Match Report: Leicester City 0 - 1 Hull City

Recap

Leicester City fell to Hull City Saturday afternoon at the King Power by a score of 1-0. A deflected first-half effort by Liam Delap provided the match’s only goal. The Foxes had 2/3s of the ball and 21 shots to the Tigers’ 7, but their aim was untrue. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s tame effort was the only shot on target for the Foxes.

Six? Oh sweet child, it gets so much worse.

This match followed the familiar script of Leicester having the bulk of the possession and creating chances, but they conceded from their opponents’ only real opportunity. Once again they left it late, but this time they couldn’t get the job done. Scoring late winners isn’t a sustainable skill, so this was bound to happen eventually.

With that said, there is a frightening amount of talent on this team and it’s going to come together eventually. For a side that didn’t have any wide men, we now have some genuinely frightening wingers. Fatawu, Yunus, Mavididi, McAteer, and Marcal give Maresca a wealth of options and it will be interesting to see who winds up the regular starter on each side.

The defeat leaves the Foxes on 12 points from 5 matches. That drops us to 3rd on the table behind Preston and Ipswich. We travel to the St. Mary’s to square off against Southampton a week from Friday, and then it’s off to Norfolks to face Norwich City the following Wednesday.

Lineups

Leicester City: Mads Hermansen, Ricardo Pereira (C), Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard, Callum Doyle, Harry Winks, Wilfred Ndidi, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Kasey McAteer, Yunus Akgün, Kelechi Iheanacho

Hull City: Matt Ingram, Jacob Greaves, Alfie Jones, Ruben Vinagre, Lewie Coyle, Scott Twine, Jean Michael Seri, Regan Slater, Liam Delap, Aaron Connolly, Adama Noss Traore

---

Key Moments and Notes

2’ - Hull defender Alfie Jones picks up an early yellow for pulling back Iheanacho inside the Leicester half. It’s going to be a nervy day for Jones now.

8’ - Yunus and Wilf work the same play that led to the Vardy goal against Tranmere Rovers in the cup on Tuesday. Ndidi finds himself in space on the right and pulls it back to the penalty spot. It pinballs around and falls to Ricardo, whose snap shot sails just wide.

I would suggest more delicate framing, but yes, that is exactly what McAteer did.

15’ - GOAL! Delap receives the ball in space on the Leicester left. He cuts inside McAteer and rifles in a hopeful shot from distance. Hermansen has it covered until it takes a deflection off of Vestergaard and wrong-foots the keeper.

27’ - It’s a bit scrappy now as neither team are taking care of the ball and the movement off the ball has slowed down. There’s a lot of standing around as players on the ball hold up their arms looking for an outlet. On an unrelated note, happy birthday to Claude Puel.

40’ - Not going to lie, we need to find another gear. We’re dominating possession and getting some shots, but we’ve yet to put anything on target. McAteer pulls the ball back for the Seniorman, but his shot is blocked.

45+2’ - A strange run of play sees Iheanacho get behind the keeper, but his shot is cleared off the line. It wouldn’t have counted as the flag was up for offside even though he most definitely was not offside.

That’s it for the half. The Foxes trail, but they’ve dominated the statistics. This has been a recurring motif, hasn’t it?

45’ - No changes at the half and no changes in the run of play. City are seeing a lot of the ball and moving it smartly, but there’s no final product. How long will Maresca wait before making a change?

53’ - The answer to the previous question is “Eight minutes.” The gaffer makes a triple substitution, withdrawing Yunus, Ndidi, and McAteer. On come Stephy Mavididi, Cesare Casadei, and Abdul Fatawu Issahaku.

Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images

60’ - City are getting a lot of bodies forward and looking a little loose at the back. Vestergaard gets a richly deserved yellow for scything down Connolly in the centre of the park. Delap puts Doyle on his backside, but the cross is easily claimed by Hermansen.

61’ - It’s wide open now. Fatawu leaves his fullback in the dust, cuts inside, and curls a low shot that comes back off the inside of the far post. That was millimeters from being a goal from his first shot in a Leicester shirt.

68’ - Jamie Vardy comes on for Iheanacho because of course he does. Doyle gives away a free kick on the edge of the box for...standing still? I’m not sure what else he could have done there. It’s out for a goal kick, so no damage done.

75’ - A couple of chances for Leicester. The ball falls to Ricardo all alone on the edge of the area. He lines it up and screws it just wide of the post under no pressure at all. A minute later, Vardy dummies KDH’s low cross. It runs to Casadei in the centre but he can’t get the shot on frame.

85’ - Winks’ cross finds Vardy in the box, but his glancing header is just wide. Thought that one was in.

88’ - Casadei’s header from a corner is just wide of the near post. Starting to worry a little bit now.

90’ - 3 minutes of added time, which is a baffling number. After multiple substitutions and stoppages due to injuries, I was expecting 7-8 minutes. I don’t think I’ve ever heard so many boos for the fourth official.

90+3’ - That’s it. A bizarre ending, but we really had plenty of time and opportunities to take care of it earlier.

Photo by Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images