Leicester City scored two second-half goals to win at the King Power Stadium on Saturday lunchtime, with Tottenham now dropping a total seven points from winning positions in the last four games in all competitions.
Leicester thought they had taken the lead after a shocker from Gazzaniga saw Spurs’ second-choice keeper spill the ball to an oncoming Ndidi, who eventually squeezed the ball past Alderweireld. Sadly for the Foxes, a VAR replay showed that Ndidi was in an offside position when the rebounded shot was struck and the goal was overturned.
Just before the half-hour mark, Harry Kane was through on goal after a back-heel from Son entered his path. A nudge from Soyuncu was enough to send the forward tumbling to the floor, but this didn’t stop the Englishman from forcing his fourth of the season into the net as he simultaneously fell to the ground.
Spurs’ 1-0 lead looked surprisingly comfortable until at least the 60th minute, as Spurs looked relatively stable at the back. The three points would have been all but secured but for another VAR decision that ruled Aurier’s goal offside. In the buildup, Son was deemed to be millimetres – and we really are talking millimetres – offside. The decision has reignited the debate about the fine margins and thresholds of offside calls once again, but the decision could have gone either way.
The game then began to flip on its head as Leicester looked for an equaliser which they found as Ricardo Pereira latched onto a stray ball in the box from Vardy, smashing past a hopeless Gazzaniga to level the scores. Then, with five minutes to spare, Leicester’s player of the match curled a beautiful strike into the bottom left corner – his second goal of the season.
There was no coming back from this position for Spurs as the Lilywhites continue there inconsistent start to the season, while Leicester temporarily reached second position in the league table.
Win, Draw, Lose, Draw, Win, Draw, Lose
This is the record that Spurs have so far this season in all competitions – a pattern seems to be emerging. Going by this, it looks like Spurs are about to draw to Colchester United in the League Cup and then beat Southampton next weekend – get your bets in now. At least Pochettino’s men are being consistently inconsistent.
All jokes aside, something seems to be going awfully wrong at Tottenham. They have been taunted for being bottlers in seasons gone by, but they really are living up to that name at the moment. The team have dropped points to Arsenal, Olympiacos and now Leicester in three of their last four games. Having defended relatively well for the majority of the match, the Foxes’ pressure (which wasn’t overly intense) forced the Spurs defence to crumble.
It wasn’t just the defence, but most of the team that started to wither as the second half went on, and the signs were very visible to those watching on. Whether it’s a lack of fitness or plain laziness from the team, the spark that held Spurs in such good stead has diminished in the early stages of this season, excluding perhaps last week’s game against Palace. It’s hard to pinpoint the roots to these problems, but Spurs fans can only hope that something clicks sooner rather than later.
James Maddison ready for an England start?
With Gareth Southgate watching on, James Maddison certainly impressed for Leicester on Saturday and you would imagine the young Englishman has surely done enough to earn a call-up for the next set of European qualifiers and even a start for the Three Lions. The England team would certainly benefit from some extra young talent in attacking midfield positions.
Considering Maddison created a league-high 100 goalscoring chances last season, it’s a bit of a mystery that the 22-year-old is yet to earn a senior cap for England. Dele Alli, who didn’t feature for Spurs on Saturday, will likely be returning to international duty soon, but Maddison is truthfully the player in form and many would make a good case that he should be ahead of Alli in the national team pecking order.
Maddison was the instigator of much of Leicester’s counter-attacks and, although these attacks weren’t as penetrating as we often see from the Foxes, you can see why Maddison is such a beloved figure in the midlands for Leicester.
Is VAR accurate enough to make such close calls?
The ruling out of Spurs’ second goal meant that this was the first Premier League match to have two goals ruled out using VAR. While the first of these decisions was clearly correct, the second was only correct to the nearest millimetre.
It is not the first time such fine margins have resulted in disappointment for a goalscorer – Raheem Sterling was another victim to the technology, although he did go on to score a hat-trick in that match against West Ham anyway. You would argue that Aurier’s goal against Leicester would have had a huge bearing on that particular match however.
Everyone has their opinion on VAR, but there comes a point where it becomes impossible to judge whether someone is offside or not. At the end of the day, it comes down to the pixels on a screen and the judgement of the VAR officials, who are clearly disinclined to overturning the decisions of the on-field officials. This raises the question, why did they overturn an offside decision that was so unclear? We’ve seen clearer penalties and red-card offences not given by VAR this season.
The counter-argument to this is that the decision was so close that it would have been unlucky for either team to have the decision against them. You have to punish either team anyway. However, it’s only a matter of time until an absolute screamer hits the back of the net before being ruled offside for such a close call – no one will be happy about that.
No potency from Spurs
On top of the issues discussed earlier, Tottenham had trouble creating many clear-cut opportunities throughout the match. Son made a few piercing runs here and there, but apart from that Spurs didn’t really look threatening, particularly down the centre.
Kane barely broke into a sprint for the entire game and often came deep to receive the ball – something he has been doing frequently this season. Perhaps a reasonable tactic on another day, but Spurs were crying out for a direct approach to the goal which could have come if Kane had made some more creative runs into the penalty area.
Perhaps Tottenham set the bar too high for themselves over the last few seasons, but attack-wise they still have the same players leading the line, so it’s a mystery why Spurs are creating so few chances in the early stages of the new campaign. Perhaps Pochettino needs to settle on a starting lineup and make sure the missing links between these players are patched up quickly.
Are Leicester serious contenders for the top six?
As for Leicester, Brendan Rogers has done an excellent job in the midlands so far; sparking discussions about the possibility of Leicester breaking into the top-six this season. Fans were discussing that possibility prior to the opening match, with West Ham, Wolves, Watford and Everton also being regarded as contenders. However, Leicester and West Ham are the only teams bringing these discussions into fruition at the moment.
Leicester have a high-quality squad and have shown they are fully capable of grabbing victories against other top sides, with three wins from their first six games this season. Leicester deserved to win against Spurs on Saturday and showed great mentality to come from behind to do so.
With Arsenal, Manchester United and Spurs all displaying inconsistency, Leicester must fancy their chances of competing with these teams for a place in the top six this season. However, with much of the campaign left to play, the top teams can often improve their form dramatically as the year progresses, so Leicester will need to work hard to keep up.
Man of the Match – James Maddison
Maddison was the focal point of Leicester’s attacks on Saturday and the young Englishman’s performance was rewarded with a fine goal to add to his collection.
Up next
Leicester and Spurs face Luton Town and Colchester United respectively in the League Cup during midweek, before taking on Newcastle and Southampton at the weekend.
