Vardy treble stuns Man City as Leicester run riot
Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City lost their composure as Jamie Vardy hit a hat-trick in Leicester's beautiful 5-2 win at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Guardiola's side went ahead after just four minutes because of Riyad Mahrez's thunderous strike.
But that was as effective as it got for City as Vardy tore Guardiola's creaky defence to pieces along with his pace and movement.
Kyle Walker's foul on Vardy resulted in a penalty that the striker converted prior to the break.
Vardy struck again with a fine finish in the next half and netted another spot-kick after being fouled by Eric Garcia.
James Maddison's brilliant strike added Leicester's fourth before Nathan Ake scored his first City goal.
Youri Tielemans' penalty made it five, sealing Leicester's third successive victory and leaving City bruised after their most embarrassing league defeat under Guardiola since a 4-0 loss at Everton in 2017.
For the very first time, in his 686th game as a manager with City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona, a Guardiola team conceded five goals .
"I think the condition was we put an extra pressure on ourselves to score the second one and the 3rd one," Guardiola said.
"Leicester didn't want to play, just defend and counter-attack. For the reason that position we must be more calm."
It was the very first time City had conceded five goals in a home league game since 2003 against Arsenal -- a devastating setback after their win at Wolves within their Premier League opener last Monday.
"Anxious...we aren't creating chances, we aren't creating chances, we got nervous, and after, we hand out three penalties. When you give away three penalties you cannot win," Guardiola said.
City looked a whole lot worse at the back than last season regardless of the signing of Bournemouth centre-back Ake.
Amid reports City could possibly be about to sign Benfica centre-half Ruben Dias, Guardiola could have been forgiven for rushing to seal the offer once the final whistle blew.
While it is prematurily . to create off City's title hopes, they'll need to improve substantially if they're overhaul champions Liverpool.
"Of course it's hard, but still it is the second game in the Premier League," Guardiola said.
"We have to make an effort to see what you have to do to avoid it the next time. That is my job. Of course Personally i think bad for the people, for the club. We must analyse and improve."
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers added: "I believe to beat Manchester City you need to run like hell, that is the first thing.
"We showed our quality, played the machine very well, and it had been a truly brilliant result and performance for all of us."
- Rattled City -
City were ahead in the fourth minute when James Justin could only half clear Kevin De Bruyne's corner and Mahrez smashed a excellent strike into top corner from wide on the right-hand side of the Leicester area.
But after dominating the first half, City were rocked in the 37th minute.
Harvey Barnes' precise pass played Vardy in behind Walker and the City defender made a panicked tug on the Leicester striker that sent him tumbling.
Vardy picked himself up to drill the penalty high in to the roof of the web. He showcased his predatory instincts again in the 54th minute.
Making a clever set you back meet Timothy Castagne's low cross at the near-post, Vardy flicked the ball past Ederson along with his trailing foot.
Garcia's push gave Leicester another penalty in the 58th minute.
Once more Vardy was ice cool from the spot as he completed just the third treble against a Guardiola team.
Maddison came off the bench to compound City's misery with his 25-yard curler into the top corner in the 77th minute.
Ake headed City's second in the 84th minute, but Benjamin Mendy fouled Maddison four minutes later and Tielemens made Leicester the first team in Premier League history to score three penalties in one game.
