Danny Murphy criticises Jamie Vardy's penalty technique claiming Leicester striker 'runs too quickly and puts his head down too early'

• e-mail

Jamie Vardy missed his penalty against Leicester on Saturday because he 'runs too quickly and puts his head down too early', according to Danny Murphy.

The England striker missed a crucial spot-kick that would have brought Leicester level in their 3-2 defeat by Liverpool at the King Power Stadium.

Vardy's fiercely-struck penalty was hit too centrally and easily punched away by Simon Mignolet.

Jamie Vardy missed a penalty in Leicester's 3-2 defeat by Liverpool on Saturday

The England striker rues his his miss form the spot kick which would have brought Foxes level

Vardy's penalty was fiercely struck but too close to Simon Mignolet who punched it away

And speaking on Match of the Day, Murphy claimed that the 30-year-old's technique is letting him down. 

'I've been looking at his penalties, and this one full speed... for me he runs too quickly to take a penalty. The quicker you run at a ball the harder it is. Because he's running so quickly he puts his head down too early for me.

'I used to try and look at the 'keeper as late as possible. His head's down, he doesn't know where the 'keeper is. It's a hit and hope penalty. I don't like it, I never took them like that. Some players are confident enough to keep looking.'

The Leicester striker had scored his previous two penalties this season, but bother were taken in a similar manner.

Danny Murphy said on Match of the Day that Vardy runs too quickly in his run-up

Vardy is shown looking at the goalkeeper as he begins his run-up to the dead ball

But the Leicester man then looks down early at the ball as he sprints towards it

Thibaut Courtois got his hand to one but could not keep it out, while Huddersfield's Jonas Lossl was wrong-footed last week.

Murphy added that because Vardy is not looking at the goalkeeper he is reducing his chances of finding the net: 'You see his eyes, he looks and then he's down so early, the 'keeper could be doing anything. I always felt that if the 'keeper tries to do something silly, or go early, you could see if you watched him a bit longer.

'There's no exact science with penalties. I think if you run too quickly, and look down too early, you're playing pot luck.'

Vardy displayed the same technique but managed to score in the defeat by Chelsea this month

Murphy missed only one penalty during his career, and even then he scored the rebound in a 3-2 win for Fulham at Manchester City in 2008.

After the game Mignolet admitted that he and the Liverpool coaching staff had worked on Vardy's penalty style.

'You never know what the striker's going to do and he's got a good record. Luckily he went that way, like we thought he did.