Gareth Southgate will be hoping that Jamie Vardy changes his tune on England

Sitting in the cold at the King Power was England manager Gareth Southgate. While everybody else looked on with a mild sense of astonishment at yet another Liverpool implosion, he will have seen another day of note from Jamie Vardy.

It is impossible to ignore Vardy, even at 34. He remains key to everything that Leicester do and it’s hard to believe that his England career really is over. 

Southgate has indicated there remains a dialogue and having watched Vardy, he will be glad of that. Vardy was influential all game. The utter persistence of his threat is the impressive thing about him.

Vardy scares defenders. Told these days by Brendan Rodgers to expend less energy and sit on the shoulder of the last defender, he retains the knack of finding space. Three times in the first half he could have scored.

It was no surprise when he grabbed the crucial second goal that helped Leicester turn the game.

It was Alisson’s fault of course. However, Vardy still had to be there, chasing a lost cause to profit from the mix-up, sniffing the danger.

As Southgate headed home, Vardy will not have been far from his thoughts and it seems inconceivable that a call will not be made between now and the summer’s Euros.

Whether Vardy picks up the phone is another matter entirely.

How Martin Keown called it! 

Leicester beat Liverpool by getting the ball forward early in behind their back line and into Jamie Vardy, just as Martin Keown predicted in his tactical column on Saturday.

Vardy is lethal at breaking behind and he loved the visitors’ high line. He nearly lobbed Alisson after one ball over the top and hit the crossbar from another. And then he scored Leicester’s second goal from yet another long ball in behind.