It’s the first time the defending champions have lost on the opening day of the season since 1989-90. Hull were outstanding, and that result may be enough for Mike Phelan to get the manager’s job. Leicester had enough chances but were a bit ragged.
Teams are allowed to lose games. There’s no point over-reacting. But then there’s no point telling people not to over-react, because mature, understated responses don’t cut it in 2016, grandad. That’s a worry for Leicester, who could be steadily undermined by external hot air. We’ll see. Thanks for your company, bye!
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Full time: Hull 2-1 Leicester
A famous victory for Hull City! Who needs a permanent manager, new signings or more than 12 senior players? Hull have beaten the champions!
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90+4 min Huddlestone is penalised for a hack at Mahrez 30 yards from goal. I think he got the ball actually. It doesn’t matter because the free-kick is cleared by Davies.
90+3 min Meyler picks up a loose ball, lumbers forward and crunches one just over the bar from 25 yards. Leicester can’t get the ball at the moment.
90+2 min It hasn’t been just honest endeavour from Hull, mind: both goals were excellent and Snodgrass especially has shown umpteen touches of class.
90+1 min Abel Hernandez wins a corner and then gulps in some air as he moves slowly into the box. Hull have put in such an admirable shift today.
90 min There will be five minutes of added time. Can Mike Dean conjure another opportunity to give a penalty?
89 min Mahrez moves the ball wide to Musa, who tries to run Elmohamady and is dispossessed. Vardy and Musa must be one of the fastest strike partnerships in football history.
88 min “I’m a Hull fan performing at a festival in Newquay,” writes RG Stephenson. “When the second Hull goal went in, I texted my mum to say I’d just ‘lost my sh*t in a pub in Cornwall.’ Cue a frantic phone call asking what I’d lost and if I was alright. I’ll stick to old people slang next time!”
87 min “From Champions to bottom of the League in one game,” says Mac Millings. “The triumphant haven’t fallen so far so fast since Mrs. Millings started laughing half way through our wedding vows.”
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85 min Last season Leicester were so controlled and calm, as if they knew something the other teams didn’t. Today, although they have created plenty, they had a little ragged and desperate at both ends. The worry for them is that the spectacular over-reaction to this defeat in the media (if they lose) will create a negative mood that then starts to perpetuate itself. Leicester’s most dangerous opponent this season is their own subconscious.
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84 min “You haven’t mentioned Mahrez for a while, Rob,” says Charles Antaki. “Is it all over for him now?”
Yeah, to be honest I think he’s taken Leicester as far as he can.
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83 min Clucas is booked for a foul on Musa. Leicester make their final substitution, with Ulloa replacing Simpson.
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82 min Snodgrass tries to catch Schmeichel out by whipping the free-kick towards the near post. He almost does, too, but Schmeichel jumps to his left to beat it away. Snodgreass has had a magnificent game.
81 min Huddlestone harasses Fuchs and wins a throw-in deep in Leicester’s half. Musa then concedes a needless free-kick on the right-wing...
78 min Hull are manoeuvring the bus on the edge of the area and will park it any second now. It’s all Leicester, though they haven’t troubled Jakupovic’s palms for a while.
77 min “I hate to be a pedant on the first day and first match of the season,” says Mike MacKenzie, “but ...Do you have many foreigners in UK who aren’t from abroad? (63 min comment) I hope English folks aren’t counting Scots, Welsh and Norn Irelanders as foreigners now.”
Please, pedantise all you like, especially when the mistake is deliberate. It gives me a little pang of joy.
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76 min Leicester are having a good spell. Hull’s injury list is such that they have a load of kids on the bench, plus Shaun Maloney, so you would expect them to tire.
75 min Fuchs, Musa and Okazaki combine Okazaki mistakes himself for Jorg Albertz and blooters a left-footed shot high over the bar from long range.
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74 min “Desperately hope that Leicester finish about thirteenth and get two points in their Champions League group,” chirps Christopher Faherty. “It was never a fairytale, their team is riven with thugs and the prejudiced. The train cannot come off the rails quickly enough.”
That’s heroically bitter. You can close the book for my favourite email of the season.
73 min The biggest disappointment for Leicester today has been Vardy. Not so much the missed chances; they can happen. He has just seemed a bit subdued.
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72 min The free-kick, given the foul on Okazaki, is taken by Mahrez. It’s a good effort, over the wall and dipping towards the bottom corner, but Jakupovic gets across to fumble it behind for a corner.
71 min “Fencing update,” writes Tom Lutz. “USA have survived a fightback from Poland in the women’s team sabre, squeezing past their opponents 45-43 to reach the semi-finals. There they will play Russia, it’s fair to say there’s a little history in that one. Italy play Ukraine in the other match-up. The semis start in around 90 minutes (11.30am Rio time).”
70 min Mahrez breaks infield and then falls over. Mike Dean wags a finger imperiously in his direction and play continues, but he gives a foul moments later for a foul by Davies on Okazaki. Davies is booked.
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67 min Leicester make a double substitution, with Okazaki and Amartey replacing Gray and King.
65 min “I’m Joost from the Netherlands,” writes Joost Teunissen. “Ahmed Musa might be the most interesting signing by Leicester this season. He had his European breakthrough at VVV-Venlo, then a minor club in the Dutch Eredivisie (Premier League). I remember him being one of the ‘darling’’ of Eredivisie watchers at the time. In June 2011 he kept VVV in the Dutch Premier League with a decider. At CSKA Moscow he won the cup in the 2012/2013 season scoring the only goal for his team and scored a penalty in the penalty shoot-out that decided the match. He could win Leicester some points this season.”
He’s been their best attacker today, certainly.
64 min Fuchs, who was booked in the first half, gets away with a late tackle on Snodgrass, who is now receiving treatment. Actually I think Mike Dean played the advantage, which is fair enough.
63 min Leicester have played some nice, intricate attacking football at times, and could easily have scored four or five. But they have been really scruffy at the back - all of them, not just Luis Hernandez, that new foreigner from abroad.
62 min “Good evening to you from Melbourne, where I’m watching an English football match in the top division, on free-to-air television for the first time in forever,” writes Neill Brown. “The match is obviously as terrible as the standard of the Premier League. As Danny Drinkwater lost the ball just before half-time, under minimal pressure, and had little clue as to what to do next, I thought ‘isn’t this the bloke who should have played for England at Euro 2016?’ This is a long-winded way of asking you to go back to the cricket, please. And stop football.”
Don’t worry, the Champions League starts soon. The Champions League of darts, that is.
60 min Snodgrass takes the free-kick, which hits the head of a defender in the wall and goes behind for a corner.
58 min Snodgrass has been outstanding today, the most dangerous player on the pitch along with Musa. It was sloppy from Leicester though, with Schmeichel’s poor throw-out eventually leading to the goal. And now Hull have a free-kick on the edge of the box after an almost entirely inept foul by Luis Hernandez on Diomande.
GOAL! Hull 2-1 Leicester (Snodgrass 57)
A cross from the right is only half cleared to Snodgrass, who bangs Hull into the lead with a terrific first-time shot from 16 yards! It was right in the corner and so beautifully struck.
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55 min The Hull fans are booing Gray for his part in the penalty. He was clearly fouled, it’s so tedious. They really do have something to boo about when Musa flattens Snodgrass and is not penalised by Mike Dean.
52 min You want your big performers to impose themselves on a game and that’s exactly what Mike Dean is doing here.
48 min “I’m watching over 3G on a phone with my dad in a scorching hot cafe in Portugal,” says woe is Rob Wright. “A lifelong Leicester fan, he insists that survival is the first priority and anything else is a bonus. But things have changed now, I plead. You should be looking at top six no problem. He just gives me that ‘You’ve got a lot to learn’ look. And as I type this, Hull take the lead...”
GOAL! Hull 1-1 Leicester (Mahrez 47 pen)
Mahrez scores emphatically, pinging it straight down the middle.
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It was a foul by Huddlestone on Gray, right on the line of the box. That decision could have gone either way; on second look I think it was correct but it’s hard to be sure.
46 min Peep peep! Mike Dean has given his first penalty of the season just 14 seconds into the second half!
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It’s Diomande’s goal. Hernandez connected with his overhead kick but Diomande then kicked the ball a split-second later.
Half-time reading
Half time: Hull City 1-0 Leicester City
Saint and Greavsie are nodding sagely: football is indeed a funny old game.
It came from the second corner, taken by Snodgrass. Schmeichel made a spectacular but strange kind of save from Davies’s header, punching it away towards the far post. As it bounced up in the six-yard box both Hernandez and Diomande went for it - Hernandez with an overhead kick, Diomande from the other side - and it ended up going into the net off the bar. I have no idea whose goal that was as it seemed like they both connected. Of far more importance is that Hull are ahead.
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GOAL! Hull 1-0 Leicester (Diomande 45)
Abel Hernandez Diomande gives Hull the lead!
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45 min Snodgrass, Hull’s best player in this half, wins a corner and will take it from the right once Mike Dean has administered a reprimand to Huddlestone and Luis Hernandez for wrestling. It’s a lovely dipping corner that draws Schmeichel from his line. He can’t get there and it skims off the head of King before going behind for another corner on the other side. From which...
43 min Vardy misses a sitter! Musa, who has been terrific, intercepted a poor pass from Diomande and vroomed past Davies into the area on the right. He looked up and played it back carefully to Vardy, whose first-time shot from 10 yards went miles over the bar. Although the bounce wasn’t entirely kind he should still have scored.
41 min Leicester almost score three times in the same attack. It was a gorgeous move. The left-back Fuchs played a double one-two, first with Gray and then with Musa, whose superb return pass put Fuchs clear on goal. His stabbed shot was blocked by Jakupovic; then Vardy’s follow up was blocked on the line by the stretching Livermore; and finally Mahrez danced across the area past a couple of defenders before driving just wide of the post.
39 min “I couldn’t be happier Rob,” says Fiona Pow. “It’s late in Sydney but the game is on free to air and I’m picking up tips for the Women’s Over 30 semi-final that i’m coaching tomorrow. I’m hoping to blend Hull’s early resilience with Leicester’s vim and vigour.” That’s an extremely generous interpretation of this first half.
37 min Not much is happening. I think we have to ask whether Claudio Ranieri has taken Leicester as far as he can.
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35 min It’s especially important for unlikely champions to start the following season well. I think Blackburn lost five of the first eight in 1995-96 and that set an enduring tone.
34 min “It might not be a great game, but I’m watching it on a massive screen with my eldest son at our local small-town brewery’s English Premier League Opener Breakfast Event,” says Mac Millings. “No beer for me, though, as it’s 8 am, I’m trying to be a positive role model (yeah, I know), and I’m nursing a dreadful case of middle age.” There’s a cure for that you know. I think you can buy it at the bar.
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33 min Simpson is booked for repeat offending, the most recent example of which was a foul on Meyler.
31 min “‘We go again’ is a great phrase and is in no way overused,” says Jez Smith. Just like when a manager talks about the number of cup finals a team has to play before the end of the season, which is also used when a team is unlikely to win anything like a cup final. Sadly, for some of the teams (probably more likely Hull rather than Leicester) it might be a matter of needing to play 38 cup finals in the Premier League this season.”
30 min Snodgrass takes the free-kick and shoots wide of the near post from a very tight angle.
MIKE DEAN'S FIRST YELLOW CARD OF THE SEASON
29 min It’s an unforgettable moment in any Premier League season,:when Mike Dean first goes into his pocket. Christian Fuchs is the man to be punished for a foul on Snodgrass.
28 min Luis Hernandez’s long throw bounces dangerously around the Hull area before being lumped clear.
26 min This is not news, but Riyad Mahrez is a preposterous genius. He plays football in own time zone.
25 min Drinkwater almost gives Leicester the lead. Mahrez twisted Robertson’s blood on the right of the box and then served the ball back to Drinkwater, who curled a first-time outswinger across Jakupovic and just wide of the far post. That was a fine effort.
24 min Look, I can lie to most people but I can’t lie to you: this hasn’t been a great game so far.
22 min With the ball dropping out of the sky, Drinkwater-Bevilaqua screws a left-footed volley well wide from 20 yards.
21 min “Wow!” says Hubert O’Hearn. “Isn’t this the greatest season EVER!?! (I just thought I’d get that in now before future events reduce me into a sour cynic, muttering ‘Just wait til next year.’)”
19 min A double chance for Leicester. Musa breaks down the left at pace and pulls the ball back towards the edge of the area Vardy, who connects sweetly with fresh air. The ball runs on to Mahrez, who beats Robertson with a stepover but then drives high and wide at the near post. He thought it got a deflection; Mike Dean disagreed. End of conversation.
16 min A spectacular piece of refereeing from the ever entertaining Mike Dean, who signals for a routine free-kick with the kind of demonstrative silent gesture usually reserved for those in charge of a hostage scene.
14 min “EPL FFS,” writes Gary Naylor. “The Leicester City bubble burst / dream continued, as they unexpectedly lost to / comfortably beat the Premier League’s opening day surprise packet / predicted whipping boys Hull City, in a display unlikely to stir much in supporters’ pants / damp down excitement... (cont p.94). And so it starts...”
11 min Hull have started pretty well, certainly in view of all the pre-match negativity. They are defending very deep, as I’m sure most teams will against Vardy and Musa this season. That’s an issue for Leicester. Meanwhile, Fuchs’ long, flat throw is headed clear to Gray, who welts a snapshot into orbit from 20 yards.
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9 min Drinkwater, who will surely become a key part of Sam Allardyce’s England, plays an excellent crossfield pass to start a promising Leicester attack. Mahrez then plays a clever pass into the area to the underlapping Simpson, but Clucas gets back to clear.
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8 min Mahrez passes the ball straight into touch. Second-season syndrome.
7 min “They say Ahmed Musa is even quicker than Jamie Vardy” says Alan Smith on Sky. Who are ‘they’? They seem to know a helluva lot about everything. They make the Eggheads seem like a herd of ignoramuses.
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6 min The first chance for Hull. Snodgrass’s outswinging corner from the left is met at the near post by the head of Davies, who flicks it not far wide of the far post.
4 min “Ah yes, ‘we go again’,” says Tom Gill. “As I recall it really came into currency after Steven Gerrard employed it, right before Liverpool’s title bid imploded. So not only is it trite and irritating, I suspect that whoever uses it is also unconsciously channeling a peculiarly British sense of glorious, headlong and desperate failure (over the top fellas!) betraying a lack of confidence that they can really win anything.”
Have you thought of becoming for prime minster? That’s the best summary of Britishness - or at least Englishness - I have read in ages.
3 min The highly talented left-winger Demarai Gray wins the ball 40 yards from goal and scoots towards the edge of the area. Eventually he hits a 25-yard curler that takes a deflection and loops onto the roof of the net. Jakupovic had it covered and the corner came to nowt.
2 min “Glad the Best League in the World™ is back?” asks Ruth Purdue. I suppose we all could have done with a slightly longer break after Euro 2016, another year or two, but yes, oh yes, I’m glad it’s back.
1 min Hull, in their bumblebee colours, kick off from right to left. Leicester City, the champions of England, are in blue.
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The players are in the tunnel. Leicester look pretty relaxed, Schmeichel and Mahrez in particular. This season is a step into the unknown for them, and for most of the league, which is why this is the most keenly anticipated Premier League season in at least a decade. The tedious certainties of the Big Four era are long gone.
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Pre-match reading
Team news
Hull City (4-3-3) Jakupovic; Elmohamady, Livermore, Davies, Robertson; Huddlestone, Clucas, Meyler; Snodgrass, Abel Hernandez, Diomande.
Substitutes Kuciak, Maloney, Tymon, Bowen, Luer, Olley, Clackstone.
Leicester City (4-4-2) Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Luis Hernandez, Fuchs; Mahrez, Drinkwater, King, Gray; Musa, Vardy.
Substitutes Zieler, Chilwell, Albrighton, Amartey, Kapustka, Okazaki, Ulloa.
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Preamble
I see football’s back, then. And on today of all days, one phrase will be used more than most: “we go again”. That’s fine for 19 of the Premier League clubs - beyond the legitimate concern that the phrase wasn’t that good in the first place and is now just an irritating cliche - but for Leicester City it’s not so easy. How do you go again when you’ve the last thing you did was the ultimate fairytale? Where do you even go?
Do you go for first, fourth, seventh or even 17th? There aren’t many precedents or frames of reference for Leicester. We know that most unlikely title winners of the modern era – from Sampdoria to Blackburn to Montpellier to Wolfsburg – have suffered a big comedown the following season. That has led to a raft of smug Leicester obituaries before the season has even started. I’m not sure it matters if they finish 20th with no points, no goals and no corners. In sport, you can’t lose immortality.
They have made some interesting signings, particularly Ahmed Musa, Bartosz Kapustka and Nampalys Mendy, and have only lost a couple of players, N’Golo Kante, from their title-winning squad. Most importantly, they still have the outrageous genius of Riyad Mahrez and the brilliant Jamie Vardy.
They start with a visit to Hull City, who already broken records: they are the first side in the history to register a 0.00 rating on the pre-season-optimismometer. Steve Bruce resigned, they have made no major signings and have a nasty injury list.
Everyone thinks they are certainties to go down. Frankly, comfortable pre-season victories over Scunthorpe, Caykur Rizespor and North Ferriby United deserve a bit more respect. You thought the Leicester story was good? Wait until Hull will it this year.
Kick off is at 12.30pm BST.
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