The Covid-secure goal celebration!
Maddison puts Leicester up to second
OF course, it can’ t be Leicester City. Not little old Leicester. Well, not again, anyway.
Having embarrassed all of us who patronised them five years ago, they surely wouldn’t have the audacity to repeat the trick?
But here we are, almost halfway through this strangest of seasons and there they sit pretty in second place, a point off the lead.
They rode their luck at times here, yet ultimately were good for their win. Any side that has Youri Tielemans picking out the midfield passes, James Maddison swaggering at No.10 and Harvey Barnes ever improving will fare well.
Southampton can consider themselves unfortunate, having more than contributed to a thoroughly-absorbing contest of end- to- end attacking. So a hat tip to Brendan Rodgers and Ralph Hassenhuttl for moulding two fine sides. And demonstrating that smashing the glass ceiling of the Big Six may not be unreachable for sides outside the self-appointed giants of the game.
The outstanding feature of both sides is the speed at which they move the ball through midfield, be it James Ward- Prowse or Youri Tielemans; and the pace at which their forwards responded, be it Barnes or Jamie Vardy, Theo Walcott or Che Adams.
It must have left watching England boss Gareth Southgate much to ponder: can he persuade Vardy out of international retirement; whether to pick Maddison; should he give more chances to Barnes and Ward-Prowse. All made strong cases for inclusion and Southgate would have been encouraged by James Justin, playing left back here but more adept at right back.
I f England f ull backs should suffer a collective breakdown, Justin will surely be next man up.
The 18th minute saw the first significant action, Tielemans uncharacteristically losing possession and allowing Stuart Armstrong to set Adams down the right.
He lost Jonny Evans, cut inside and shot across goal. The man back to clear off the line? Tielemans, the Belgian having covered almost the length of the pitch to make good his error.
Leicester soon responded. Southampton were caught playing out from the back and Tielemans fed Marc Albrighton. His cross was delightfully dummied by Vardy to give Barnes a strike at goal, a rasping shot which forced a fine save from Alex McCarthy. On 24 minutes, Adams was in again, making that familiar run inside Evans. The shot was low and firm, bringing a sharp parry from Kasper Schmeichel, who was making his 400th appearance for Leicester.
It was a moment of high quality that broke the deadlock, Tielemans spotting the run of Maddison and threading the ball through the Southampton back four. It looked liked it had gone too far, so tight was the angle as Maddison outpaced Jack Stephens. Yet Maddison thumped a stunning strike which almost burst the roof of the net. No doubt some will say that no goalkeeper should get beaten at his hear post. Yet the strike had such ferocity, it was hard to be critical.
Maddison celebrated in appropriate style — socially distanced from his team- mates and mimicking handshakes. Southgate would surely allow himself a smile at the new- look Maddison, showing a mature and composed side.
Within a minute of the restart, Southampton caught Leicester out with a smart counter- attack as Armstrong found Will Smallbone, whose strike was pushed away by Schmeichel. Yet Southampton got lucky on 49 minutes when Ibrahima Diallo, already on a yellow card, rashly pulled back Maddison. The screams of protest from Leicester players reverberated around the empty stadium but referee Stuart Attwell spared a second caution.
Schmeichel would later offer some more direct advice over another foul. ‘ F****** book him then,’ he bellowed. To no avail.
Caglar Soyuncu came on for Wesley Fofana, who seemed to have an ankle injury, while Smallbone had to retire, replaced by Dan N’Lundulu after he injured his knee attempting to tackle Timothy Cast
agne. Ryan Bertrand got himself booked by launching himself at Albrighton to stop a quick throw.
On 67 minutes, Vardy headed over after Barnes looped over an inviting cross but a minute later, Armstrong almost equalised following a mix-up in the Leicester defence which saw Schmeichel leap to smother the ball.
On 72 minutes, Armstrong sized up a chance outside the box, struck the ball with power and saw it crash off the bar. The rebound fell for Shane Long, who was bundled over in the box by Evans, yet the Saints striker was offside when the initial shot was taken. Continuing the trend of exchanging blows, Barnes might have sealed the game for Leicester but his scuffed shot allowed Jan Bednarek to clear off the line.
The Foxes sealed the win in added time, Tielemans picking out Barnes who struck a precise finish.