LEICESTER CITY
1     TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
1
   
(0) (1)
  Date : –  Monday 19th August 2024
Kick off : –  20.00
  Competition : – Premier League
Venue : –  King Power Stadium
  Crowd : –  31,977
  Referee : –  Chris Kavanagh (Manchester) Linesmen : – Mr. Lee Betts; Mr. Richard West
  Fourth official : – Robert Jones
  VAR official : – David Coote VAR Assistant : – Steve Meredith
  Weather : –  Rain showers in first half, drier after; mild.
  Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the South Stand end
  Playing time : –   90 + 1 minute added in first half and 10 minutes added in second half

 

LEICESTER CITY TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
GOAL-SCORERS
      Vardy  56m 41s  (asst.  Fatawu)   Porro  28m 27s   (asst. Maddison)
  CARDS
    Faes  (foul on Kulusevski)  90+9   Bentancur  (foul on Ndidi)  64
   
  TEAMS
30.   Mads HERMANSEN 1.   Guglielmo VICARIO
     
2.   James JUSTIN 23.   Pedro PORRO    (  24.   Djed SPENCE  90+2)  
23.   Yannick VESTERGAARD 17.   Cristian ROMERO
3.   Wout FAES   37.   Micky van de VEN
16.   Victor KRISTIANSEN 13.   Destiny UDOGIE
      
6.   Wilfried NDIDI 29.   Pape Matar SARR  (  15.   Lucas BERGVALL  78)  
8.   Harry WINKS 30.   Rodrigo BENTANCUR    (  14.   Archie GRAY  78) 
   
7.   Abdul FATAWU 22.   Brennan JOHNSON  (  16.   Timo WERNER  78)  
40.   Facundo BUONANOTTE  (  24.   Boubakary SOUMARE  79)  10.   James MADDISON  (  21.   Dejan KULUSEVSKI  78)  
14.   Bobby DECORDOVA-REID  (  35.   Kasey McATEER  86)  7.   Heung-Min SON  (c)  (  9.   RICHARLISON  90+2)  
      
9.   Jamie VARDY  (c)    (  2.   Stephy MAVADIDI  79)   19.   Dominic SOLANKE
Substitutes Substitutes
  1.   Danny WARD 40.   Brandon AUSTIN
  5.   Caleb OKOLI 33.   Ben DAVIES
  21.   Ricardo PERIERA 6.   Radu DRAGUSIN
  26.   Benjamin NELSON     
  28.   Thomas CANNON     

    = Assist        =  Goal scored       =  Own goal scored

Manager : – Steve Cooper Manager : –  Ange Postecoglou
Kit Supplier : – adidas Kit Supplier : – Nike
Shirt Sponsor : – BC.Game Shirt Sponsor : – AIA
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – ThaiBev Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – Kraken
Colours : –  All blue with white trim
Colours : –  White shirts with Navy Blue sleeves, Navy Blue shorts, White Socks with Navy Blue turnover
Images of kits courtesy of the marvellous Colours of Football website

 

MATCH REPORT
  Despite an overwhelmingly dominant first half, Spurs succumbed to a sucker punch and in the end, were close to losing the match to a Leicester side who were completely out-classed in the first half, but earned a surprise 1-1 draw at the King Power stadium.  Like the chances that went begging, this was a good opportunity to get off to a good start and with tough games to come soon, three points here would have been of great use.

On the day we sold Leicester Oliver Skipp and with Harry Winks already among their ranks, you could see the changing of the Tottenham squad, but in some respect there was the same old failings.  It is early on in the season, with possibly more moves to be made in the transfer market, but even though the result of the opening game of last season was the same, we need to kick into gear as soon as we can.

New record signing Dominic Solanke lead the line, with Dejan Kulusevski being the one missing out on a start, with Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, our other new signings starting on the bench.  The rain was falling at the KP Stadium as Spurs kicked off the new season.

Starting the game with a high press, Spurs were working as hard as the vocal chords of the fans, who were out-singing the home contingent, with the only noise coming from them being boos for James Maddison. He was not put off by it, as a fifth minute corner found the head of Rodrigo Bentancur at the near post that forced Ndidi to hook the ball off the line and when it was cleared, the ball was played back in to Solanke, who took a touch on his chest and hit a volley that the keeper had to beat out.  The new Tottenham striker was soon in on goal again, coming in from the left to meet a cross with a diving header, but he directed it straight at the keeper.  When out of possession, City adopted a 4-4-2 set-up, but Spurs were finding their way behind the back line to win corners and one in the 11th minute picked out Romero, who stooped to head it just past the post.  Porro’s pacy cross was met by Solanke’s head and again, he aimed it straight at the keeper and he was a thorn in the Leicester defence’s side as Vestergaard bundled him over in the box, but nothing was given.

The home side then enjoyed their first spell of possession in Tottenham territory, but their insistence in trying to play out from goal-kicks resulted in them losing the ball, so they tried kicking it long, but only picked out white shirts.  Spurs finally broke through when James Maddison swung a cross in from the left of midfield and Pedro Porro came in from the 18 yard line to the penalty spot to glide a header past the keeper’s dive to his left. It had been coming and the Foxes had dug themselves into a hole by dropping deep and managing some last-gasp interceptions, but Spurs had been controlling the majority of the game up to that point.

When James Maddison was brought down 22 yards out, it looked as though he would be looking to beat the keeper from the free-kick, but he bent a cross over the defence and found two Spurs player coming in unmarked at the far post. One of them was Brennan Johnson, who flashed a volley across the face of goal and just wide of the far post.  In the 35th minute a long ball forward drew Vicario outside his box to head the ball away and it dropped to Bobby Decordova-Reid who tried to put the ball back into the unguarded goal from 15 yards inside the Spurs half, but skewed his shot well wide.

Leicester were finding difficulty in retaining possession, as they were immediately closed down when they got hold of the ball, whereas, when Spurs had the ball, the home team just dropped into a defensive formation without pressing the man on the ball.

The second half kicked off without any changes to the line-ups, with Spurs picking it up from where they left off the first half and Leicester having been given instruction to close down quicker, which they interpreted as give away fouls. They also were looking longer from the keeper, which mostly went to a Spurs player and that allowed Tottenham to build attacks, one a nice passing move across the pitch and then through to Solanke, who made a yard to shoot, but only to find the keeper again.  Maddison was running the show and he set up a neat one-two between Bentancur and Johnson that gave the Uruguayan the opportunity for a shot that the keeper caught. Missing the chances that we created always made 1-0 a tenuous score-line and when a shot was played across the face of goal, it was picked up on the Leicester right and Fatawu crossed back to the far post where Jamie Vardy headed in, being left unmarked.  Without offering much of a threat to the Spurs goal, they were now level.

Suddenly the home support started to make some noise and their team were lifted, as was Buonanotte’s free kick from 30 yards that sailed way over the bar. The Foxes looked sharper now and it was Tottenham who were unable to control the game. A ball into the Tottenham box looked for Vardy, but he couldn’t control it and when Spurs broke away, it was Maddison who lost control on the edge of the Leicester box when he couldn’t make his mind up what to do with it.

With his number coming up on the substitution board, Vardy was put through into the box and his low shot was aimed to Vicario’s left, but the keeper got enough on it to stop the ball and then get up to claim it. When Tottenham won yet another corner, it was played into the near post and Rodrigo Bentancur went down needing attention and the stretcher bearers came on as he seemed to be unconscious. It was being indicated between the players that a shoulder caught him under the jaw and he was carried off, although he looked to be conscious and yet again, his appearance on this ground ended in injury.

It brought four players coming on for Tottenham, with Archie Gray coming on as a concussion substitute, along with Dejan Kulusevki, Lucas Bergvall and Timo Werner replacing Johnson, Sarr and Maddison. Some quick, first-time passing in the area almost opened Leicester up, but the ball was knocked out for a corner that was over-hit by Bergvall. A Leicester free-kick was headed over by Kacey McAteer, who had just come on, but the game settled down with eight minutes time added for Bentancur’s treatment as Bergvall lost possession and it was knocked into the middle of the area, where Mavididi headed to Vicario’s left and the keeper dived to push it away for Leicester’s first corner in the 91st minute. It was put out for another, which was cleared to Justin, whose shot was blocked. Richarlison was on for Son and Spence for the injured Porro as Spurs looked to make a late change to the score.  There was a late chance to win it when Faes agriculturally up-ended Kulusevski and when Bergvall crossed to the near post, Richarlison won the header, but put it wide.

The old weaknesses that re-surfaced were not converting the dominance and chances we created and not being able to keep a clean sheet.  Conceding the odd goal isn’t a problem if we are sticking them away at the other end, but with Ange’s insistence on going on the attack, we will have to get used to Vicario having no chance of winning the Golden Glove award come the end of the season.  More stringent tests await with players looking to capitalise on are frailties.

Solanke looked OK and only having had a few days training with the squad will improve as the season goes on and he was in the right place to get on the end of balls into the box, but he wasn’t able to get a debut goal, while the other first-timers out there – Gray and Bergvall – looked comfortable at this level, even though Vicario gave Lucas a verbal volley after losing the ball deep in the Tottenham half.

Not the best start, but not too bad, with hopefully better to come.

Pete Stachio

 

MATCH NOTES
 
  • There were Spurs debuts for Dominic Solanke, Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray.
  • It was the first time that Spurs had used a concussion substitute, thus allowing them to make six changes in the match.
  • Both teams took the knee before kick off.
  • The players observed a minute’s applause for former Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare.

 

OTHER RESULTS
  Mancashter United 1 Fulham 0
  Ipswich Town 0 Liverpool 2
  Woolwich Wanderers 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
  Everton 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 3
  Newcash United 1 South Coast Big Club 0
  Nottingham Forest 1 AFC Bournemouth 1
  West Ham United London 1 Aston Villa 2
  Brentford 2 Crystal Palace 1
  Chelsea 0 Mancashter City 2


Premier League Table 2024-25

Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Points Goal difference
1 Brighton & Hove Albion 1 1 0 0 3 0 3 +3
2 Woolwich Wanderers 1 1 0 0 2 0 3 +2
3 Liverpool 1 1 0 0 2 0 3 +2
4 Mancashter City 1 1 0 0 2 0 3 +2
5 Aston Villa 1 1 0 0 2 1 3 +1
6 Brentford 1 1 0 0 2 1 3 +1
7 Mancashter United 1 1 0 0 0 0
3 +1
8 Newcash United 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 +1
9 AFC Bournemouth 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0
10 Leicester City 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0
11 Nottingham Forest
1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0
12 Tottenham Hotspur 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0
13 Crystal Palace 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1
14 West Ham United London 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1
15 Fulham 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1
16 South Coast Big Club 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1
17 Chelsea 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 -2
18 Ipswich Town 1 0 0
1 0 0 0 -2
19 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 -2
20 Everton 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 -3