10 Things We Learned From The English Premier League Football Weekend (30 Sept - 1 Oct 2017)
9. The End Of A Dubious Honeymoon?
It's difficult to classify Craig Shakespeare's first few months in charge of Leicester as a "honeymoon period", much as improved results warrant the cliche. In replacing Claudio Ranieri, he was very much the other man - like if your sound old dad was booted out of the house to make way for Piers Morgan.
Dull though the game was, it at the very least had the courtesy to shatter an easy shorthand proffered by the very worst of the football punditry arena: a top striker isn't necessarily every answer to all of football's questions - which undoes the intro to this article somewhat, but then, football's a funny old game. Bournemouth dominated this fixture, but Jermaine Defoe - who was curiously caught up by Wes Morgan elsewhere - failed to convert his side's best chances. That he was afforded so many was equally surprising; while much was made of Shakespeare's reversion to Leicester's title-winning tactics last season, defensively, this side is a shadow of the 2015-16 vintage. Lewis Cook tore them apart in the centre of midfield, exploiting the gaps left by N'Golo Kanté.
Danny Simpson's trademark magnetic Mitre hands left Bournemouth furious. They were denied a certain penalty in the first half when he visibly slapped it out of touch - a fate that might yet befall his manager.