Steve Cooper has backed Leicester captain Jamie Vardy to continue to be the main man after he rescued a point from their Premier League opener at home to Tottenham.
Vardy had been expected to sit out the Monday night clash after he missed a large chunk of pre-season with a muscle injury.
However, the Leicester forward declared himself fit over the weekend and rewarded new boss Cooper with a poacher’s finish at the back post from Abdul Fatawu’s cross in the 57th minute to cancel out Pedro Porro’s first-half opener in a 1-1 draw.
There’s never a dull moment when Jamie Vardy is around 😅 pic.twitter.com/0gZ0NKwgKQ
— Premier League (@premierleague) August 19, 2024
It was Vardy’s 137th top-flight goal and ninth against Tottenham, who he later taunted as he was substituted when he pointed to the Premier League badge and signalled one in reference to the Foxes’ shock title win in 2016.
Cooper, who replaced Enzo Maresca in the summer, said: “If the game was yesterday or Saturday, for sure he wouldn’t have played.
“He is the main man here and we want him to continue to be that guy but it wasn’t sitting right with him that we were coming into this game and didn’t have a fit senior striker because Patson Daka has had an operation.
“He was feeling OK in his rehab, came to me and declared himself fit, so ‘go play boy, no problem,’.
“For sure, he is not normal in terms of what he can still produce at his age and the athlete he is.
“We’re just, and me particularly, going to really work strong with him to have the right programme, respect his body and what he feels is right for him and his preparation.
“And if we do that, then I feel we can get more moments like that out of him. He is the main man here, for sure and I want that to continue.”
Ange Postecoglou was frustrated after his Tottenham team squandered a host of first-half chances.
Brennan Johnson and Dominic Solanke went close before Porro headed in a superb delivery by James Maddison, who impressed on his first return to King Power Stadium.
Solanke tested Mads Hermansen again at the start of the second half before Rodrigo Bentancur, who later left the pitch on a stretcher following a sickening head injury, curled an effort straight at the Leicester goalkeeper.
It proved costly when Fatawu cut inside and picked out the unmarked Vardy to head home at the back post to spark jubilant celebrations.
Vardy almost grabbed a second soon after but was thwarted by Guglielmo Vicario’s fine low save and while further chances followed a seven-minute delay for Bentancur’s head injury, it finished 1-1.
“Disappointing outcome,” Postecoglou reflected.
“Very dominant first half, really wasteful in front of goal. We started the second half similar. First 15 to 20 minutes very dominant, wasteful but you know at 1-0 there is always an opportunity for the opposition to come back into the game.
“That’s what happened and we lost our way for 15 or 20 minutes. We lost our composure and the crowd got behind them, but again (we) finished strong.
“Just really disappointed we lacked a little cutting edge in the front third, made some poor decisions, lacked some composure and didn’t get the reward our football deserved.”
Postecoglou handed a debut to £65million signing Solanke, who produced plenty of positive moments outside of the penalty area but failed to make the most of three golden chances.
He added: “Dom was good. He worked hard for the team. He had a couple of chances he will be disappointed he didn’t do better with.
“The overall performance of everyone was OK, but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t turn that performance into outcomes.
“We had similar issues last year and if we’re going to get to the next level as a team and bridge the gap to the top sides, it is an area of the game we need to improve.”
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