Minimal touches but plenty of influence, a half-time Red Bull, an important goal and a spot of s***housery – Leicester City are back in the Premier League and so is Jamie Vardy.
And, boy, did they need their talisman, who continues to defy his advancing years and write more incredible scripts.
At the ripe old age of 37 and after missing the vast majority of pre-season through injury, Vardy even defied the pre-match prediction of manager Steve Cooper, who cast doubt over Vardy’s availability for Leicester’s opening game of what will be a challenging campaign back in the top flight.
But if there was even an inkling of Vardy being fit, he had to play, and not just because Cooper has been left without any other options he fancied.
“If the game was yesterday or Saturday, for sure, he wouldn’t have played,” Cooper says. “There were no mind games or lies going on. I wasn’t lying in the press conference. I have done that before but I wasn’t this time.
“It wasn’t sitting right with him that we were coming into this game without a senior striker, with Patson Daka now out for three months, and he (Vardy) is the main man, so he declared himself fit. So go and play boy. No problem.”
Vardy’s opening-day record is remarkable. His headed equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur — who will be left ruing missed chances in a game they bossed for nearly an hour — was his eighth goal on Premier League matchday one. Only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has scored more in the first gameweek (nine).
Vardy scores his equaliser against Spurs (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
His first in that sequence came against Sunderland in 2015, at the start of the season that propelled him to stardom and notoriety. That season, Tottenham were Leicester’s biggest challengers for an unlikely and incredible Premier League title.
As Vardy was substituted in the 79th minute, that rivalry, epitomised by Vardy’s 2016 response on Twitter (now X) to Harry Kane, remained fresh in the memory as he gestured towards the Tottenham fans, pointing to the Premier League badge on his sleeve and raising a finger to represent the number of titles Leicester had won. Then he pointed to the away end and signalled a zero.
Cristian Romero was on the end of some chat from Vardy as well, as he urged the veteran to show more haste when leaving the field. Romero is not the first, nor will he be the last.
Of course, this is a very different Leicester from the one that defied the 5,000-1 bookmaker odds, although Claudio Ranieri’s title-winners side had also been tipped for relegation.
They have come crashing down and entered this season devoid of the feel-good factor that promoted sides usually possess.
In some parts of the fanbase, there is lingering resentment at the manner of their decline and frustration, especially given the looming charge from the Premier League for a breach of profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).
A fractured relationship with the club’s hierarchy exists. No such disconnect exists between Vardy and the fanbase, however.
Vardy has been the one true constant during all the triumphs and tribulations of the last 10 years. He continues to be the club’s iconic figure, defying the laws of nature to continue to lead Leicester forward.
He was out of contract in the summer, but he had no intention of calling time on his illustrious career. While many modern players train privately in sunny climes with teams of conditioning coaches to prepare for the new campaign, Vardy continues to do things his way — a family holiday, a spot of vegetable gardening and a few beers on the sofa.
Cooper speaking to Vardy after the game (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Ask those close to him about how he continues to do what he does, and they reply: “He is a freak of nature.”
Ask Vardy, who revealed his secrets to Sky Sports after the match, and he’ll say: “Tomorrow it’s off-feet, get the massages, cryotherapy, in the pool, stretching. Then more cryotherapy at home, sauna, an hour in the oxygen tent. It’s a bit boring in the oxygen tent and nine times out of 10 I fall asleep and the kids have to come and find me.”
His manager also provided more details. “He has trained for the best part of two weeks and then got injured, trained just once and then played,” says Cooper.
“He’s not normal in terms of what he can still produce at his age and the athlete he still is. He still hit high speeds and in tests on the first day of pre-season and fitness levels. He is in the top category.”
Eyebrows were raised outside the club when Leicester extended his contract, especially given their cost-cutting exercise to avoid further entanglements with the football authorities. Vardy remains one of the club’s highest-paid players.
However, even at his age and on a rolling one-year contract, it makes sense.
As well as being the potential match-winner, Vardy sets the standards and provides belief. Around him are a host of young players in forward positions. Behind him against Tottenham was Argentinian 19-year-old Facundo Buonanotte, just over half Vardy’s age, and to his right was 20-year-old Abdul Fatawu.
To them, he may be a father figure. If he continues to defy all natural logic he could become a grandfather figure. When he plays the others know they are going into battle with a warrior and it breeds confidence.
Vardy was guiding the pair and instructing them constantly during the game and when he wasn’t talking he was leading by example, chasing every cause, winning some lost ones.
That electric pace may not be there as it once was and a couple of times, he was quickly caught as he tried to burst through down the middle, but he still had enough turn of pace to latch onto Buonanotte’s superb pass in the second half. He couldn’t find the finish to beat Guglielmo Vicario in the Tottenham goal. There were gasps of surprise that the net didn’t bulge.
But Vardy did bag the crucial equaliser, heading in a cross 12 minutes into the second half.
Vardy dribbling with the ball (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
With Daka injured and Tom Cannon, another youngster trying to learn from Vardy, not trusted by Cooper, Leicester are trying to bring in another striker before the transfer deadline.
Despite the confirmed signing of defensive midfielder Oliver Skipp from Tottenham in a deal worth more than £20million ($26m) earlier in the day, Leicester are still keen to do some more business. They know they remain short of more quality in attack. At times in the first half against Tottenham, that was clear to see.
They would love to find another Vardy. None exists and is unlikely ever to again.
However, this Leicester side showed they have heart and a fighting spirit. They possessed a tenacity not to give up and fold before a superior opponent in that first 45 minutes.
That is a quality epitomised by their evergreen No 9.
(Top photo: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
