Trounced by PSG and Barcelona in pre-season, they were defeated 2-1 by a hugely depleted Hull City on the opening day.
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Unable to satisfactorily replace midfield dynamo N’Golo Kante, Leicester have struggled to compete in the centre of the park – a failing that was particularly brutally highlighted in last weekend’s 4-1 deconstruction at the hands of Liverpool.
The Clarets haven’t won away at Leicester since November 2007, in which a goal from Andy Gray was enough to seal all three points. Two defensive errors from the Belgian champions allowed Claudio Ranieri’s side to get itself into a comfortable position well before halftime, and a third finished the match as a contest after the break.
The Algerian netted a wonderful free-kick prior to sending home a penalty, both of which were a result of fouls on Jamie Vardy.
Just when the stardust from their magical 2015/16 campaign seemed to be wearing off, however, Leicester’s cast of heroes rediscovered their swagger to defeat Club Brugge 3-1 in their first-ever Champions League outing.
“The players are ready and they have recovered well”.
“A brilliant thing that Ranieri’s done is playing to players’ strengths”, said Dyche.
“I don’t know if Slimani is ready for 90 minutes but it’s important for him to understand the spirit of the Premier League”, Ranieri said. “Maybe he was very, very exhausted of listening to dilly ding, dilly dong, maybe he preferred the Champions League music”, said Ranieri, reverting to a classic catchphrase. I am very happy with his performance. It worked nicely in Belgium last night. I never thought I would even get the opportunity to play in it, let alone score.
Mahrez completed the rout from the penalty spot on 61 minutes after Vardy gave the defense the slip and was upended by keeper Ludovic Butelle. “He took the responsibility. He was a lucky man!”
Leicester now boasts a two-point advantage at the top of the group after Porto’s 1-1 draw with Copenhagen, with the Portuguese side the English champion’s next opponents on 28 September (AEST).
However, Ranieri, much like he did before the beginning of the domestic season, tempered expectations.
His team may have fulfilled all the stereotypical requirements of a surprise victor defending a title during the open blows of the new Premier League season but they have the Champions League cracked and can already think about the knockout phase.
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But it was the ideal performance from the Foxes, 50-1 to win the competition after last season’s shock Premier League victory, although things could have been so different if the hosts had taken a glorious opportunity after two minutes.
