Matchday Live Talking Points: Professionalism, Swarming Foxes & Mature Vardy
- Matchday Live’s Matt Elliott, Gerry Taggart, Steve Guppy and Nev Foulger analysed Leicester City’s triumph against AFC Bournemouth
- The LCFC Radio panel highlighted a number of impressive displays in the victory
- City won 3-1 following Jamie Vardy’s double and a goal from Youri Tielemans
The unbeaten Foxes registered back-to-back victories as Jamie Vardy bagged a brace and Belgium international midfielder Youri Tielemans scored his first Premier League goal of the 2019/20 season.
Naturally, Vardy, who also recorded an assist in the triumph, received plenty of praise from the Matchday Live panel, while manager Brendan Rodgers was credited for the way his tactics unfolded on Filbert Way.
City’s professionalism
Matt Elliott said: “It was very professional from Leicester. They look like they have a good spirit between them, a good understanding of what they’re capable of, and what they’re not capable of. They’ve applied themselves so well. At times, Bournemouth were extremely threatening in the first half, and Leicester coped with it and adapted to it. They became stronger and stronger as the game went on.”
Swarming Foxes
Gerry Taggart said: “You’ve got to say, the second-half performance was out of this world. It was a top-class performance. They just swarmed all over Bournemouth, who in the end just couldn’t live with the pace, power and technical ability of Leicester City in that second half. Eddie Howe, he changed his formation and went attacking half-way through the second half, and it sort of paid off, but what that did for Leicester was allow them to take control of the midfield, and the lead-up to the third goal was all about the midfield players.”
Full value for a win
Steve Guppy said: “In the first half, it was fairly even, and Bournemouth and Leicester both looked dangerous. As the game went on, Bournemouth made that formation change and they started to get a little bit of joy. Then, it fizzled out for them in the final third and they really didn’t look like they’d cause Leicester too much trouble. Leicester, however, continued to create and look dangerous throughout the whole game. They were full value for the three points.”
Vardy maturing
Goals: Leicester City 3 Bournemouth 1
Watch all the goals from King Power Stadium as the Foxes stretched their unbeaten run to four Premier League games with a success over the Cherries.
Nev Foulger said: “He was certainly my Man of the Match, Jamie Vardy. James Maddison looked excellent again, but Vardy, well, how he’s got the energy to carry on doing what he’s doing… the older he gets, the better he gets, and I wish that was true for me! He’s terrific, and the crowd loved it. At the end of the game, Brendan Rodgers called all of the players over into a huddle, and I noticed every one of them were laughing and smiling. It was terrific to see them in that huddle, and then go all around the ground and applauding the fans.”
Wired Rodgers
Steve Guppy said: “You can see in Brendan’s eyes, he’s wired. There’s a manager who knows he’s got a good team. He’s got the huddle together, and he’s telling them to do this, and to do that. On the pitch, he’s flying around, and you can see why. The team are playing well and they’re only going to get better.”
Brendan comes out on top
Gerry Taggart said: “Credit to Bournemouth, they came here, they didn’t come and sit back and soak it up. They came here and went toe-to-toe with Leicester. Again, just like at Sheffield United, we saw a tactical game of cat and mouse between both managers, and yet again, Brendan Rodgers comes out on top.”
LCFC Radio, meanwhile, will return to the airwaves on Monday evening, when Steve Walsh and Matt Elliott join Dan Bates in the studio at King Power Stadium for the latest episode of Extra-Time.
Foxes fans can tune in from 6pm BST on LCFC.com, Twitter and Facebook.