City Tear Toon To Shreds

By SIMON MACK

Leicester City 5 – 0 Newcastle Utd

King Power Stadium 29^th September 2019 4:30pm

Attendance: 32,614

Steve Bruce made no excuses after a 5-0 drubbing of his side at the hands of Leicester City.

The magpies boss said his side lacked the effort required to combat their loss of Isaac Hayden in the 43^rd minute to a straight red card following his high and dangerous challenge on city midfielder Dennis Praet. The Belgian had come into the side to replace the injured James Maddison and he put in and superb performance in the absence of the foxes midfield talisman.

Leicester lined up with a familiar back 4 with the superb Wilfred Ndidi just in front, and across the middle of the park the foxes quartet put in sterling performances to ensure that the home side’s single goal advantage was capitalised upon when the visitors went down to 10 men.

Early on it was clear that Newcastle had not come to sit back and the initial exchanges in the match afforded both teams attacking opportunities, however it was the hosts that got onto the score sheet and their noses in front when right back Ricardo won the ball just inside the magpies half and drove infield powering with the ball forward and beautifully struck the ball into the far corner with a low curling shot.

City continued to press the game and look to build on their lead, and in that fateful 43^rd minute for the magpies a rash high challenge from midfielder Hayden saw his thrusting leg smash into Praet’s shin and the rest was history. Hayden remonstrated with the officials as he reluctantly trudged toward the tunnel, but for foxes fans it was the prostrate Praet that was more of concern. To the Belgian’s credit he got up and continued the game, and will be counting himself very lucky when he sees that tackle back tonight that he’s not the victim of a nasty injury.

Magpies midfielder Ki Sung-yueng was introduced just after the break as the visitors looked to shore up the damage and adapt to their predicament, but it didn’t matter as the home side were primed and eager to feast on their visitors disadvantage. Less than 10 minutes later Dennis Praet found Harvey Barnes wide left with a superb long pass, and Barnes quickly spotted the goal bound predator that is Jamie Vardy played him in and he brilliantly slotted home inside Dubravka in the Newcastle goal to double the advantage.

And it wasn’t long before this game was put out of sight by the increasingly impressive Praet who first won the ball in midfield then strode into the box to receive it again and deflect a shot home off of Newcastle defender Paul Dummett. As the former Welsh international avoided the angered gazes of his team mates it was clear that the game was up, and most disappointing of all for Newcastle manager Bruce his sides lack of guile in keeping the foxes at bay had resulted in a 3-0 score line before the hour and the potential threat of a drubbing.

Conversely for city boss Brendan Rodgers he couldn’t have asked for a more ruthless response from his hugely talented side. To a man they had retained levels of intensity and desire that bore testament to their professionally in getting the job done, and as Harvey Barnes left the field to be replaced by Marc Albrighton you felt given the score this was a chance for some fringe players to stake their case for more first regular team action.

Albrighton began to use the shop window afforded him from the first second he entered the pitch. Ever energetic and driven self it wasn’t long before the fan’s favourite found the head of Jamie Vardy with a sublime looped cross. Vardy now on a hat trick was quick to thank his team mate for the chance to score with his head, and the mould had been cast for this one sided encounter with the only question left to answer being how badly would Newcastle be defeated.

Demari Gray and Hamza Choudhury were both introduced later on but the answer to the severity of the magpies defeat laid in the right boot of foxes defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi who received the ball centrally in the magpies box controlled with his left then turned and struck the ball home with his right to make the score 5 goals to nil and seal a miserable afternoon for the visitors.

As the Newcastle fans were waved off on their long journey north by a euphoric departing city throng their worries for their club’s predicament and the further season ahead must have grown markedly.

For Leicester City this had been barely a contest bar the first 10 minutes. Newcastle looked to be from a different division to the foxes, and once the home side had their noses in front the blue majestic juggernaut of talent, desire and drive just drove all over their visitors again and again and again.

Whilst Steve Bruce can chastise his side for their lack of guile in the face of a difficult and damp late afternoon’s work he’d do well to remember that the opposition he faced was of fine vintage. They say it’s not worth looking at the league table until October, well city head into autumn in 3^rd place and whilst Newcastle’s loss of Hayden didn’t help there won’t be many that will face the foxes in this form at King Power Stadium and return home with anything to show for it.

For me my mood post match was delighted but not euphoric. Personally I was more excited about our victory against Bournemouth that this one as I felt we had to fight for that and came out handsome victors. Whilst this was an absolutely superb performance this was also a pretty ‘lost’ opposition, and as we had all looked at the Spurs game last week as a litmus test as to our top 6 credentials next week’s away trip to Anfield and a match up against unbeaten and imperious Liverpool will be another barometer on how lofty the ambitions of this outstanding Brendan Rodgers Leicester City side can be.

Simon’s player ratings:

Schmeichel: 7 Not much to report for the city skipper. Not tested seriously all game.

Ricardo: 8 Superb run and finish for city to take the lead and was hard working and tenacious throughout.

Evans: 7 Two lumps of strikers to handle today but no service meant no threat.

Soyunchu: 7.5 As Evans a quiet day at the office, but you’ve got to love this lad’s spirit and single minded determination.

Chilwell: 6.5 Hesitated here and there but worked hard in support of Barnes and Albrighton.

Ndidi: 8 Superb stats from this disruptor of a midfielder today capped by a cracking finish to seal the magpies fate

Barnes: 7.5 Did well to spot Vardy for his first of the afternoon and the Newcastle defence looked afraid of the young lads threat backing off as he advanced.

Praet: 8.5 (MOTM) Tough to call against Vardy’s superb performance but in the face of filling James Maddison’s boots the lad was both outstanding and brave and for me deserves the nod.

Tielemans: 7 Deputised for Maddison at corner kicks well and maybe just started to show glimpses of the magic today that we all know he possesses.

Perez: 7.5 Better today for me. Maybe you could say he should have done better with his finish early on but looked to mix it more today and is warming to the task at hand game by game.

Vardy: 8.25 Two superb goals and another virtuoso performance from the foxes legend. The man sets his own very high bar and he leaped over it in stunning fashion today. What would we do without him?