A tale of the penalties that never were and Jamie Vardy

It was the game that the neutral couldn’t wait to see, Pardew said that it “wouldn’t be 0-0” – two attack minded, free flowing teams battling it out for 3 points. Decisions and Jamie Vardy went against Palace yesterday afternoon - but for that Palace could, and perhaps would, have nicked all three at the King Power.

We were the better side for all of about 5 minutes of the game – in the opening 5 minutes we kept the ball very well, keeping the some sustained pressure on Leicester. That all changed in the 7^th minute when Marc Albrighton squirmed past a couple of challenges before leaving Hennessey doing a brilliant impression of a man stood in concrete; fortunately the ball struck the woodwork but the impetus of the game changed from that moment. Leicester fashioned two or three chances in quick succession before keeping the ball for large periods of the first half, albeit with no great end product or real danger to the palace goal. Palace were happy for Leicester to have the ball in their own half, happy to try and do a job on them – come away, defend well and then hit them on the counter. It nearly worked. It almost certainly would have if three things were different: if one of the two penalties were given and if Vardy wasn’t on the pitch.

Jamie Vardy

Vardy deserves great credit for his performance yesterday, but not simply for making Hennessey look like a bit of a mug with his classy finish. I’ll admit, prior to Saturday’s game I haven’t really seen too much of Vardy, I mean obviously he’s received widespread credit from pundits but I didn’t fully understand why.

Now I do.

Inside the first ten minutes Vardy pressed Brede Hangeland, winning the ball just outside of the box before making it to the byline and putting a dangerous ball into the box. This was the first sign that he was going to have a huge impact on this game and he went on to do just that. What Jamie Vardy does is create uncertainty, he spreads a degree of fear through his opponents with his constant hassling and pressing. He did it in the opening ten minutes against Hangeland and he did it three or four more times more, causing poor clearances from a few of the back four. He seemed to pick on Brede in particular and lo and behold Leicester’s goal came from a mistake by… you guessed it. Nobody (including Vardy) was particularly close to Brede when he messed his clearance up, but it was the constant pressure throughout the 90 minutes, the constant harrying and hassling that perhaps contributed to that mistake. Then there was that finish.

The Penalties

But enough of praising the opposition, one group of people who simply can’t be praised are Mike Dean & his team who were officiating on Saturday.

Out of the two, if (and it is a big if) one is excusable it is the first penalty involving Zaha. The amount of players in and around the box made it all but impossible for the referee to be in any position to see the outstretched leg of Fuchs. He still got the call wrong, but the lack of view combined with Zaha’s perhaps over-theatrical response makes this one slightly more excusable.

However the second is a stone wall penalty, Dean just cannot miss a decision like that. If he saw it, it’s a penalty; if he didn’t he needs to open his eyes – either way it’s (rightfully) damning for him. Christian Fuchs had his arms up by his shoulders, not even close to being in a ‘natural position’. Cast your mind back to the first game of our first season back in the premier league and the penalty that was given against Moxey after he was hit on the hand. He slid in 5 yards away to block the cross, with his arms above his head when the ball struck his arm – the double standards and general lack of consensus when it comes to handballs is just ridiculous. Without attempting to sound cliché, if that had been anywhere else on the pitch it would have been given.