Brighton 5-2 Leicester (Thomas OG ’10, Caicedo ’15, Trossard ’64, Mac Allister P ’71, 90+7 | Iheanacho ‘1, Daka ’33)
BY TONY BANKS — The pressure cranked up another notch on Brendan Rodgers on Sunday as Leicester’s season tumbled further into chaos.
The under-fire Ulsterman saw his side crash to their fifth league defeat in a row in their miserable start to the campaign – despite taking the lead inside a minute.
Brighton’s firepower was simply too much for Leicester’s shambolic defence – and Rodgers is now under massive pressure to turn things around.
Rodgers had moaned before the game about the lack of funds he has had this summer to strengthen a fading team. The former Liverpool and Celtic manager had looked like a man with the cares of the world on his shoulders. This performance will not have helped.
Claudio Ranieri was axed after five losses in a row back in 2017, just nine months after winning the Premier League. The omens are not good.
The money tap has been turned off after £119 million was lost over the last year – but Rodgers would have been cheered up mightily by Leicester’s lightning start. They were ahead after just 52 seconds, when Patson Daka’s low cross enabled Kelechi Iheanacho to rifle in.
Brighton were stunned, but such is Leiecster’s fragility right now that little is guaranteed. Nine minutes later, Leandro Trossard crossed, and Solly March’s header flew in off Luke Thomas.
Rodgers’ men were all over the place at times, as passes went astray willy-nilly. James Maddison was the prime suspect, losing the ball in the middle, to enable Enock Mwepu ro race through and set up Moises Caicedo, who shot home.
As Leicester’s manager scribbled frantically in his notebook, his side struggled to cope with Brighton’s swift interplay, and the power of Mwepu and Caicedo.
“Sacked in the morning,” sang the Albion fans at the beleaguered Ulsterman. Unhappy goalkeeper Danny Ward almost handed Brighton a third as he lost the ball to Danny Welbeck, who somehow managed to lift the ball over. Ward then had a massive row with Wilfred Ndidi.
But suddenly, out of the chaos, Leicester were level. Youri Tielemans floated an inch perfect pass over the top which Lewis Dunk missed – and Daka raced onto the ball to slot coolly past Robert Sanchez. They could even have taken the lead, but for a fine save from the Albion keeper from Harvey Barnes’ snapshot. At the other end though, both March and Caicedo missed good chances.
And Leicester had a major escape seconds into the second half, when Alexis Mac Allister’s glorious 30 yard strike into the top corner was ruled out by VAR.
It didn’t matter. Leicester’s ramshackle defence saw to that – as Pascal Gross’s clever pass found Leandro Trossard in space, and he slotted neatly into the far corner.
Then a lovely piece of skill from the Belgian fooled Ndidi, who brought him down – and MacAllister rammed in the spot kick.
In the dying seconds, Mac Allister grabbed his second, with a glorious free kick which left Ward helpless.
Brighton player ratings
Brighton (3-5-2): Sanchez 7; Veltman 7, Dunk 7, Webster 7; March 7 (Lamptey 6), Caicedo 7 (Gilmour 6), Mac Allister 8, Mwepu 7 (Undav 6), Trossard 7 (Estupinan 6); Gross 7, Welbeck 7.
Leicester player ratings
Leicester (4-3-3): Ward 6; Justin 6, Ndidi 6, Evans 7, Thomas 6; Soumare 6 (Dewsbury-Hall 6) Maddison 6, Tielemans 7 (Amartey 6); Barnes 6 (Castagne 6), Daka 7, Iheanacho 7 (Vardy 6).
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