Sheffield United v Leicester Report – By Simon Mack

Sheffield United 1 – 2 Leicester City

24^th August 2019 15:00

Attendance:  30,079

The foxes catapulted themselves to 3rd place in the Premier League table with their first league victory of the season away at Sheffield Utd.

Wilfred Ndidi was rested for the South Yorkshire encounter having picked up a slight knock in the game last week with Chelsea, and Hamza Choudhury deputized in defensive midfield with transfer window signing Dennis Praet coming in for the injured Nigerian.

The blades were without  midfield regular John Fleck, but held their own for the first 20 minutes in a game that ebbed and flowed, both sides having good passages of play.

The pundits has hinted at city having the edge in class for this match up, and that bore fruit in the 38^th minute when Perez won the ball back showing the foxes determination before Maddison used the resulting attacking move to feed a perfect ball through to Jamie Vardy who took great delight in lashing the ball home past a hapless Dean Henderson. Vardy is a Sheffield Wednesday fan and former player, and he lapped up the cat calls and abuse from the home fans as he cupped his ears in jubilation.

England Manager Gareth Southgate was at Bramall Lane today to take in the game, and James Maddison must have been high on his list of reasons to decide to watch this game and who could blame him? The foxes creative spark was in deadly form again, and he is fast becoming Jamie Vardy’s primary method of supply, and a key pivot in all that is positive about Leicester’s forward play.

On the back of a victory last week the home supporters were in fine voice on this hot summer’s afternoon, and into the second half the introduction of fans favourite Billy Sharp and new signing from Swansea Oliver Mcburnie got them roaring in anticipation. Spured on the blades were passionate and industrious with their efforts to regain a foothold in the match, and in the 62^nd minute their toil was rewarded with Mcburnie heading in George Baldock’s cross that had split the foxes centre half pairing.

Up step Harvey Barnes! No plan b? Well this certainly resembled just that as the gifted young wide man came on for Dennis Praet in midfield who’d neither impressed nor disappointed in his first start. Just 8 minutes after the blades had levelled Foxes full back Christian Fuchs delivered a cross into the box that city centre back Caglar Soyuncu could only head backwards. Behind him the ball dropped into space just in front of Barnes who gobbled up his chance with a thunderbolt of a strike past Henderson that was bursting the net before he’d had time to react.

With the foxes in front city boss Brendan Rodgers turned to game management to see out the victory with experienced club captain Wes Morgan an addition to make a back 5 and Nampalys Mendy coming on to further strengthen resolve in midfield.

Despite city’s defensive insurance the blades came close to levelling the match in the 76^th minute when McBurnie nodded down for John Lundstram who thought he’d scored with a point blank effort. But he didn’t take into account the superb reflexes of Leicester’s match day captain Kasper Schmeichel who got down superbly to turn the effort wide and maintain city’s advantage.

Leicester were superb in seeing the game out from that point on, and the effervescent and ever present Hamza Choudhury was key during the final throws of the match. The city youth product had been outstanding all game in Ndidi’s normal holding role, and his interceptions stats were the best of any on the Bramall Lane pitch.

If last week’s second half display was a fine dining experience for the foxes faithful today’s performance was meat and 2 veg with a couple of dashes of exquisite garnish to enjoy. It was a determined, positive, confident and hardworking effort to every Leicester player’s credit with just that hint of magic sprinkled about here and there that made the difference.

Rodgers and his men must have been delighted to return down the M1 with the 3 points and a slot at 3^rd in the Premier League for their efforts. Yes it is early but yes city are unbeaten and look to be laying a foundation (under Rodger’s tutorage) for performances that are adaptable to opposition and circumstance, and Southgate must have had more than just 1 city player in mind as he made his way into the Sheffield evening sun.

Simon’s City Player Ratings:

Schmeichel (7) Superb save late on to keep the foxes in front. Vocal and passionate organisation.

Fuchs (6.5) Deputised ably for Chilwell who remains on the physio’s table for another week.

Soyuncu (8) Another masterful, passionate and composed display. ‘We’ve got Soyuncu.’

Evans (6.5) Solid. Used his experience as always.

Pereira (6.5) A bit quieter in attack today, but worked hard in defence.

Tielemans (6.5) Still not quite found his mojo yet this season. Willing and worked hard.

Choudhury (8.5) MOTM Worked his socks off. Impressive positioning and reading of the game. Superb

Praet (6) Finding his feet both in the city side and the faster paced Premier League.

Maddison (8) A magician with the ball at his feet and not afraid to make a challenge either.

Perez (7) Better today I thought until he was subbed. Braver, more urgency, and maybe the start of his comprehension of the manner of performance expected in a city shirt.

Vardy (7.5) Relished his goal. You feed him decent supply he will score. As simple as that.

Subs used:

Barnes (8) Off the bench had a hugely bright impact on the game. Scoring the winner and creating offensive havoc in a manner the blades had not seen from the foxes until his input.

Morgan (6.5) Came on and provided valuable defensive experience in the final part of the match.

Mendy   Not in the game long enough to grade. Surrendered a free kick on the edge of city’s box but did what was asked of him by and large to see the game out as a city win.