For all of 10 minutes, Dean Smith was on to one thing. His pre-match pronouncement was that 4 clear sheets should be sufficient to safe Leicester Metropolis’s Premier League standing. An announcement that was factually appropriate, but daring and fanciful. Did he actually count on a defence that had not prevented the opposition scoring for 19 consecutive league matches to immediately flip porous into impenetrable?
Smith’s phrases had been likely extra elements hope than expectation. Leicester had been sliced and diced by ruthless (not an adjective typically used to explain Marco Silva’s aspect) Fulham. Anybody who fancied a objective was, it appeared, welcome to 1. Willian, Carlos Vinicius and Tom Cairney, twice, and Willian once more all accepted an invite provided by gaping holes, a fragile, disconnected form and a normal lethargy.
Leicester had been already 4 down when Harvey Barnes netted what seemed to be a consolatory effort, had conceded a fifth by the point James Maddison transformed his penalty, and didn’t seize their third, by means of Barnes, till the 89th minute. Smith did, in equity, additionally say that Leicester had objectives in them.
Sadly, his makes an attempt to play Nostradamus had been hardly aided by Daniel Iversen’s howler for the opener. The choice to start out the marketing campaign with a pair of goalkeepers (Danny Ward being the opposite) sharing a mixed three Premier League appearances, appears more and more misguided. Had been there no choices? Properly, Bernd Leno was obtainable for relative pocket change and saved Jamie Vardy’s penalty at 4-1 to quash any exterior probability of a Leicester comeback.
