Recap:
Leicester City came from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur by a score of 2-1 in London on Sunday. Richarlison’s headed goal gave the hosts the lead at the half. Within five minutes of the restart, the Foxes had scored twice, with Jamie Vardy and Bilal El Khannouss finding the back of the next. City held on for the next (what felt like) four hours to claim the three points.
There is no such thing as “too early for a Guinness.”
It wasn’t a dominant performance and if you want to nitpick, you could say we probably only deserved a draw. We’re in far to precarious a position to overly concern ourselves with such things. City made two really good chances and scored from both of them while Jakub Stolarczyk was an absolute unit between the sticks.
What was different today? Well, we were clinical, but one of the things that really helped was that Boubakary Soumare spent far more time making himself an outlet for the defence. That didn’t eliminate the turnovers, but it reduced them. The wing play Jordan Ayew and Bobby De Cordova-Reid got the job done. It wasn’t pretty, and in a perfect world, I would still want to see Stephy Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu out there, but this pairing got the job done.
Concerns remain, of course. Wout Faes and Jannik Vestergaard were both exposed at times, for concentration and pace, respectively. Harry Winks’ passing is perilously loose at times but he did stick to his defensive responsibilities. You can find a lot not to like from today if you want to. I choose to look at the performance as “good enough” and leave it at that.
3 Takeaway:
- Stolarczyk can really keep the ball out of the back of the net. He was excellent today in his shot-stopping and positioning. I’m not saying that we’re going to have a difficult decision to make when Hermansen returns, but I do think we have two legitimate goalkeepers.
- The secret formula for overcoming bad form is to find an opponent in even worse form.
- I do not think I will ever like the 4-2-3-1. I know that’s a “me” issue, but I just. don’t. like. it.
The victory gives Leicester 17 points from 23 matches. That’s good enough for 17th on the table, which, as you probably know, is a much better place than 19th. There’s no cushion; Wolves and Ipswich are just a point behind us, but they are behind us. We travel to Goodison Park next Saturday to take on Everton and then it’s off to Old Trafford to square off against Manchester United in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Leicester City: Jakub Stolarczyk, James Justin (Woyo Coulibaly 90+4’), Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard, Victor Kristiansen, Boubakary Soumare, Harry Winks, Bilal El Khannouss (Facundo Buonanotte 77’), Jordan Ayew (Conor Coady 87’), Bobby De Cordova-Reid (Oliver Skipp 87’), Jamie Vardy (Patson Daka 77’) (C)
Tottenham Hotspur: Antonin Kinsky, Archie Gray, Radu Dragusin, Ben Davies, Pedro Porro, Pape Matar Sarr, Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, Richarlison, Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski
Key Moments and Notes:
2’- Great anticipation from El Khannouss to anticipate a backpass and win the ball in midfield. Nothing comes of it, but it’s encouraging.
6’- Justin gives away a cheap free kick, fouling Son on the wing. Stolarczyk does a fine job of punching the cross away.
10’- Kristiansen gets the ball in acres of space down the left. He cuts it back for Ayew at the top of the area, and “acres of space” seriously understates how much room he has. He hits it first-time and it’s easily blocked.
14’- Close! A low cross takes several deflections before Porro on the right. His shot has some venom on it but Stolarczyk is equal to it.
18’- Close! Son drifts inside on his right foot and leaves Ayew in his wake. His shot may just be curling inside the far post but Stolarczyk just turns it around the post at full stretch.
30’- Neither side look confident in defence, but they’re making up for it by not looking confident in attack. This has not been a scintillating affair.
33’- GOAL! Richarlison loses Faes at the far post to meet Porro’s cross. Really poor from the defender who just didn’t track the Brazilian’s run.
39’- The Foxes are struggling to create chances. Other than some awkwardly deflected shots, the response to the goal has been very tame.
45+1’- The referee blows the whistle on a first half with precisely one moment of quality and thus, one goal. Leicester have to be better in the second half.
46’- GOAL! Kristiansen gets wiped out in midfield but the referee plays advantage. Soumare finds De Cordova-Reid and his low cross somehow wriggles through to Vardy alone in front of the goalmouth. He smashes home and we’re level.
I’m pretty sure this isn’t the video of this goal. It looks familiar for some reason…
50’- GOAL! Soumare wins the ball and finds De Cordova-Reid. He slips it to El Khannouss, who is allowed to advance to the edge of the “D” unopposed. He passes the ball just outside of Kinsky’s reach and inside the far post.
54’- Close! A cross from the right finds Vardy just 8 yards from goal. He hits his volley sweetly, but it strikes Dragusin and bounces to safety.
58’- Close! A ball over the top finds Kulusevski’s run and he’s behind the entire defence. Stolarczyk does incredibly well to get a hand to the deflected shot and keep it out of the net.
62’- Close! Porro’s free kick is deflected by Vardy and it beats Stolarczyk. The crossbar comes to the rescue.
71’- The match has become very stop/start and scrappy. The City players are taking their time with every dead ball.
77’- Facundo Buonanotte and Patson Daka come on for the goalscorers, Vardy and El Khannouss.
78’- And Buonanotte is immediately in the book. Can’t argue with that one.
87’- Conor Coady and Oliver Skipp come on for De Cordova-Reid and Ayew.
90’- We have SEVEN minutes of time added on to play.
90+4’- Justin is off for Woyo Coulibaly who makes his Leicester debut.
90+9’- That’s it! The Foxes take all three points.
