At last! City give cheer and lift the
CITY VERDICT
THANKS, PAL! Jamie Vardy with Harvey Barnes after the winger set him up for a tap in - and his 100th Premier League goal - after robbing defender Mamadou Sakho on the edge of his box to put City 2-0 up
A HAIRCUT? That can wait. A pint at the local? Not fussed. Three points? Thank you very much.
Locked down Leicester residents finally saw City claim victory on Saturday, ending a fourmonth wait, and while they may not have the same freedoms as the rest of the country, their team showed signs they are no longer restricted.
To get the creative juices flowing again, Brendan Rodgers changed formation. Or rather, he stuck with the set-up introduced for the second half at Everton.
And this is not just a tweak or a tinker. Three centre-backs, two wing-backs, a number 10, two strikers, the 3-4-1-2 formation is a thorough shuffle of the pack from the usual 4-1-4-1.
But it worked well and for the first time since the restart, City produced a performance that was very good for more than 20 minutes of the game.
It also showed Rodgers recognises problems and is willing to take risks to solve them. One of the criticisms levelled at the manager during City’s slump – this was just their second league win since January – was that he did not have a plan B.
That’s now been disproved, and City have a set-up to see them to the end of the season.
YOURI THE MAN
Making things tick in the new formation was Youri Tielemans. For struggling to live up to the heights he reached during his loan spell, the Belgian has received some stick this season, but that’s often because he selflessly sets himself up to be the fall guy.
Tielemans is always thinking forward and looking to break lines with his passes. He is not 100 per cent successful in this approach and his performances can look worse than they are because of the number of audacious through balls that are picked off by the opposition.
But City need players like Tielemans to get them onto the attack, to break down defences, which will get them goals and win them games.
It was his teasing cross that caused hesitation in the Palace rearguard and set up Kelechi
Iheanacho for the opener. For that, and many other pinpoint passes, his contribution was not under-appreciated this time, the 23-year-old named man of the match by supporters.
PEREZ SHINES
Playing intricate passes further forward was Ayoze Perez. It’s become a fact of the Spaniard’s City career that he performs better in a central role, and he showed that once more in a performance that alleviates fears over James Maddison’s injury.
In this set-up, the role behind the two strikers brings the best out of Maddison, but with the England international out with a hip problem, somebody needs to fill in, and Perez did an exceptional job.
He knows how to position him