Shakespeare: A Team Performance
- Leicester City beat Brighton 2-0 at King Power Stadium to record their first win of the 2017/18 Premier League season
- Shinji Okazaki opened the scoring in the first minute before Harry Maguire headed home from a corner after the break
- Manager Craig Shakespeare praised his team’s collective performance and game management
- The Foxes move into the top half of the table ahead of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup clash at Sheffield United
It was the Foxes first home fixture of the campaign and it couldn’t have started any better, as in-form Shinji Okazaki followed up a Riyad Mahrez effort to put the Foxes in front inside a minute to set City on their way to victory.
Summer signing Harry Maguire then headed home a Mahrez corner just after the break before a confident looking City side saw out the fixture with an outstanding overall display that delighted both the manager and the supporters, who made their appreciated heard at full time.
The likes of Okazaki and Mahrez impressed going forward for the Foxes, but it was the collective strength of the team that most pleased Shakespeare, as he reflected on both a first victory and first clean sheet of the 2017/18 season.
“It was a clean sheet for everyone,” he told LCFC TV. “It was very important. I thought the game management was better but it’s hard to pick out individuals. I’ll leave that to others but overall I’m very pleased because it was a team performance.
“When the fixtures came out we spoke about how important it is to win at home. Not just getting the three points but how important your home record is. It was a bit of a banana skin today and we spoke about getting a quick start so to get that quick goal was a massive bonus.
“It was one of our intentions to try to play with a high tempo, press really early and then when we do get a chance to, create. We had Riyad Mahrez coming in off the line like we’ve seen so many times and thankfully Shinji Okazaki was there for the rebound.”
Shakespeare was also delighted with the way his side scored through Okazaki in the six-yard box and Maguire from a set play – both areas that were targeted in the build up to the match.
He explained: “We spoke about getting Shinji in the box more. He’s really diligent without the ball and he gets around midfield players to cause problems and it helps us get the ball back. But we spoke about getting him in the box more when we have the ball. He’s a goal threat, he’s got two in two and he can be really pleased with his overall performance.
“We’re aware of trying to share the goals around. We’ve spoken to the players who go up for the corners – Harry Maguire and Wes Morgan – so to see Harry get on the end of it after a good ball in was good. It was vital to settle everyone down again at that stage.”