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Okazaki delivers Klopp KO
FOXES supersub Shinji Okazaki produced a second-half smash and grab to leave Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool down and out.
The Japanese star pounced to fire Leicester into a 65th minute lead, although his shot appeared to take a crucial deflection off defender Andrew Robertson.
Then 12 minutes from time he set up Islam Slimani to crash a left-foot beauty into the top corner and seal the Reds’ fate.
Until Okazaki’s intervention it had been the Philippe Coutinho show, with the Brazilian master getting another 45 minutes on the clock as he showed just why Liverpool value him so highly.
The man whose £177m price tag frightened off even Barcelona was one of the few players on show who didn’t have anything to prove.
All he has to convince boss Jurgen Klopp is that he is mentally and physically ready to start tearing up Premier League defences again.
He finally made his first start of the season against Burnley at the weekend and was included in this much-changed line-up too.
Klopp made eight changes from Saturday while Leicester boss Craig Shakespeare opted for seven.
Coutinho was taken off at half-time after an opening 45 minutes which had seen Liverpool swarm all over the home side.
The Reds might easily have been two or three goals to the good by the time Coutinho waved goodbye to the action.
Huffed
Klopp’s boys huffed and puffed but just couldn’t blow the house down and at the centre of it all was that man Coutinho.
The Brazilian was pulling the strings to such an extent that Leicester found it hard to get out of their own half for long spells.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, on his first start since his £35m move from Arsenal, saw his fifth-minute shot superbly blocked by Ben Chilwell.
A minute later Dominic Solanke, the former Chelsea youngster out to show just what he can do on the big stage, fired across goal when he really should have found the net.
Third-choice keeper Danny Ward was forced into action when he raced out of his box to halt Slimani’s run on his goal, but that apart it was the visitors asking all the questions.
Coutinho wriggled into space and got a shot off only to see Ben Hamer save at the foot of his post.
In the 17th minute Hamer again denied Coutinho and the Ox also wasted a decent opportunity with a wild shot.
Solanke went close again and then interfered with a Robertson cross to nip the ball away from Coutinho lurking at the far post with the goal gaping in front of him.
It was a different story after the break with Okazaki undermining the Reds and then Slimani adding insult to injury.