Leicester City 4-0 Newcastle United: Brendan Rodgers’ get back to winning ways

In Naples last Thursday, James Maddison sat inconsolable in the pouring rain after missing a simple scoring chance to send Leicester into the Europa League knockout stages.

Maddison looked almost broken as he contemplated his error yet he bounced back brilliantly here to send Newcastle crashing back to earth.

Maddison and Youri Tielemans – who scored twice – were outstanding and are exactly the type of players the Magpies’ Saudi owners would like to sign. Yet neither would be interested in joining a club fighting to stay out of the Championship, no matter their wealth. 

Leicester (above) cruised to a comfortable victory over Newcastle on Sunday afternoon

Brendan Rodgers will be delighted with his team’s result given the fact they had won just two matches in all competitions since October

And there is the brutal truth for Newcastle. Unless they can be strong now, they can forget about success in future. After finally claiming their first victory of the season over Burnley last weekend, this was the perfect opportunity for back-to-back wins. Instead, Newcastle failed to deliver and now they face Liverpool at Anfield on Thursday.

Though manager Eddie Howe had a case when he complained about the penalty awarded for Leicester’s first, his side ought to have made a far better fist of it. Because Leicester, struggling for form and confidence, should have been there for the taking.

They were without eight players – although no key first-teamers – amid a Covid outbreak in the camp, they had returned from that soul-destroying 3-2 defeat at Napoli in the early hours of Friday, and they had not kept a clean sheet in the Premier League since the opening day of the season. 

Youri Tielemans opened the scoring from the penalty spot for Leicester in the first half 

Patson Daka (above) then added a second for the home side in the 57th minute of the game 

As if that were not bad enough, Leicester then lost their most experienced defender, Jonny Evans, to a hamstring injury in the sixth minute, forcing Brendan Rodgers to send his holding midfielder Wilfred Ndidi into the back four. And after playing the full game in Naples, top scorer Jamie Vardy was given a breather and named on the bench.

Even with all those elements in their favour, Newcastle barely laid a glove on Leicester. The closest they came to scoring was when, with Leicester 2-0 up, Timothy Castagne’s bizarre back-pass forced Kasper Schmeichel to race back towards goal and clear the ball off the line. Apart from that, Schmeichel was rarely challenged, and Leicester even looked relatively secure at set pieces, which has been their achilles heel all season.

Newcastle were unlucky with the opening goal as Jamaal Lascelles made only slight contact with James Maddison before referee Peter Bankes pointed to the spot, and Tielemans converted in the 37th minute. ‘Maddison was going over before the contact was made and I am disappointed the referee didn’t look at the monitor himself,’ said Howe. ‘It was a contentious moment and that would have been the best decision.

‘I would encourage referees to see these incidents for themselves. But I am aware of the position we are in and we need results. We did some good things but we allowed Leicester to score four goals with poor moments defensively when we were chasing the game.’

Leicester’s jitters at the back should have given Newcastle hope but while they were insipid, the Foxes were inspired. 

Tielemans added another before James Maddison scored the final goal of the game 

It will be hard for Gareth Southgate to ignore  Maddison after his performance on Sunday

Vardy’s deputy Patson Daka hit the second in the 57th minute, finishing a move that involved a fabulous piece of vision from Maddison. The playmaker’s first-time flick released Harvey Barnes behind the defence, and when Barnes squared the ball Daka did the rest, celebrating extravagantly with a somersault.

That was the game-breaker. Finally playing with their old swagger, the FA Cup holders kicked for home and produced two more excellent moves for their third and fourth goals.

In the 81st minute, Daka found Maddison in space and instead of shooting, Leicester’s No10 slipped the ball to his right, where Tielemans drove it into the roof of the net.

After a timid return from injury on Thursday, this was more like it from Tielemans, who has not yet accepted Leicester’s offer of a new contract. With his current deal expiring at the end of next season, Leicester may soon reach a tipping point with the influential midfielder. 

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe (right) will be disappointed as his side were hoping move level on points with 17th-placed Watford with a win

However, Newcastle did need goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel to make some fine stops

Having had a hand in the first three goals, Maddison collected a return pass from Daka and drove the fourth across Martin Dubravka and into the far corner. ‘He was excellent,’ said Rodgers. ‘You see his quality, his composure and how unselfish he was.

‘The pass to Youri is a great pass. You also have to align that with hard work and he worked hard for the team.’

Rodgers questioned the determination of his team after watching them dumped into the Europa Conference League and they were responded with far more solidity without the ball, despite Evans’ early withdrawal.

He added: ‘It is very difficult when you have so many players unavailable. So to be eighth in the table with all these issues and challenges is a testament to our mentality and spirit. I am hoping we can get some of our injured players back and find some consistency.’