Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy praised Leicester City manager Claude Puel's tactical nous after his side recorded a stunning 2-1 victory over Manchester City.
The Foxes inflicted Chelsea's first defeat of the season at Stamford Bridge last week and followed it up on Boxing Day by becoming just the third Premier League team to beat Pep Guardiola's side this season.
Leicester recovered from an early goal scored by City's Bernardo Silva to level through Marc Albrighton's crisp strike before Puel altered their formation to prevent his side being overrun in the midfield.
The change paid off in the second half as Ricardo Pereira fired home a late winner to hand the Foxes all three points.
Speaking on Match of the Day, as quoted by the Leicester Mercury, Murphy lauded Puel's tactics, admitting that: "There’s been some disgruntlement at Leicester with the supporters and some of the players even, but Puel deserves great credit because he made a tactical change in the first half while they were level in the game that I thought changed the whole momentum of the game and gave Leicester the platform to go on and win it.
"This is how they started, 4-5-1, Vardy isolated. It’s all well and good playing 4-5-1 but there was no pressure on the ball, Man City were completely dominant and they go a goal up. Then you start thinking: ‘Here we go again, another dominant Man City performance.’
“Now, Leicester got back into the game and that was because Maddison came in off that left wing, where he wasn’t getting any of the ball, and played in that no.10 position that he loves so much.
"It’s a superb ball from Vardy and good finish from Albrighton, who was terrific all afternoon. Then they get the piece of paper from the manager and they change. Albrighton goes to the left, Maddison goes in at no.10 and Choudhury goes to the right.
"They play a 4-4-1-1 and all of a sudden, the confidence grew, they had men flying forward, Maddison started dictating play, getting on the ball in the hole with his ability to create and find those spaces.
"The two full-backs of Leicester were high up the pitch, the two central midfielders high up the pitch. How many times do we see teams against Man City do that? Not very often.
"The tactical change really worked for Leicester and all of a sudden they had confidence to get players forward. They should have gone in at half-time winning the game. They had runners trying to win the game, not sitting off, not playing with any fear.
"Every Leicester player deserves real credit but Puel deserves some because that tactical change was the reason they won. And just when you thought (Leicester) were running out of legs, probably the best player on the pitch, Ricardo, hits an absolute screamer.
A Christmas cracker! #LeiMci pic.twitter.com/r7AXwck5OD
— Leicester City (@LCFC) December 26, 2018
"His performance was sensational and he deserved that goal more than anyone else on the pitch."
Leicester's victory saw them consolidate seventh position in the Premier League, with the Foxes just four points behind Manchester United in sixth. Claude Puel's side can make it three wins in a row on Saturday when they face Cardiff City at the King Power Stadium.
Source : 90min