Leicester City vs Hull City : Match Report and Player Ratings

Defending champions Leicester City suffered an embarrassing 2-1 loss to Hull City at the KCOM Stadium. This is the first time that the Foxes have lost since February and their title defence did not start off well. Leicester City fans were devastated to have lost to a struggling team like Hull City at home, last season when they had witnessed the best of matches at the very same stadium. This shows the fact that it is easy to win the title but it is not as easy to retain the same.

Another thing that was extremely obvious is that Leicester City are missing N’golo Kante in the midfield. His quick thinking and crafty plays in the midfield were helpful to the Foxes last season and without him, it looks like the fairytale for the Foxes are over.

Focus away from the Foxes’ misery and you will see the exuberance in Hull City’s side. They were definitely the underdogs in this game, and to be very honest, maybe their own fans also did not expect that they would win. But then again, this is the Premier League and anything can happen at any time.

What makes Hull’s victory even more astounding is the fact that they have no permanent manager and came in only with 13 fit senior players. Either this shows Hull’s prowess or shows how poorly Leicester performed; however you want to see it. Mike Phelan should deserve credit for somehow putting together a team and also playing midfielder Jake Livermore as a centre-back did work in their favour.

However, Hull’s victory was nothing close to being easy. Genuine effort and determination was seen in all their players and sometimes, if the team does not lack for spirit, they can make the impossible happen (something we saw in Leicester City last season). Ahmed Elmohamady’s upward surges portrayed exactly the kind of energy Hull played with. He did get to supply a brilliant assist for Robert Snodgrass’ goal.

Player Ratings –

Kasper Schmeichel: His heroics last season prevented a lot of crucial goals for the opposition. Today, he didn’t do much at all. In fact, both goals got in real easy and he didn’t put in as much effort. Something was lacking in him, but again, the defence did not do much to stop the Hull strikers either. Rating – 5.5/10

Danny Simpson: The booking he received in the initial stages seemed to have shaken him off and he spent the rest of the game playing extremely cautiously, which can be a good thing, but teams get nowhere unless they a risk of some sort. Rating – 6/10

Luis Hernandez: Contrastingly, Luis took a lot of risks and did not look convincing enough, to say the very least. Also, even while passing, he looked way more nervous than he was allowed to. He really needs to get his head in the game more. Rating – 5/10

Wes Morgan: Robert Huth’s absence seemed to have thrown Morgan off his normal brilliant play. He made too many rash challenges which did not work in his favour at all. Rating – 4/10

Christian Fuchs: Fuchs was perhaps the only Leicester City player who wasn’t as much of a let down in the defence area. He did his part very well and put up a stout defence. He also got forward really well and maybe could’ve gotten himself a goal or assisted for one. Rating – 7.5/10

Riyad Mahrez: Mahrez had a lot of link-ups to transferring to a different club this season, but no deal materialised and it seems like Mahrez doesn’t have his heart in playing at the King Power stadium anymore. He scored the equalising penalty, but he did not seem like his usual confident self. Rating – 6/10

Danny Drinkwater: Drinkwater’s well-placed passes and dribbles was the talk of last season, anyt time somebody spoke about Leicester City as a team. Today, however, he looked nothing like the player he was earlier, and when he can’t time a pass properly, it’s no surprise that Leicester were struggling. Rating – 5/10

Andy King: He did look like he was genuinely trying to work hard and put in effort but it could not do much against Hull City’s attack. Rating – 6.5/10

Demarai Gray: Gray seriously needs to work on understanding how far he is allowed to get inside. Ranieri needs to discipline him more and ensure that from the next matches onwards, he does not inside too much. Rating – 4/10

Ahmed Musa: Aside from Fuchs, Musa was the only other player who impressed from the Leicester City team. He set up chances but found only empty spaces most of the time. This team really needs to learn how to work together. He was the only one in the Foxes’ attack who looked even the least bit dangerous. Rating – 8/10

Jamie Vardy: A brilliant scorer and finisher combined into one, last season he looked like the underdog star that any team would be lucky to have. He scored in almost every match and was one of the best finishers in the Premier League. However, today he looked like he might still need to work on his fitness and accuracy and his finishing was all over the place. Rating – 6/10

Substitutes:

Daniel Amartey:

Brought on to replace King and add more quality to the Foxes’ midfield in the 68th minute, though did not make much of an impact. Rating – 4.5/10

Leonardo Ulloa:

Came on with seven minutes of normal time left on the clock and replaced Simpson, though he failed to find an equalizer for his time. Rating – 4.5/10

Shinji Okazaki:

His manager brought him on Gray, as they looked to attack further and make it 2-2. Rating- 5/10

What is your take on Leicester City’s form in this game? Do you think they can turn things around?

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