Leicester form is leagues apart as Slimani salvages a point
Last season it was Claudio Ranieri’s imaginary bell and ‘Dilly Ding Dilly Dong”. This season it is the alarm bells that should be ringing, after another chastening afternoon for the Premier League champions.
Islam Slimani prevented Leicester from falling to their third consecutive defeat with a penalty in injury time – their second spot-kick of the game – but this was another disjointed display. It is now a worse title defence than Chelsea last year after 13 games and Claudio Ranieri remains only two points above the dotted line.
Jamie Vardy has now gone 15 club games without a goal, and was substituted midway through the second half, while another talisman from last season, Riyad Mahrez, was also hooked after another ineffectual performance.
And it was Slimani, the £28 million record signing, who rescued Ranieri from a more severe inquest, four days after their excellent achievement in reaching the Champions League knockout stages. Ranieri said: “When a team like Leicester plays in Europe for the first time they always lose something in their league. But for us now it is important to think we are in a relegation battle and then every point is OK. I’m not worried, but I’m a very pragmatic man. Now we are there. Last season we were very far away [from relegation] but I was always watching behind me. This season we must be patient, stay together and pass the bad moment, because sooner or later we will be back. “The performance wasn’t good. They played better than us. I am very happy with our character, that they believed until the end that something good could happen. We showed fantastic spirit.” While Vardy’s goal drought extended for another week, Álvaro Negredo ended his own wait to justify his continued selection under Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka. Both goals were brilliantly executed by the ‘Beast’, his first in 12 games, and Middlesbrough were unfortunate to not clinch their first away win since August. Negredo repaid Karanka’s faith by starting, and finishing, the move that gave them the opening goal in the 13th minute. Picking the ball up on the halfway line, Negredo sprayed a pass out to Gastón Ramírez on the left and then advanced into the area to steer in the cross, the ball arcing over Leicester goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler. Zieler was nervy for much of the first half, with his distribution frequently awry, and Ranieri is surely counting down the days until the return of Kasper Schmeichel. Leicester finally carved out their first chance on the half-hour mark, owing much to a rare piece of brilliance from Mahrez. The winger cut inside from the right, taking out both Fabio and Adam Clayton, and his cross found Shinji Okazaki, whose spectacular overhead kick struck the top of the crossbar. It was a moment that finally lifted the home team and they were level four minutes later. Danny Simpson’s cross was clearly handled by Calum Chambers and Mahrez put away the penalty, his second spot-kick inside a week.
Middlesbrough were frustrated, Karanka later insisting that Chambers had been pushed. Yet the visitors remained hard to break down, resilient in Karanka’s preferred 4-1-4-1 formation, and Vardy was enduring another excruciating afternoon. It was no surprise when the England international and Mahrez were both taken off, a clear sign that the blue machine from last season is malfunctioning.
And Middlesbrough regained the lead 19 minutes from time, with Robert Huth’s positioning suspect. Adam Forshaw’s lofted pass over Huth released Negredo and he shot across Zieler to find the corner. Leicester did mount late pressure, with Daniel Amartey sending a 25-yard shot narrowly wide, and were gifted a reprieve in added time when Marten de Roon clumsily brought down Wes Morgan.
Karanka said: “We showed we are a good team and are playing well. We should have won the game and were better than them. It’s unfair to draw this game. Our performances with and without the ball have been good.
“I know how good Álvaro Negredo is and knew the goals would arrive. He did that because the team worked hard. We all have to keep working now.”