Amid all the hope and hype of a new manager and a new dawn for Everton, one thing crucially remains the same.
David Unsworth can do all he likes to instil faith, belief, passion and fire – and it is all sorely needed – but he can't conjure up a striker to match the 25 goals of Romelu Lukaku last season. He can't even fashion one to lace the Belgian's boots.
And that is at the heart of the problem that haunts the Merseyside club, as they face the chilling prospect of a battle through the winter months with the dead hand of the relegation zone clutching at them.
The caretaker manager got it badly wrong here at Leicester, the wrong team and the wrong formation against a side whose own new manager returned to the strengths that brought the title to the King Power Stadium.
Gifting space to the likes of Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and Demarai Gray with an unsophisticated, outmoded 4-4-2, and selecting wingers like Kevin Mirallas and Aaron Lennon who offered no protection to the their shell-shocked full backs was always asking for trouble.
But the key point here, is Puel has top class, title winning forwards to call on in Vardy and Mahrez, who will punish any lapses with vicious counter-attacking incision, just as they did in the glory season, and as they did in a painfully one-sided first half .
Unsworth recognised his error and changed things at the break, allowing Everton to largely control the second period; to create some chances, some little hope. Yet by then it was far too late...largely because they never looked like scoring, in the absence of a viable Lukaku replacement.
Koeman had that problem, and got the sack. It is hard to see how Unsworth can avoid a similar fate, or rather, press a coherent claim to taking the job on a permanent basis, with the forwards he has.
Oumar Niasse, who replaced the ineffective, lightweight, disinterested (and little wonder Koeman didn't fancy him) Mirallas at the break, worked hard enough and at least provided some raw energy. But raw is the word and he is certainly not the answer in getting them out of the bottom three, never mind a top six striker.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a different prospect, but exactly that – still a youngster who should not be exposed to the full weight of expectation at this level, for fear it will break him. The same can be said of the other two kids Unsworth turned to, Tom Davies and Jonjo Kenny, who made mistakes in the first half that led to goals, but should not be blamed.
To have any chance of getting the job, the temporary Blues manager must adapt quickly to the demands of the Premier League. He is a decent coach as his work with the U23s shows – and not the “glorified PE teacher who shouldn't be in charge of a men's team”, as radio pundit Joey Barton disgustingly claimed.
Yet this is a rarified level, and any weakness as Everton's formation proved in the first half, will be viciously exposed. Claude Puel may not have won at entertainment contest at Southampton, but he is an intelligent coach, with a top class record.
Here, he showed his understanding of the game, and showed up Unsworth's inexperience, by reverting to what Leicester do best....defend hard, counter harder.
They were rampant in the first half, and the only surprise was they didn't score earlier. Then from an Everton free kick they ran the length of the pitch, with Gray's pace setting up Vardy's clinical instinct. Soon after, Gray shot was cruelly sliced into his own net by the hapless Kenny, and the lesson was complete.
Leicester XI: Schmeichel, Simpson, Maguire, Morgan, Fuchs, Ndidi, Iborra, Chilwell, Gray, Mahrez, Vardy.
Subs: Iheanacho, King, Albrighton, Hamer, Dragovic, Slimani, Okazaki.
Everton XI: Pickford, Baines, Williams, Jagielka, Kenny, Gana, Davies, Lennon, MIrallas, Rooney, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Robles, Schneiderlin, Sigurdsson, Niasse, Holgate, Lookman, Baningime.
Referee: Andre Marriner.
Everton player ratings
Jordan PICKFORD 6 - Blameless, but he’s gone from one horror show at Sunderland to another
Jonjoe KENNY 5 - Poor lad, nowhere to hide after horrible miskick for own goal
Ashley WILLIAMS 5 - All at sea like a cruise liner, great future behind him
Phil JAGIELKA 5 - Unfair contest to pit an old warhorse against Vardy’s pace
Leighton BAINES 5 - All at sea like the merchant navy, tormented by Gray
Idrissa GUEYE 5 - Booked. Forget the stats, he doesn’t dominate games or set the tempo
Tom DAVIES 6 - Booked. Never went missing but mistakes contributed to first-half goals
Aaron LENNON 5 - Should have been awarded penalty after Fuchs chopped him down
Wayne ROONEY 6 - One or two sublime passes aside, chasing shadows towards the sunset
Kevin MIRALLAS 5 - A couple of shots but he did little tracking back or hard yards
Dominic CALVERT-LEWIN 5 - Zorro seems to be the hardest word for man in the mask
SUBS: Baningime (Lennon, 46) 6, Niasse (Mirallas, 46) 5, Sigurdsson (Rooney, 74) 6
Leicester player ratings
Kasper SCHMEICHEL 6 - Move along, nothing to see here, no major alarms
Danny SIMPSON 7 - Steadier than an orchestra conductor’s baton, cool under pressure
Harry MAGUIRE 7 - Reassuring presence, relished physical battles and won most of them
Wes MORGAN 7 - So comfortable he managed interlude of fancy footwork on right wing
Christian FUCHS 6 - Lucky to escape blatant penalty call after bringing down Lennon
Wilfred NDIDI 6 - Steadier than a middle lane hog on the M1 but much less annoying
Vicente IBORRA 7 - Called the tune like a jukebox churning out greatest hits
Ben CHILWELL 6 - Claude’s first tactical innovation: Two left-backs in same team
Riyad MAHREZ 7 - New boss Puel wants to ‘seduce’ him into staying – here we saw why
Jamie VARDY 8 - New manager, same old Vardy: dynamic, dazzling, deadly
Demarai GRAY 9 - *MOM Mystery deepens why successive managers gave him few chances to shine
SUBS: Okazaki (Mahrez, 75) 5, Albrighton (Chilwell, 83), Iheanacho (Vardy, 89)
Puel will be delighted with the way the Foxes are seeing out this game.
Unsworth on the other hand is close to ruling himself out of taking the job permanently already, despite just two games in charge.
Will he be given many more games before the Toffees pull the trigger on a permanent replacement for Ronald Koeman?
Beningime is on after his nice impact vs Chelsea midweek.
Unsworth rolling the dice a little with Niasse on, but Mirallas is off - surely at 0-2, it’s time to remove a more defensive player?
Goal! Leicester 2-0 Everton (Kenny OG)
It’s Gray again and he finds the half yard before whipping it into the box.
Jonjo Kenny just has to smash it clear at the near post, but he mishits it completely and it’s deflected past Pickford into his own goal.
Foxes jubilant, Kenny with his hands on his knees in despair. Toffees down and out?
What a miss from Calvert-Lewin, he has to put that away with Schmeichel out of goal following the cutback.
Mahrez shows his strength and turns inside the area after Vardy found him, though the cutback was just behind him.
The finish is low but not quite in the corner and Pickford collects.
Unsworth cuts a forlorn figure on the touchline. This could be a rout at this rate!
Goal! Leicester 1-0 Everton (Vardy)
From an Everton corner, Leicester go straight up the other end of the pitch and break the deadlock.
It’s stunning from Gray in the build-up, but how the Toffees allow him to carry it so far?
Vardy won’t miss from there as he powers home from inside the area after Mahrez’s cross.
Good start by Leicester, who are spreading it wind and their runners in the middle are finding space.
Several wasted opportunities, including Morgan’s half-volley.
New Leicester boss Claude Puel preparing charm offensive to seduce wantaway Riyad Mahrez into staying
Claude Puel is planning to launch a charm offensive in an attempt to ‘seduce’ Riyad Mahrez into staying at Leicester.
The Foxes new boss admits he can understand why title-winning players might want to leave after tasting Champion League football.
But the Frenchman hopes to sweet-talk them into changing their minds, starting with 2016 PFA player of the year Mahrez.
The Algerian put in a transfer request in May and expected to be on his way on transfer deadline day in the summer but there were no takers.
Puel said: “It is down to me to make these players want to stay by the fact we are playing good football. I want them to be happy here. I have always got to attract them, to seduce them.
“It is down to me to create that ambience and that environment where these players want to thrive and stay and be happy and to enjoy themselves and their football and the plans that we have.
“It is normal for a player, they win the Championship, they play Champions League, of course sometimes there is disappointment, frustration because now they know the high level.
“We work together and step by step to improve to find again this level, this possibility, this ambition, to find these good results.”
