Leicester 0 - 0 SouthamptonSouthampton rue missed chances in stalemate at Leicester
Leicester City remain unbeaten at home in the league for more than a year but Claudio Ranieri admitted Southampton should have ended that record here. The visitors forged several opportunities to take maximum points from the King Power Stadium but had to settle for only one because of their slovenly finishing and good saves by Kasper Schmeichel.
“I’m very happy because I recognise Southampton played better than us and they deserved to win,” Ranieri said. “We created some good chances but they created more than us. Schmeichel made some two or three great saves, they hit the post. They made mistakes, fortunately. But for us it’s OK: one point and clean sheet.”
Leicester did not play with the solidity of champions. They were uncertain and vulnerable. They may also have been jaded as this was their seventh match in 23 days and all but one of their starting lineup had begun the Champions League victory against Porto on Tuesday. Ranieri suggested he should have tinkered more and may do so as the season progresses, European competition being a beautiful chore that his team did not have to do last season.
Southampton, who made seven changes to the side who drew in Israel in the Europa League on Thursday, displayed more fluency and quality than their hosts, except when it came to finishing.
Charlie Austin, hoping to impress the watching Gareth Southgate before he unveils his first England squad, had an early chance to claim his sixth goal in five matches but headed straight at Schmeichel. Three minutes later the striker nodded wide from a cross by Dusan Tadic. Austin went much closer in the 15th minute, running on to a delightful chip by Steven Davis before firing a shot past Schmeichel from an acute angle. To the striker’s despair the ball bounced out off the far post.
Leicester, outnumbered and outmuscled in central midfield, were reliant on Riyad Mahrez for creativity but despite a couple of teasing runs,the Algerian was unable to help make a breakthrough. Instead Virgil van Dijk became an unwitting assistant, the normally infallible Dutchman teeing up Jamie Vardy by leaving a back pass short in the 29th minute. Oriol Romeu rescued the visitors by making a remarkable triple block, first foiling Vardy after Fraser Forster forced the striker wide, then stopping Islam Slimani’s follow-up shot before getting in the way of a second attempt by Vardy.
Romeu, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, was running midfield in a way that may have had the home fans reminiscing about N’Golo Kanté but he almost sullied his brilliance by playing a slack pass to Slimani. This time José Fonte came to the rescue.
Southampton remained the more inventive in the second half. Davis had a shot from 18 yards deflected over by Daniel Amartey on the hour. Two minutes later the Northern Irishman slipped a ball through to Nathan Redmond, who confirmed that finishing is an art that he has yet to master by shooting weakly at Schmeichel.
Austin, by contrast, is normally an expert finisher but here he erred. Davis made a chance for him to open the scoring in the 66th minute but, after shrugging off Christian Fuchs, Austin did not get the right weight on an attempted lob, which Schmeichel saved well after dashing off the line.
It was not one-way traffic, even though Southampton were making most of the chances. Danny Drinkwater gave a reminder the home side were still well in the game by stinging Forster’s hands with a drive from 25 yards.
Ranieri replaced his front players towards the end. Shinji Okazaki, introduced instead of Vardy, made his presence felt immediately, heading just wide.
Southampton’s substitutes should have made an even bigger impact. Two of them, Shane Long and James Ward-Prowse, undid the home defence in the 83rd minute, only for Ward-Prowse to waft a shot over from 14 yards.
Guardian