For Germany, Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Stoke City and now Leicester City, Robert Huth has played with and against many of the world’s best forwards. Asked to assess Jamie Vardy’s qualities after the former Stocksbridge Park Steels, Halifax and Fleetwood Town striker scored for the fifth match in succession, taking his Premier League tally for the season to seven, Huth, while appreciative, was not inclined to go over the top.
“He’s just really, really annoying,” said the German. “He never gives up, he’s always on your case. The amount of balls he got today when he was second-favourite to win it but managed to get a foot on it, get the free-kick or throw-in 60-70 yards up the pitch, and take the pressure off us. We love Jamie here. I try to be on his side in training, it makes it a much easier session.”
There is no doubting that, but how much more there is to Vardy’s game than pace and a ferocious work-rate remains to be seen. That much was implicit in Huth’s response and, to a certain extent, that of the manager, Claudio Ranieri, after another vibrant counterattacking performance by Leicester that brought them three points, albeit they had to withstand a late Norwich City fightback.
“He’s in a golden moment,” said Ranieri, having confirmed a late injury scare after Vardy appeared to jar his knee, which required several minutes of treatment, was no more than that, and that his talisman should be fine to join England’s squad for the upcoming fixtures against Estonia and Lithuania.
The fact Vardy is currently playing with a broken wrist conjures up memories of a previous Leicester goalscoring hero, Gary Lineker, scoring goals for England with his arm similarly bandaged, but again Ranieri was guarded. “He’s a different style of player, but it’s good for us if he’s being compared. I’m happy about that,” he said.
Certainly Vardy could not replicate the impressive assuredness with which he scored twice in Leicester’s defeat by Arsenal the previous week, failing to tuck away a late opportunity to make the game safe.
But as the Norwich manager Alex Neil conceded, he got his body in the right position to invite the contact with Sébastien Bassong that resulted in the first-half penalty that he scored to put the Foxes ahead, and, as Huth pointed out, covered enough ground to give a whole new meaning to “defending from the front”.
It was the least the visitors deserved for a first half in which they dominated, leaving Neil baffled with his side’s failure to cope with a style for which he said they had specifically prepared. Norwich were better in the second period, but only after Shinji Okazaki’s pressing had won the ball in his own half, allowing Jeffrey Schlupp and the excellent N’Golo Kanté to exchange passes before Schlupp slotted the ball past the Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy.
Neil’s introduction of Dieumerci Mbokani made a huge difference, the DR Congo striker proving a much more dynamic and effective focus for Norwich up front than Cameron Jerome. His touching home of Jonny Howson’s cross set up a tense final quarter but Leicester deserved to hang on, with Ranieri’s decision to leave out the much-praised winger Riyad Mahrez more than justified.
His intention, he said, had been to bring Mahrez on in the second half, but by then the match was “different”. “It’s OK, he never can think he would play 38, 39 matches. We were very solid on the flank, we did not concede many crosses in the first half.”
Man of the match Jamie Vardy (Leicester City).
