THE BACKPASS RULES
Clever Cherries reveal they had planned to ambush Leicester’s faffing about at the back and their Madd plan worked perfectly
RYAN CHRISTIE revealed the secret behind the ‘Kill Bill’ hit job on Leicester.
Philip Billing’s 40th-minute stunner clinched three massive points for the Cherries.
Billing ambushed James Maddison’s under-hit back pass to sink the shocking Foxes
And it was certainly no accident, with Scottish international Christie explaining how they had been working all week to capitalise on Leicester’s faffing around at the back.
Maddison plunged Leicester fans into the depths of despair when he sold his goalkeeper short, allowing Billing to pounce. The Danish star steered the ball past Daniel Iversen to crank up the pressure on the Foxes, who sacked Brendan Rodgers this month.
Make no mistake, Leicester’s new boss has one hell of a job on his hands to rescue a side looking desperately short of confidence and ideas.
Christie said: “It was something we were working on this week in training. They like to play in midfield and try to bounce it back to their keeper.
“Phil read that perfectly. It is nice, especially when the manager gives you that kind of information and it pays off with a goal.
“He had a wee bit of time to think about it on his weaker foot as well! To be fair, one player you would love to have in that position is probably Phil. He’s having a great season. “It is nice to look around when you are lining up and have players like him beside you. He can chip in and have a bit of a brilliance any moment or score goals like he did today.” Goal hero Billing said the nervous atmosphere created by worried Leicester fans played its part in the result. “I tried to read the back-pass,” said Billing. “We spoke before the game about them liking to pass it back. You could feel the tension on the pitch and the fans turning on Leicester.”
Maddison (in despair, above) openly apologised to fans for his error but copped so much flak from the that he swiftly deactivated his Twitter account. Perhaps some of the frustration among the fans comes from knowing that Maddison will not be around come next season.
The England international won’t stay at the King Power even if Leicester stay up, not with the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham desperate to sign him in the summer.
But once your best player has a brainstorm then you really do have big problems.
Truth be told, Bournemouth should have been at least 3-0 up by the break. Billing had sent a free-kick just inches wide with only five minutes gone and then forced Iversen to save at the foot of his post.
Dominic Solanke also went close in a first half in which Leicester failed to get single effort on target. It was only when stand-in boss Adam Sadler changed things around on the hour that they started to stir.
Maddison thumped a cracking drive which forced Neto to fingertip over and the keeper also did well to block a Harvey Barnes effort.
But plucky Bournemouth stuck at it and saw the job through brilliantly, much to the delight of manager Gary O’Neil (left). The victory took Cherries into 15th spot, three points above the drop zone, with a trip to Spurs their next challenge.