Matchday Live Talking Points: City Up The Ante, Pérez Dazzles & Vardy Shows His Quality
The Foxes concluded their pre-season schedule with an assured victory over their Italian visitors at King Power Stadium, courtesy of strikes from Ayoze Pérez and Jamie Vardy.
Speaking as part of LCFC TV's live coverage of the clash, Elliott and Taggart discussed a number of topics which caught the eye during an enjoyable evening on Filbert Way.
Pérez's touch of class
Gerry Taggart said: "It’s been the tale of pre-season for Leicester City. The second half performances have been very good and again, they came out after having a word with Brendan [Rodgers] about pressing higher up the pitch, upping the tempo, and that’s exactly what we saw. That’s what happens. Just by raising that tempo slightly, it creates problems for the opposition and they scored two goals. Obviously when you get into good positions, you need someone with a touch of class and Ayoze Pérez showed that with his finish."
Vardy keeps his cool
Matt Elliott said: "Christian [Fuchs] was the man of the moment for Vardy’s goal. His throw… the defender just didn’t really know what he’s up against there. He’s thinking: ‘Why’s Vardy running in behind? He’s not getting the ball… oh he’s got the ball!’ It was lovely movement from Vardy, he waited for the bounce to come and it’s a nice touch as well. The temptation could have been to rush it in that situation, but he’s just caressed it into the net and made the finish look easy – which it was for somebody of Jamie’s quality."
Atalanta a worthy opponent
Gerry Taggart said: "Make no mistake about it, Atalanta are a classy team. They came here to win a game of football instead of just treating it like an ordinary pre-season friendly. They knew when they arrived in Leicester that they had a game. They recognised the atmosphere here and it raised their game as well. We saw a good, honest, solid game of football from both teams and Leicester City had to be their best, by pre-season standards, to win this match of football."
Leicester up the ante
Matt Elliott said: "It was a good workout for both sides. Rodgers wanted a high quality of opposition for this final game of pre-season and he certainly got that. Especially at the start, Atalanta looked extremely competent. In the second half, as Gerry mentioned on commentary, Leicester upped the ante and they increased the tempo in all areas of the pitch and they got the rewards. Slowly, bit by bit, they gradually wore down Atalanta and they deserved the result."
James Maddison will be a special guest on Matchday Minus Two, which returns to LCFC TV this Friday, ahead of Leicester City's opening weekend clash with Wolves on Sunday.