Harry’s game goes from bad to worse as Foxes are well beaten
THIS has been the best year of Harry Maguire’s life but he will not look back on Saturday September 15 with any great fondness — quite the opposite.
The England defender had his hands on his head as he walked off at half-time with Leicester three goals down.
He knew that plenty of the blame lay on his shoulders. One of the stars of England’s 2018 World Cup run was fortunate not to be sent off after clattering Josh King while on a booking moments after Ryan Fraser had put Bournemouth ahead.
With that on his mind, Maguire failed to get goal-side of Fraser, was beaten for pace and failed to make a tackle as the Cherries winger made it two.
To make matters worse, King then added a penalty to complete one of the most humiliating halves of football for Maguire and his Leicester team-mates.
Maguire was certainly not the only Foxes defender to blame. Ricardo Pereira was nowhere near Fraser when he scored his first while it was his handball that gave Bournemouth their penalty.
Leicester’s awful day continued in the second half when captain Wes Morgan was dismissed for a second bookable offence before Adam Smith added a fourth and, although they added two in the dying stages, were well beaten.
‘It was a tough afternoon,’ said boss Claude Puel. ‘Strange. Perhaps we lacked some concentration in some situations and have to correct the defensive aspect to prevent these goals conceded because it’s a handicap for us.’
Leicester had the better of the opening stages with Jamie Vardy looking in the mood volleying over before being denied by Asmir Begovic.
Bournemouth are up to fifth after manager Eddie Howe used the international break to send his players SAS training.
‘That is testament to the work during the break,’ he said. ‘They have shown a great attitude to what we have asked them to do.’