemens showed grit in the middle of the park playing an unorthodox one – two with Kelechi Iheanacho and as he took the ball back played Jamie Vardy in with the sort of slide rule perfectly weighted defence splitting pass that the foxes talisman must dream off. Clear through on goal the with only the keeper to beat his low venomous effort looked sure to burst the back of the net but as it wickedly swerved the strike hit the left post true and bounced back into play.

The sky blues (in fetching pink and yellow) tinkered with the ball divisively around the foxes 18 yard area with intent consistently in the first half and this found an unpopular Riyad Mahrez centrally 20 yards out but his effort was turned away by a superb on the night Kasper Schmeichel.

Well into the half the foxes picked up a free kick 25 yards out in a spot that seemed perfectly set up for James Maddison to test Man City Keeper Ederson in front of a hopeful family stand, and as the England suitor’s effort began its journey goal bound it struck the hands of a leaping Kevin De Bruyne inside the box. Penalty? Well we all thought so but despite there being an on field referee, linesman and 30+ cameras with a VAR official sitting back in London to check them all apparently not!

Another Maddison free kick this time from further out and to the left of goal did find its way on target without controversy however Ederson in the sky blues goal was up to the challenge of palming it wide, and whilst the visitors continued to potter around the foxes box looking for a clear cut opening only İlkay Gündoğan’s strike from the edge of the box caused the imperious Schmeichel in the Leicester goal any bother but the Dane was up to the challenge as he spread his body and protected the home net with a leg.

Kelechi Iheanacho’s bravery in front of goal as he tried to send a Maddison Cross goal ward saw him clash with keeper Ederson late on in the 1^st half and the sky blues keeper’s efforts to avoid the Nigerian getting his header on target saw the Brazilian make contact with both his fist and head into Nacho’s face. Iheanacho was down for some time and looked dazed from the altercation and ultimately would not return for the second half being replaced by Harvey Barnes in a like for like positional substitution at half time.

Having enjoyed a bright and entertaining first half into the second period the visitors attacking purpose seemed to go up a notch. A sweeping forward break saw De Bruyne afforded the ball on the edge of the home 18 yard to the left but his low hard shot to the corner was not only saved by Schmeichel but held in what was a hugely impressive display by the foxes captain.

Moment later the officials removed the salt from their pockets into order to rub it into Leicester’s wounds. A corner from a booed Mahrez found German International Gündoğan once again on the edge of the home box and his snap strike goal wards hit a rotating Dennis Praet on his arm as he spun to avoid getting hit by the effort. The scenario seemed an almost carbon copy to the De Bruyne situation in the first half that Leicester had a penalty shout turned down for. Astonishingly despite the similarity in the story this time the consistent savour of football wonder that isn’t VAR awarded a penalty! You tell me!?! Whatever the injustice the wrong was undone by the outstanding Kasper Schmeichel who saved Sergio Agüero’s spot kick with an incredible low down save making it 0 out of 4 for the visitors from the spot in recent times.

As the game matured and stretched the visitors continued to sweep forward attempting to break down the home barricades and just inside the last 10 minutes their efforts were rewarded when Mahrez drove forward centrally and played in substitute Gabriel Jesus on for Aguero just a couple of minutes prior. The Brazilian swept the ball home low to the left of a helpless Schmeichel and the 3 points were taken back north from a game that on balance of play and endeavour didn’t deserve such a cruel late winner.

Matty James made a late first team return in place of Dennis Praet for the last 5 minutes and that was that, a defeat for the foxes in what had been a highly entertaining high tempo positive game of football.

The result leaves Leicester 7 points behind Manchester City who with their win cemented a healthy cushion to their 2^nd spot rivals. Had Vardy’s effort gone in off the post or had the plethora of cameras, replays, referees or just plain sanity awarded the foxes a spot kick for the De Bruyne hand ball then again this could have been a different match. Leicester were bright and it felt like in the absence of the 3 defensive midfield options from the squad Rodgers got the tactics right yet for a myriad of reasons (including a pesky Riyad) it just was not to be on the night for the home side and ultimately having played the top two teams both home and away now the foxes have 4 defeats for their trouble and that I guess tells its own story.

Up at the Etihad prior to Christmas despite Vardy’s sensational goal Manchester City had been dominant in the match and deserved the win but in this one you could not say that at all, and as a Leicester fan walking away from King Power Stadium it felt a bit like we should all be searching for our phone, wallet or the point that we had just been robbed of.

MOTM is absolutely straight forward for this one… Kasper Schmeichel. He was absolutely outstanding and hopefully instilled some sense and shame into those amongst the Leicester fan base who had suggested we might need a change between the posts. The skipper was just brilliant, and whilst I guess that says something about the game at the same time as that some of his outstanding work was just to put right the wrongs in the fairness of the game. There are those who would suggest that the reason Manchester City get a penalty and Leicester don’t from almost carbon copy situations is down to some sort of favouritism to the big clubs. I don’t personally believe that instead I’d suggest that the joke that is VAR (and this wasn’t the only VAR calamity of the day) is failing to provide the exact thing it was introduced to do: consistency. In truth it’s making it worse and crowds are signing derogatory things about it and sitting in pubs post match and rather than slagging off the referee are now just slagging off some trainee referee in West London.

For Leicester post match Brendan Rodgers was positive about his side’s performance whilst being drawn on his frustration with VAR’s influence on the game. He went on to mention the winning goal and the absence of a defensive midfielder in the side that might have broken up Mahrez’s run and assist, and ultimately his disappointment at coming away empty handed.

Leicester move on to a chance to take revenge at bottom spot Norwich City on the road this coming Friday, and despite the disappointment ultimately the foxes still sit proudly in the top 4 and with every chance down the home straight of securing a Champions League berth.