We did warn for a difficult afternoon at King Power, but to see such a dreadfull start was not expected. Leicester lined-up the same back four as against MK Dons, and their solidity a few days back never came to the surface this time.
A terrible mistake, resulting in a penalty, from Daniel Amartey after a disaster pass from Wout Faes, made it easy for Newcastle to go in the lead after just 3 minutes with former fox Chris Wood converting from the penalty spot, as Danny Ward made the first move, and showed why he is not rated as a good penalty stopper.
The first goal became a shocker for Leicester, with a line-up not really equipped correctly for this clash, as they again conceded after 7 minutes. This time the visitors showed class with click / clack moves as they were passing Leicester defenders. Almiron was the finisher after setting the whole schene and showing what a fantastic attacker he is.
Leicester managed to get some type of momentum back after those two goals, but it was not enough to get anything behond Nick Pope, showing everyone why he is in the England squad and pushing Jordan Pickford for that number one position. At times during those next minutes he was clever in goal to stopped Leicester from scoring.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall made a fantastic pass to Patson Daka, and at times the Zambian international did come close with his moves, but still no goals, though seeing him leaving the field after first half was a massive suprise.
Newcastle have only lost once this season, against Liverpool, and they are a difficult team to defeat, but not impossible as we cuold see until Joelinton put his head to the ball in the 32nd minute. Again passivity made it possible for Newcastle to score and no real battle for the tall Brazilian as Soumare made no secret about his power to fight against difficult opposition.
Boxing Day is not really this clubs favourite day of the year and Brendan Rodgers had picked a team that looked far from prepared for what was coming. Luke Thomas was again given the trust to start, mostly because other left back alternatives was not available, with another massive exam missed by the England U.21 international.
These type of games are the once to use as you try to cement a place in the line-up, but probably too tall an order to be able to solve as his presence in a Leicester team from now on will be of little or no trust as the major opponents are played. Patson Daka tried his best and Bouba Soumare was also on test, but all three never really managed to sell their products during this game.
Wout Faes and Daniel Amartey also had a terrible first half, as we did see a team not really being held together by captain Youri Tielemans, taken cleverly out by Eddie Howe as the Newcastle manager made no secret of his midfielders power pressure towards the Leicester midfielders.
Brendan Rodgers surprisingly did decide again to pull off Patson Dake and playing Jamie Vardy, blieve both players can be together on a football field as they have ability to score goals. A gliding movement between the two could see them shift positions up front as Jamie Vardy often drifts out to a flank, and then you have two fantastic finisheres in there, today they both look a bit lonesome on their own.
2nd half became a dull affair as Newcastle put a bit of pressure of the pedal and gave Leicester the change to play. Perez came on early first half for an injured Dennis Praet, Kelechi Iheancho and Wilfred Ndidi also got the opportunity later on 2nd half.
This must have been a massive blow for Brendan Rodgers, picking a team of the day that was in no way ready to battle Newcastle after terrible personal errors from his chosen defenders. The fact that James Maddison wasn’t available and out with a knee issue, showed how far other players are from filling that massive gap.
Leicester will be in action again on the 30th of December, playing Liverpool away at Anfield, hopefully Brendan Rodgers will get more out of his line-up and not see such a horror show happening again.
- Positives
- Letting Jamie Vardy on for second half
- No yellow cards
- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall with clever passing, espacially one setting up Patson Daka 1st half
- Negatives
- Daniel Amartey making horror mistakes and probably showing why Leicester needs new power in his position
- James Maddison not available
- So far from giving Newcastle a battle
- Losing 3-0 at home, not good enough
- Wout Faes not performing to his best level
- Boxing Day syndrom strikes again
- Taking off Patson Daka, sadly again not fielding him with Jamie Vardy
Player Ratings: Ward 6, Castagne 5, Thomas 4, Amartey 4, Faes 4, Soumare 4, Tielemans 5, Praet, Daka 6, Barnes 5, Dewsbury Hall 6, Subs: Perez 4, Vardy 5, Ndidi, Iheanacho
- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
Match Stats (H/A)
- Possession: 60 / 40
- Corners: 5 / 5
- Shots on target: 2 / 5
- Fouls: 9 / 6
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