Birmingham boss Wayne Rooney said he could understand why Leicester excessively celebrated a goal in front of home fans after his side were beaten 3-2 by the Sky Bet Championship leaders.
Leicester forward Stephy Mavididi was booked after climbing an advertising hoarding and goading Blues supporters in the Tilton End behind the goal at St. Andrew’s.
“There’s emotion in the game and players celebrate – I got a mobile phone thrown at me at Anfield, so players have their reasons,” said Rooney.
“Of course you want players to be respectful of the fans and I’m sure I’ll have one of my players do something to upset away fans.
“It’s good that they can celebrate – I don’t mean against us, but I was listening to the Chelsea game on the radio driving home the other day and a goal went in but no one celebrated because they were waiting for VAR to check it.
“It’s good they can look across and see they are onside and celebrate their goals.”
Rooney admitted Birmingham were “naive”, adding: “For 30 minutes we were really good – we pressed them really well and created chances.
“But we were naive for their first two goals and we allowed them to control the last 10 minutes of the first half.”
Leicester took the lead from a speedy breakaway from a Birmingham corner in the 10th minute.
Abdul Fatawu sped away and squared to Mavididi to dink over goalkeeper John Ruddy.
Jordan James levelled after 15 minutes, finding the bottom corner with a low shot after Siriki Dembele squared to Ivan Sunjic, who supplied the final pass.
Leicester regained the lead after 22 minutes when Ricardo Pereira dispossessed Juninho Bacuna and Fatawu again raced goalwards, releasing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to round Ruddy and slot home.
Mavidivi made it 3-1 in the 50th minute when his curling shot from 15 yards took a slight deflection and flew past Ruddy, before James’ shot deflected in off Jannik Vestergaard for 3-2 after 74 minutes.
Leicester manager Enzo Maresca admitted his team “don’t like” counter-attacking, despite scoring their first two goals from breaks.
“We don’t like counter-attacking but sometimes you need to use it,” he said. “We plan the game, but it depends on how the opponent tries to defend against us.
“We struggled for the first 15-20 minutes then we were completely in control, creating chances.
“But when you don’t take your chances, the opponent is there waiting, so they scored their second goal.
“Even after that, I liked the way the team behaved all together so I’m very happy.”
Van Nistelrooy wishes Man Utd success under Amorim
Ruud van Nistelrooy says Manchester United deserve to be successful under new head coach Ruben Amorim, having left the club after the Portuguese's arrival this week.
Amorim officially left Sporting CP for United on Monday, with Van Nistelrooy having overseen four matches as interim coach after Erik ten Hag was sacked last month.
United won three and drew one of those matches, beating Leicester City twice and overcoming PAOK in the Europa League while drawing 1-1 with Chelsea in the Premier League.
At 39 years old, new boss Amorim will become the youngest man to lead United since a 33-year-old Wilf McGuinness took charge of them on Boxing Day 1970 against Derby County.
Van Nistelrooy, who had initially hoped to stay on in a backroom role under Amorim but departed earlier this week, is backing the Red Devils to be successful.
In a farewell post on Instagram, the former striker wrote: "To everyone at Manchester United football club, in particular the backroom staff, the players and the fans.
"I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your incredible efforts and support. It has been a privilege and honour to represent the club as a player, coach and manager, and I will always cherish the memories we have shared together.
"M.U.F.C will always have a special place in my heart, and I hope there are many more glory days at Old Trafford very soon - not only because I want the club to do well, but because you all deserve it!"
Amorim's first assignment as United boss will be a Premier League trip to Ipswich Town next week, before Bodo/Glimt visit Old Trafford in the Europa League on November 28.
Between his March 2020 appointment and his departure this month, Sporting won 77% of their Primeira Liga matches, the best win ratio in Europe's top 10 leagues in that span.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
McTominay has no regrets over Man Utd exit
Scott McTominay says he has no regrets about leaving Manchester United to join Napoli after a lightning-quick start to life in Italy.
He has scored three goals in 10 appearances for the Italian club in all competitions, netting twice in Serie A to help them sit top of the table after 12 games.
Only Romelu Lukaku has scored more league goals for Napoli than him this season, while McTominay has also had the second-most big chances (four) among his team-mates, scoring two of them.
Before his transfer deadline day move, McTominay had spent 22 years at United, joining their academy aged five before making his debut in May 2017.
The Scotland international made 255 appearances for the senior team, scoring 29 goals, including 10 during his most prolific season in 2023-24, and providing eight assists.
While McTominay admitted leaving his boyhood club was not an easy choice, he is pleased with the outcome of the choice.
"Obviously, it's a big decision, there's no denying that. It was a huge decision for me and my family and my friends," he told The Times.
"At times like that in your life, you just have to say, 'Do I want to do it? Absolutely,' and go for it. There's no looking back. I've never had any regrets in my life, or my career and I continue that way to this day.
"I want my career to be successful, and I'm going to go out of my way to try and push myself to be the best football player and best person that I can possibly be."
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