After a weekend of no football due to the queen’s passing, Leicester City is back in Premier League action. The Foxes traveled to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to take on the third-placed Tottenham Hotspurs. It’s been a flaming hot start to the season for the Spurs as they have four victories and two draws so far in the league. Their main man Harry Kane already finds himself third in the league scoring five goals already.
Brendan Rodgers made notable changes to his starting eleven. Switching to a 4-3-3, Rodgers chose to have Patson Daka as main striker, while James Maddison and Harvey Barnes helped him on the wing. Wilfred Ndidi was placed back at Defensive Mid as Youri Tielemans and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall joined him in the midfield. Summer transfer Wout Faes made his season debut in the starting eleven as fellow Belgian Timothy Castagne made an appearance in the starting eleven as well. Captain Johnny Evans and James Justin finished off the back line and Danny Ward was placed back in between the posts.
It was an eventful first half, just like your average Leicester City game. In the fourth minute, a poor tackle from Davison Sanchez on James Justin lead to LCFC getting a penalty. Hugo Lloris would end up saving Tieleman’s penalty attempt, but he was off his line early which gave Leicester another attempt. Tielemans would score on his second try, shooting his penalty the same as he did on his first attempt.
Then an issue that has haunted the East Midland’s team for multiple seasons now is set pieces. In the eighth minute, Dejan Kulusevski whipped in a ball that Kane would head in. Then on a corner in the 21’ minute, Ivan Persic would whip in a gorgeous ball that had an even better-headed finish from Eric Dier. Spurs almost scored another header in the 26’ minute, but Sanchez fouled Ward on his header attempt.
Leicester City showed brilliance took place in the 41’ minute. KDH played the ball from one side of the pitch to the other. Castagne would make a fantastic attempt of getting to the ball and crossing it in. Then the best attacking English midfielder in the game, Maddison, scored the crossed-off just one touch. The shot went top left corner with Lloris having no chance of getting to it. Sanchez almost redeemed his goal from earlier with another great set piece from Persic, but Ward made a great save and ended the half with both teams tied at two a piece.
The second half was as bad as it gets. There is no sugarcoating here. Bentancur would pick Ndidi’s pockets and would get an easy one on one against Ward to make the game 3-2 Spurs in the 47’ minute.
Antonio Conte would sub on Son Heung-min in the 59’ and it would end up being a game-changing substitution. Justin would get his pockets picked in the 73’ minute which lead to Son getting a 2 v 1 against our center-backs.
Son would cut to Faes’ backside and shoot a shot to the top corner that was unsavable for any keeper. He would then score another banger in the 84’ minute when he would take an attempt from outside of the box that was outside of Ward’s reach. Son would finish off his off the bench hattrick when he received a through ball from Hojberg in the 86’ minute. This would end up with the Foxes losing with a score of 6-2.
It was a beautiful first 45 minutes, but then we just fell apart. Rodgers showcased why people are believing he will be sacked. Conte made game-changing substitutes while Rodgers once again could not find an answer. Our set-piece defense was awful while our spirits and passion were worse. There were moments of hope in this game, but they’re completely overshadowed by our horrendous second half.
Leicester City Player ratings
Ward 4: To the surprise of maybe just Ward, he had a bad game. There were three goals that I personally wouldn’t pin on him. But, there are still another three to address. Kane’s header is a goal that needs to be saved by any Premier League keeper. Overall, another poor performance from Ward.
Justin 4: A horrific game from Justin. He got his pockets picked twice with both of them leading to goals for Tottenham. He was non-existent in set-pieces and clearly did not contribute defensively with the team allowing six goals.
Evans 5: An overall bad game from our captain. His pass leads to Ndidi getting the ball stolen from him and poor positioning throughout the game led to multiple goals for Tottenham.
Faes 6: It’s really hard to justify a six for a team that allowed six goals, but Faes was brilliant until the team fell apart. He was tackling and marking well while moving the ball up in attack as well. Sadly that will be overshadowed by the team’s awful second half. However, Faes is a positive we must look forward to having.
Castagne 5: Castagne placed a beautiful assist to Maddison to tie the game in the first half, but that is all he contributed. His poor marking lead to Spurs set-piece goals and he was nowhere to be seen on Spurs’ counter-attacks.
Ndidi 4: The goal he allowed by the ball getting stolen from him is inexcusable at the Premier League level. So many times he left our midfield open which lead to the Spurs being able to take advantage of us. While not contributing on defense, he was a liability when passing the ball. Boubakary Soumare has earned the right to play over Ndidi next game.
Tielemans 5: He played great in the first half. He was able to distribute the ball well and really made the offense look dangerous. Then in the second half, he was giving the ball away and seemed rattled. A performance I believe he is able of shaking off.
KDH 4: Honestly can’t tell you what KDH did today. Zero contribution to the game lead to him getting subbed off.
Maddison 8: So sad how Maddison’s beautiful performance today will be overshadowed by this stinker of a performance. His goal was technical brilliance and it’s a real shame how he hasn’t gotten the England call-up. The whole game he was either getting the ball into the box or taking shots on goal. He carried the attacking side of the ball today.
Barnes 5: Another player who contributed nothing to the game today. With the Foxes struggling to get points and the Spurs being such a difficult opponent, we can’t afford for star players to be nonexistent.
Daka 6: His quickness helped him get opportunities on goal today. However, he was not able to finish anything today. He showed flashes of why we signed him, but we need to be able to finish our shots. Daka should either be playing with another striker or Kelechi Iheanacho should get the start next game.
All subs: N/A