

In the Premier League's history since the competition got renamed as such, there hadn't been a champion that lost its season-opening match. Leicester City broke that record this past Saturday at Hull City. Riyad Mahrez's goal from the spot responded to Hernandez's opener for the Tigers, but Snodgrass decided the match with a winner with half an hour still on the clock. Manager Claudio Ranieri had already warned everybody that this season wasn't going to be as great as the last one, turns out that he knows what he is talking about.
After the loss, talking to Sky Sports, Ranieri accepted their defeat: "Hull played better. We tried to do our best. We tried to win, but sometimes it's impossible. We made some mistakes and we have to think where we made them. Our effort was amazing, but it was individual, not as a team. I told my players this season will be harder than last season. For this reason, I told them we must be very strong together because last season we showed ourselves as a very good team and we need to repeat that. Today we played individually. Today was a normal match, maybe a draw was normal but we lost it."
Hull City manager Mike Phelan also told Sky Sports that: "I thought the players had it in them, we had to change a lot of things in order to get to this stage. It was fingers crossed to make sure we had enough players, but full credit to them. When we conceded the goal like we did after half-time you think the floodgates may open, but they carried on and showed great determination and character. You have to master the ball, play with confidence and play with character and courage. Everything came out, but it's one game, roll on the next one. It's not often in the Premier League you have a 0-0 game, you have to score goals, our guys have to learn and learn quickly, it's difficult for them but they managed to keep going."
Phelan still has no idea if he will remain as the Tigers' manager after taking Steve Bruce's job when he quit: "The situation has not changed. It may change, I don't know. I was asked to take pre-season, I've done that, I was asked to take the game, I've done that. Now we are into the politics, that's for other people to decide. Players may want to come here now, performances changes things."
Photo credit: Leicester City FC