Leicester 1-0 Bournemouth: Three Foxes Talking Points

A game of two halves

City started the game with almost exactly the same side that took the field at Emirates Stadium last weekend with the, significant, exception of Oliver Skipp who started in place of Harry Winks, the latter relegated to the bench. Again, the Leicester boss resisted the call to play both Stephy Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu in the starting line-up and bring Ricardo Pereira back into the side.  

The cliche ‘game of two halves’ is an appropriate moniker for this match. In the first, after a difficult start when the Foxes struggled to match Bournemouth’s pace and intensity, they came to dominate proceedings pressing high up the pitch and attacking with verve and confidence. The home side deservedly took the lead with a brilliant individual goal from Brighton loanee Facundo Buonanotte who dribbled his way into the box before unleashing an unstoppable shot past Kepa in the Bournemouth goal. City should have had a second too when Jamie Vardy raced through only to shoot woefully wide. The second half was very different with Leicester camped in their own half inviting pressure from their opponents. Only the assistant referee’s offside flag, waved very late when the Cherries scored directly from a free kick, and the woodwork, preserved the lead.

Pressure Off Cooper

It was such a relief when the final whistle was blown, not least for Steve Cooper who secured his first league win as the Foxes’ boss. It is undoubtedly a step forward and some of the pressure on the beleaguered figure is relieved. The style of the win, however, left a lot to be desired. The way in which Leicester allowed Bournemouth, a decent but hardly top-class side, to dominate the ball in the second half does not bode well. Still, a win is a win, and hopefully City can kick on from here. Only positive results in the next three matches – against Southampton, Ipswich and Nottingham Forest - will really help to curtail the criticism still being heaped on the manager’s head.

Star Men

For substantial parts of the first half, the stand out player was Buonanotte The Brighton loanee offered much more than the other Leicester forward players, his skill and trickery opening up the Bournemouth defence a number of times. He is a decent signing. It just goes to show how the Foxes’ standing has fallen when it is recognised that the club is helping Brighton out by giving the player run-outs in the Premier League. There is little chance of the club signing him permanently in the Summer

In the second half, however, I agree with Jordan Blackwell’s judgement that the standout players were centre backs Wout Faes and Caleb Okili, closely followed by full-backs James Justin and Victor Krisiansen. They were immense, repelling everything their opponents could throw at them. In reality, though, no Fox had a bad game today, which is as it should be. Even the referee had a decent match!