Jamie Vardy - he’s older than you: MK 0 Leicester City 3 (20 December 2022)
Does anyone know which round of the League Cup it is until the quarter-finals?
Between teams entering at different stages and this year’s added curveball of the World Cup planting itself in the middle of the season, you could be forgiven for not knowing where we’re up to.
Apparently, this was the Fourth Round. But it felt more like pre-season.
MK fans turned up in their tens, their team played like a team towards the bottom of League One and Leicester strolled around, occasionally deciding to knock in a goal. It wasn’t exactly a strenuous workout ahead of the return to Premier League action next Monday. However, it was a strong performance and, perhaps most importantly, there were no injuries.
Before we get started with the action on the pitch, a brief shout out to the terrifying member of the MK Youth who halted the match by running the length of the pitch to give the 6,500 travelling Leicester fans some abuse before being led away.
It was the longest period Leicester spent without the ball all game.
Ayoze and whose army?
Ayoze Perez picked up where he left off before the World Cup with a fine first half display. Cast your mind back a month and it was his inch-perfect reverse through ball that sent Harvey Barnes clear for the clincher at West Ham, having come on as a substitute. At Milton Keynes he started in place of the injured Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
It’s a subtle difference but Perez, known more as an attacking player, dropped in as the left sided player in central midfield rather than the number ten role illustrated in the club’s formation graphic on social media. It’s the same position from which he blocked a forward pass at Wembley 18 months ago, leading to Youri’s thunderbastard.
At MK there weren’t many forward passes to block as the opposition barely registered any possession let alone a threat on goal. So Perez could concentrate on his attacking threat.
After Tielemans had followed up a saved Vardy flick to give Leicester the lead following an excellent through ball from Luke Thomas to Harvey Barnes, Perez controlled another good long ball from Thomas before firing in at the near post to double the lead.
Jamie Vardy - he’s older than you
Jamie Vardy played 67 minutes and completed 4 successful passes. At the other end of the scale, Wout Faes completed 118. He’s clearly finished.
Of course, Vardy actually provided another finish of his own early in the second half, a deft header from Timothy Castagne’s cross. A third goal without reply normally makes a game safe, but this one had probably been safe from the moment the teams were announced.
This was the extreme epitome of the Vardy disdain for possession. He stalked the opposition centre-backs on the rare occasions they had the ball. He wound up the home fans once or twice, giving them a wave as he departed to be replaced by Patson Daka halfway through the second half. And he was serenaded by the travelling supporters crowing about him being older than the opposition.
Another trophy to add to Vardy’s haul would be glorious - perhaps the kind of ending the author of children’s books would write for himself.
A few standouts
Leicester were never going to lose this game. Nevertheless, each player still had to be professional and the eleven that started all impressed.
The standout was Luke Thomas, provider of two crucial passes from left-back in the first half which both ended in goals. Boubakary Soumare also played well, providing some drive through the middle of the park and showing he deserves to keep the shirt at the moment ahead of Wilfred Ndidi and Nampalys Mendy.
And then there was Youri, captain in the absence of Jonny Evans and operating in second gear against opponents way below his level. Still, what a player. No matter what happens, he’ll go down in Leicester City’s history as the man who won us the FA Cup. On a night like this when there was very little jeopardy, it was nice to just watch and enjoy one of our greatest ever players.
Ready Player Number 57
As the clock ticked down on a comfortable victory, Brendan Rodgers replaced Barnes with Will Alves, a former season ticket holder still eligible for the Under 18 discount until May. Yep - 17 and a half years old and living the dream wearing the blue shirt in a competitive fixture. Almost makes you feel old.
Alves struggled to get into the game in his ten minutes or so on the pitch but there was one darting run moments from the end which should have led to a goal for the disappointingly lethargic Kelechi Iheanacho.
Leicester’s number 57 looks to have a wide variety of tricks at his disposal and it will be interesting to see the speed at which Rodgers continues to introduce him into the fold.
