Leicester 2 - 0 BrightonLeicester’s Okazaki and Maguire give Brighton harsh lesson in top-flight life
Home team scorersShinji Okazaki 1
Harry Maguire 54
Saturday 19 August 2017 17.03 BST Last modified on Saturday 19 August 2017 17.04 BST
Buddhist monks blessed the King Power Stadium pitch in the days before this match but, with respect, they really needn’t have bothered. All Leicester City needed to register their first win of the season were toothless opponents, and in that respect, Brighton fitted the bill nicely.
City were unchanged from the side beaten 4-3 at Arsenal in their opening fixture, but it was immediately apparent Shinji Okazaki would be playing in a more advanced role for the Foxes, alongside Jamie Vardy rather than in the ’hole’ behind the England centre-forward.
Vardy usually looks a better player, and offers a bigger threat, when Okazaki forms a direct part of the Leicester attack, and too often last season the 31-year-old was peripheral, though in fairness, it isn’t easy to get involved when you’re sitting on the bench: and it will be interesting to see what happens when Kelechi Iheanacho is fit enough to start: the former Manchester City forward missed out on this occasion due to a toe injury.
In the meantime, Okazaki wasted barely a minute in making his case: Riyad Mahrez didn’t so much embarrass as humiliate Albion left-back Markus Suttner as he cut into the Albion area from the right, and though goalkeeper Mat Ryan blocked the low shot, Okazaki was on hand to tuck away the rebound.
Wes Morgan headed a good chance wide from a free-kick soon after, and Vardy, set up by Okazaki eight yards from goal, saw Shane Duffy block his first attempt before miskicking his second.
The chance stemmed from a defender’s mistake, and Albion kept making them. After spending much of the afternoon chasing shadows in their opening fixture at home to Manchester City last week, a match in which they enjoyed just 23% possession, the visitors must have been anticipating having the ball rather more frequently against a Leicester side whose forte remains speedy thrusts, rather than patient probing, but while such was indeed the case, the back four in particular looked less than comfortable with the ball at their feet.
In point of fact, Albion’s problems this season only begin with actually getting hold of the ball. Creating chances, and of course taking them, are what counts in calculating their chances of survival. If their opening fixture was more about the taking part, their ambition had to be to leave the East Midlands with at least a point, and presumably with this in mind, manager Chris Hughton made two changes: Jamie Murphy, who came on for the injured Izzy Brown against Manchester City, kept his place in midfield while Glenn Murray, who has at least some Premier League experience, came in for Tomer Hemed up front.
Murray actually put the ball in the Leicester net after 23 minutes, but only well after being flagged offside. It was one of the rare occasions the ball was in the City penalty area throughout the first period: not so at the other end, where Matty James shot over before Okazaki turned Vardy’s low cross just the wrong side of the post.
Having knocked the ball around nicely in the first few minutes of the second period, Albion suffered a terminal blow when City centre-half Harry Maguire endeared himself to the Leicester faithful on his home debut by nodding in a Mahrez corner.
Hughton sent on skilful former City attacking midfielder Anthony Knockaert, and replaced Murray with Hemed: it made no discernible difference. The rest of the game was a stroll for Leicester, as Albion barely managed another attempt on goal.
More worrying, for City manager Craig Shakespeare, must have been the sight of Vardy limping off shortly before the whistle. His fitness, and retaining the services of the unsettled Mahrez, will be key to City’s chances of enjoying a successful season.
Guardian
