The Leicester Party Goes On

Leicester fans, myself included, were pinching ourselves on Sunday morning, eagerly checking the Premier League table to ensure that Saturday hadn’t been a dream. As we head into the last full week of November and everybody’s thoughts turn to Christmas, the Foxes top the Premier League. Claudio Ranieri’s led juggernaut still shows no signs of stopping yet. The party goes on and much like every other week so far, it’s being headed up by Jamie Vardy.

I know what a lot of people expected from Saturday’s game. People I know couldn’t wait to tell me how this would be a tricky test and that they were tipping Newcastle to beat us, expecting the Magpies to capitalise on the three points they took from Bournemouth before the international break. ‘Leicester have to have a blip soon’, I kept hearing. It was either that or people dispelling Jamie Vardy and whether or not the Ruud Van Nistlerooy record could be met.

My responses were measured, that we’d have to wait and see on both matters. Truth be told, I sort of understood why people were saying what they were, at least in terms of the result anyway. Previously, St. James Park has not been a particularly happy hunting ground for the Foxes, just one victory there since 1986.

The main focus was on Jamie Vardy, unsurprisingly. Would he be fit enough to play? Even Foxes fans were divided on the matter but as we’ve come to expect from Vardy, he made it. So then the focus turned to, could he score? Ranieri made just one change to the team, bringing in Leonardo Ulloa for Jeff Schlupp. We’ve played it smart so far in most away games and had our sights on another three points and extending Vardy’s run of consecutive goals. The pressure was solely on him, which might have played into Newcastle’s hands if they were in a stronger position themselves.

After a bright start, all that was missing for Leicester, heading towards the half-time whistle, was that opening goal. Then it happened. Jamie Vardy pushed forward, played a neat one-two with Leonardo Ulloa and got on the shoulder of the Newcastle defenders, able to skip away and turn in a low shot at the near post to make it 1-0. I don’t remember celebrating a goal so wildly for an individual, rather than the team, as that one. Ten goals in ten consecutive matches. He’s not only met the Van Nistlerooy record, but he’s done it in one season. It’s all set up for a showdown to see if he can go one better against the holder’s former club, Manchester United.

Rightly, the media post-match and the attention has belonged to Jamie Vardy. Everybody is talking about him, whether that’s to praise him for his hard work and achievements or to continue to discredit him. Interestingly though, while he has accepted the praise and admitted he is delighted but does have to pinch himself, he was also the first to credit his team-mates.

What of those team-mates? Yes, Leicester City has been on the media’s tongue more in the last three months than in entire seasons previously, but you’d be hard pressed to find an article that focuses on anybody aside from Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez. While Vardy walked away with the majority of the headlines, Saturday’s result was that of a well measured and hard-fought team performance.

It was particularly rewarding for the team to keep a clean sheet, something we’d managed just once previously. While Newcastle were not the biggest attacking threat we’ve encountered, it’s always good to keep the goals out away from home, where we tend to play even more counter-attacking than usual. It highlighted how effective Danny Simpson has become that he had a near faultless defensive performance and capped it off by playing a part in the third goal, playing far higher up the pitch than he should have been allowed.

Once again the unsung heroes of the match were our two central midfielders. I highlight them more because of our formation. Saturday was without question a very traditional 4-4-2, and if you’re going to start two strikers away from home, your central midfielders are key. I wrote in detail about Danny Drinkwater and N’Golo Kante’s partnership last week, but it’s really flying under the radar unless you’re a Foxes fan. Claudio Ranieri has previously described Kante and the engine of the team and Drinkwater, the driver. If you watched the match at St. James Park on Saturday, you’d understand why.

Kante is so far Claudio Ranieri’s best and most important signing. He’s the one who the team relies on the most and this didn’t change on Saturday, as he chased down every single ball once again. His hunger and desire never cease to amaze and it’s easy to see where the engine comparisons came from. He only appears to have one setting and some would consider it to be beast mode. Alongside Drinkwater who took on the more attacking role, they easily won the battle in the middle of the park.

Having Leonardo Ulloa on the pitch allowed us to utilise something we can’t always rely on. An aerial threat. Music to the ears for a player like Marc Albrighton, who delivered cross after cross, working well on the overlap with left-back Christian Fuchs. In the end, Leicester’s second and Ulloa’s first, came from a move down the right. Riyad Mahrez had a superb day for the Foxes, outwitting his opponents often and causing many problems for them. His clever footwork and pinpoint cross set up the Argentinian striker. Having unselfishly set up Vardy for the first, and in only his second league start this season, nobody relished a goal more than Ulloa. Last season’s top goalscorer, he’s had few opportunities and had clearly been relieved to get that in. It was far too easy for him and Newcastle will ask questions about how and why they conceded it, but he deserved it.

Saturday’s match was really a tale of two clubs currently going in very different directions. Perhaps that’s what has frustrated Newcastle fans even more. They’re certainly not the only Premier League club who look stagnant and appear to have far too many disinterested players, but to come up against a team like Leicester, their performance may be even harder to swallow. I am beginning to sound like a broken record, but I cannot stress how much togetherness there is in that team and how it more resembles a group of friends or family than just a team.

While Leicester took the three points comfortably and fell into dream land as both Arsenal and Manchester City lost, ensuring the Foxes topped the league, not everybody celebrated. There was much talk over the weekend about this feat and naturally, it doesn’t please everybody. We’re the first club since Leeds United, back in , who aren’t one of the big clubs but have managed to sit at the top of the Premier League. Many have questioned if we should be there and have looked at the fixtures so far and used that to help their own arguments. Ultimately though, you can only beat what’s been put in front of you, and we’ve been doing that. Of course we’re not going to win the league, but I’m happy that a team like us, and Tottenham, are so far upsetting the apple cart.

We are constantly being told that the Premier League is the best in the world. Naturally, that means there are many tough opponents. Leicester’s next six fixtures will be the next test. To see if we can keep the momentum going and prove some people wrong. Those fixtures line up as follows - Manchester United (H), Swansea (A), Chelsea (H), Liverpool (A) and Manchester City (H). There’s not an easy game in there but this is exactly what Foxes fans wanted to get back into the Premier League for.

Next Saturday’s first vs second clash against Manchester United evokes many a good memory for Leicester fans. It was one of the most enjoyable home games of the season and arguably our biggest scalp. This time around there will be extra pressure on three fronts. First is of course Jamie Vardy’s chance to beat the Van Nistlerooy record. Second being that everybody is waiting for us to lose, and third being that if we do, it’s live on television for all to see. Until then, most Foxes fans will just be enjoying the current situation.