Match Ratings: Leicester City vs Burnley

Leicester City 4 Burnley 2

Quickly rushing from a pizzeria in Bricktown Oklahoma City to a bar stool at Will Rogers Airport with a power source just in time to see Burnley take the lead left me with two thoughts. 1) Here we go again, 2-2 against Sean effin Dyche. 2) Prove me wrong 2020. And OH BOY, did she.

Kasper Schmeichel 5/10

He didn’t have a whole lot to do, but made some saves, 3. Was accurate on 6 of 18 longballs, and even he would tell you his distribution was off. I can’t remember the exact time of the match he hoofed it down field, but I immediately applauded him, because he didn’t kick it into an opposing forward.

Timothy Castagne 8/10

Timmy had a second successful outing in his home debut, assisting an own goal that surely would’ve been Jamie Vardy’s third of the season had Erik Pieters not pushed it past Nick Pope. He had 2 key passes, and a passing accuracy of 82.3%.

Wilfred Ndidi 6/10

While Wilf’s stats look very nice on paper, 3 tackles, 2 interceptions, 2 clearances, and a blocked shot, he was dragged a bit more all over the pitch this game. That’s probably due to playing a better side in the league, so if everything goes okay he should be back in his preferred role on Sunday against Manchester City.

Çağlar Söyüncü 7/10

Cags was king of the clearance, registering 5 against the constant crossing of Burnley. He also managed 2 tackles, 1 interception, and 2 blocked shots. I’m sure he loves Wilf, but will be glad when his old partner Jonny Evans is back from suspension.

James Justin 7/10

Leave our new LB alone people! He’d hardly been introduced to right back last season, now he’s tasked with learning another side! He’ll get there, he just needs to learn the D-A-N-N-Y system our very own Jake Lawson has created. But hopefully more on that later. He’s got a goal and earned a penalty last week, whilst being part of a makeshift back 4 that has only allowed 2 goals in 2 games. It could be a lot worse, folks.

Ayoze Perez 6/10

Having to watch the second half a day later due to my iPhone 6s Plus having the battery life akin to the memory of a goldfish meant I couldn’t watch it on the go. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d touched the ball when all of a sudden he was dribbling past 3 defenders in their own box and passing it JJ for the third goal. He’ll be Ünder some pressure now with his spot up for the taking, so hopefully we’ll have a real interesting battle on our hands.

Dennis Praet 9/10

I feel bad not giving him a 10, but I also think there was something that left me going “erm” but can’t remember what it was. His goal was EXCELLENT. I’d seen it the day before, but also thought it might have been something I’d dreamed. Watching him collect that pass from Harvey Barnes, pretend he’s going to feed Timmy, and then BOOM it into the top corner has to be an early contender for goal of the season.

Papy Mendy 7/10

Another excellent performance from Mendy, and maybe the trick the whole time was playing him with two excellent hard working and ball moving midfielders? Previously it always seemed like he was paired with another defensive mid like Hamza Choudhury or Wilf, so the two kind of did the same thing and didn’t tick as well. Mendy had 1 tackle and 1 clearance, but made 91 passes with a 91.2% success rate. I’m starting to see why he got that contract extension, and I’m finally okay with it.

Youri Tielemans 10/10

THAT PASS. I’m so pissed Pieters ruined our excellent team goal by scoring it instead of Vardy. He knew exactly where Castagne could run onto it and make a play. I know they’ve played together before, but I’d gladly let the club shell out another forty million for him if they needed to. He is such a world class player, it is absolutely insane he’s blessing our midfield each week.

Harvey Barnes 10/10

Harvey seems to have grown in the short off season. Maybe it is because the pressure is off due to it being another campaign. Or maybe it is due to the fact we’ve got some help on the right again, it’s not seeming like it is all on his shoulders. Vardy absolutely destroyed their defense with his turn, and they were so worried about his pace, they failed to see the arriving Barnes to collect Timmy’s pass. It felt like this was a game Harvey could exploit, and he did damn well.

Jamie Vardy 8/10

Jamie’s willingness to be a team player from one game, and ruthless finisher the next is what will make him one of the great Premier League strikers, if not maybe the best ever at Leicester City. He seems to always want to do whatever it takes to get his team the win, and even though his stats were 1 shot and 1 key pass, it was precisely what we needed at the moment to equalize.

I realized last week I didn’t include the subs, but I feel it’s kind of pointless to rate someone who only gets about 10 minutes. James Maddison came on again in the second half, a little earlier this match, and is slowly getting up to match fitness. I would reckon he’ll start midweek against Arsenal, but maybe Brendan Rodgers won’t focus so much on Carabao Cup since it’s Arsenal on Wednesday, and Liverpool in the next round. I’d much rather win Europa than League Cup, but it’s always a joy to break Arsenal TV’s hearts. Wes Morgan also made an appearance for the last two minutes. He managed 1 pass and completed it. Marc Albrighton also came off the bench for Praet and had 1 cross.