Leicester City 2, Liverpool 0: First Thoughts

Leicester City 2: Vardy 60' 72'
Liverpool 0:

• Pre-match: Really looking forward to getting some of our attacking players back from injury. At the very least it'll make predicting the starting XI a little more difficult. Leicester will really be looking for revenge tonight. It hurts the soul to say we're underdogs against Leicester, but we are. They are deserving of their top spot, achieving consistency where no one else in the league has. Sadly, a win is probably more important for the Foxes than us, but thankfully we've been pretty good at playing the spoilers so far. Hope it continues tonight, particularly with two winnable (not that this word has any meaning for us) games against Sunderland and Aston Villa coming up. 
  
  
• Early pressure from Leicester, as Mahrez unleashes a shot from outside of the box just wide of the far post. The Reds got a bit lucky on that one, Mahrez has punished other teams from similar situations often this season.
• Emre Can unleashes a shot from outside the box of his own, not nearly as dangerous as Mahrez's, but hey. (Also, please, no more shooting Emre).
• Well, we criticize Mignolet a lot for his recent tendency to let in savable shots (particularly first shots) but he just came up with a HUGE save there from an Okazaki close-range header off a Vardy cross.
• A very open game so far, with both teams looking dangerous from open play. Given how deadly the Foxes are in front of goal, I'm not sure this suits the Reds. Shortly after Leicester's big chance, Liverpool come up with another of their own, with Can getting a free header on goal, but is flagged offside.
• Liverpool earn a few early corner and take all of them short. Not the worst strategy considering Milner's lackluster deliveries.
• After some early shakiness, Liverpool have done well to start dominating on both sides of the ball. As usual, that dominance has not resulted in, you know, a "goal." But still. Good work. The Leicester City goal out of nothing should be coming shortly.
• Liverpool finally take their 6th corner long, but the result is the same.
• Waffles with another great save from a long but accurate strike from Mahrez. Perhaps that new contract and penalty shoot-out win was all the confidence he needed!
• Welp, never mind. Another moment of classic Mignolet indecisiveness that thankfully doesn't result in a goal. This time.
• Moreno buddy...I just...I can't. Firmino sets the left back through on goal, and with four other Liverpool players in the box, Moreno puts the ball about 30 rows deep into the stands. Very poor decision-making and execution by the young fullback. 
  
  
• Halftime: A decent half from the Reds. A disastrous early start was avoided by some excellent goalkeeping from Simon Mignolet, but Liverpool couldn't even come close to converting any chances on the other end. Believe it or not, Waffles saved all four shots on target so far. Despite earning 8 corners and generally looking dangerous, Firmino & Co. have yet to get a shot on target of their own. Our best effort so far was a dangerous cross that was nearly turned in for an own goal off a dangerous clearing header from Fuchs. 
  
  
• Some of the best interplay we've seen from Liverpool this season, resulting in a low shot from Can from about 12 yards which was turned away for a corner. Still, encouraging stuff to start the second half.
• The announcers are calling for Benteke to be brought in, presumably because they've not watched how bad we've been with him leading the line. It's OK. Chances are they'll get a chance to see for themselves before the game is through.
• Goal. Well, remember that "Goal out of nothing" I mentioned above? Yeah, well, Vardy just hit a first-time volley from 25 yards out and a narrow angle. It was a goal that Suarez would have been proud of. Absolutely nothing you can do about that one. Fantastic strike. But it still sucks. 1-0 to the hosts.
• Benteke on for Henderson. Probably a good move. Henderson has looked off the pace tonight. Now would be good for Tekkers to come up with a facemelter of his own.
• Leicester continue to look dangerous, even if Liverpool continue to have the majority of the possession. Again, just not enough in the final third. The hosts are playing with all the confidence when they have the ball, continually driving forward and getting into dangerous spots.
• Goal. ...aaaand there's another for Vardy. Sakho lets a long ball bounce, and then Vardy beats Lovren to a through ball and its an easy finish from there. Liverpool have had a lot of late goals under Klopp, but I can't see it happening now with just 20 minutes left in the match.
• Red Panda on for Can. Come on Welsh Pirlo, show us something special!
• Nothing special from anyone in red after that second goal. It really took the wind out of their sails, and exhaustion finally caught up to Liverpool tonight. 
  
  
• Full time: Liverpool needed to be at their best to get a result tonight. And for the first 60 minutes, the Reds were very close to that. Unfortunately, Vardy pulled a shot out of the absolute top drawer, and after a second goal the Reds had given up the fight. It was far from a shameful 2-0 loss (although, a little more fight back after either goal would have been nice), but again, a misfiring attack meant that the margin for error tonight was going to be exceedingly slim. The Redmen ended up on the wrong side of things tonight, and Leicester continue clinging on to their deserved spot at the top of the table. 
  

We'll be back shortly to take an in-depth look at everything that happened in today's game with the full recap. Until then, let us know your take on the ups and downs of the match in the comments, and if you haven't already, join the community on the Liverpool Offside, where we'll have full coverage and lively in-game discussion for every match this season.