Alan Shearer explains how Stoke City stopped Jamie Vardy in 1-1 draw against Leicester City
Stoke City were able to successfully stop Jamie Vardy in the 1-1 draw against Leicester City – Alan Shearer explains how.
The Potters could have even won all the three points had Jack Butland not put the ball into his own net at the 70th minute, allowing Leicester an escape route.
Regardless of the result, Stoke were praised for their discipline and organisation at the King Power Stadium, which, among many others, impressed Alan Shearer.
As the England and Newcastle United legend talked about Paul Lambert’s side’s performance, he picked one particular aspect of the visitors’ defending that helped them stop Jamie Vardy.
"“They nullified Leicester’s star players,” said Shearer.“The reason why Jamie Vardy has got such a good record against the big six is because the big six are prepared to come out and play and they’re not scared of having a high line, which obviously suits Jamie Vardy because of his pace.“But what clubs like Stoke do – and did very well here – is that they are not going to vacate that space. They are not going to leave much space behind them. They will sit tight on the edge of their box, get men behind the ball and frustrate him.“There was hardly any space whatsoever for Leicester and in particular for Vardy up until the last two minutes of the game when Leicester were pushing forward.“Stoke were very comfortable. They got men behind the ball, the giants at the back kept heading it out and it was a very good performance defensively, I thought, and a very well earned point.”"
Indeed, Stoke City were simply magnificent on Saturday for a side that’s 19th placed and has struggled all season. They could have easily wilted under the pressure of an early onslaught from Leicester City, but they kept their calm, forcing the home side into doing something different.
As the Foxes hopelessly tried to make something out of a barrage of crosses, Lambert’s Stoke found it easy to just sit back and deal with the aerial threat.
One might argue that Claude Puel should have known better and set the side up accordingly, which would have meant playing Adrien Silva and Vicente Iborra, who know how to effectively penetrate such stubborn opposition defences.
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Matty James, despite a really good display in the middle of the park, wasn’t quite able to do what someone like Silva could have done with all of his precision and vision when there weren’t too many chances to hit on the break.