The Fosse Way

For those of us who endured the laughter of Stoke fans when Leicester City were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in the club’s history, there’s always been something special about beating the Potters. We’ve had plenty of wins to enjoy, but for some reason this one felt especially satisfying when the final whistle eventually arrived.

Perhaps that was partly because of the visiting supporters treating Raw Dykes Road to a loud rendition of Delilah before the game. Perhaps it was because victory bodes well for two further games this week against teams in red and white stripes beginning with S, even if we don’t have Ayoze Perez available. Perhaps it was because of, you know, that pesky impending points deduction.

Mainly, though, it was because of a rambunctious final few minutes which even brought the devil out in the perennially happy Patson Daka.

As Daka tore into challenge after challenge in an attempt to help retain Leicester’s narrow advantage, the crowd responded and it was like the good old days when people who went to football matches actually got invested in what was happening on the pitch.

It wasn’t that way for much of the game despite Leicester leading from the 23rd minute to the final whistle. Even in the standing section, there are supporters who would rather spend the entire 90 minutes checking how their accumulators are getting on or loudly updating on how many goals Notts Forest have scored at Anfield. 

Thankfully they looked up just in time to see two unlikely goals from two unlikely goalscorers. This isn’t my line but I’m going to steal it: if you could have picked any two players to score the goals Leicester City needed to win the game yesterday, it would have been Stephy Mavididi and Patson Daka. Nobody needed the confidence more.

During a first half in which Leicester did an awful lot of messing around at the back without quite offering up an opportunity, Stoke presented the ball on a plate to Harry Winks whose quick layoff found Mavididi.

Sometimes the right thing to do when you’re an attacker low on confidence is simply to put your foot through the ball the first chance you get. Mavididi’s left-footed howitzer took almost everybody in the ground by surprise, not least the former Leicester goalkeeper Viktor Johansson whose despairing leap never threatened to prevent the ball arrowing in off the bar. The celebration felt like a release and hopefully it signals the delayed start of Mavididi’s season. He was livelier throughout as a result.

If that felt like a bolt from the blue then the goal that arrived just before the break had you rubbing your eyes in disbelief. We haven’t seen a Patson Daka goal of any kind for almost 12 months. And when it finally came, you have to say it was a bloody good finish. Oliver Skipp’s quick forward pass (do not adjust your sets) nearly set Abdul Fatawu free of the Stoke defence. When a last-ditch tackle denied Fatawu, he adjusted well to maintain the threat and play in Daka for a clever dink over the advancing Johansson.

It would be revisionist to suggest Daka’s time at Leicester City has been anything other than a disappointment but yesterday’s goal was a reminder that this team doesn’t give him anywhere near enough one-on-ones. He does make the runs.

The strikers have been getting all the pelters from the crowd so far this season but equally, Leicester have a creativity problem. They had just 6 shots in this game to Stoke’s 11. The previous home game against Middlesbrough saw 6 to Boro’s 17. Prior to that, there was just one shot on target against Blackburn. Consecutive wins can’t mask this fundamental problem if there’s any real ambition this season.

The two goals also saved the blushes of Ricardo Pereira who put in a disconcertingly shaky performance in the first half, giving the ball away needlessly four times. Ricardo has achieved enough in his Leicester career for fans to be able to put this down as an off-day, or an off-half at least. Hopefully it was just a blip because this team needs all the leaders it can get and we need our captain to be more reliable in possession than he showed here.

To lead Stoke 2-0 at half time felt very familiar. We led 2-0 at half time last time we played them in February 2024 before going on to win 5-0. We beat them 2-0 last time they came to LE2. In fact, we’d scored fourteen goals without reply against Stoke between half time of our last Premier League meeting in 2018 and the half time whistle yesterday.

But even if conceding a goal on the stroke of half time might have felt to Stoke fans like a terrible time to go 2-0 down, their manager Mark Robins was probably just reminding his players they were playing Marti Cifuentes’s Leicester, not Enzo Maresca’s Leicester. It took Enzo’s Leicester 15 league games to surrender a lead and drop points. 

This version of Leicester City had dropped points after leading three times in the past four home games and they started the second half like a team determined to do it again. Stoke were fired up. Leicester fans were having flashbacks to Wrexham and Portsmouth and Middlesbrough as our players loped out of the tunnel as if the job had already been done.

Two minutes after the restart, Million Manhoef raced clear to shoot only for Asmir Begovic to flash up a hand and push the ball over the bar. A minute later, Junior Tchamadeu was allowed the freedom of Filbert Way to pick out Ashley Phillips for a free header back across goal. Allowing one free header is unfortunate. Allowing two is careless. Bae Jun-Ho nodded in and Stoke were back in it.

The main reason they didn’t was an inspired display from the veteran Begovic, not only in denying Manhoef and later Bae but also maintaining a strong presence under pressure as Stoke racked up a series of second half corners. He was awarded Man of the Match, but this probably says just as much about the nature of the overall performance as it does about Begovic’s efforts.

Because this was another game where it was hard not to feel this Leicester City team is less than the sum of its parts. A lot of fans have become accustomed to despising the majority of our players, but you can still make a case for every individual who started against Stoke improving under a more inspiring manager.

We know the quality of Ricardo Pereira. Luke Thomas has marked Mo Salah out of a game and played in an FA Cup final. It’s the same centre-back pairing that helped win us this league last year. Harry Winks is still here, as are the two wingers. Jordan James is already incredibly popular and the other two outfielders to start this game both cost £20million-plus. These players shouldn’t have to be getting bailed out by a 38-year-old backup goalkeeper.

Despite the victory, there was very little here to suggest we should have any more faith in Cifuentes. The jury remains out for most. He talks a good game but the games aren’t saying a lot for him at the moment.

None of these underlying issues bode well for a midweek trip to a Southampton side that have won three on the spin and would overtake Leicester with victory. That worry can wait for now, as Leicester have won back-to-back games for only the third time since dispatching Southampton 5-0 and following it up with a promotion party at Preston.

Are we actually any good? Well, probably not. But 3 points at 3pm on a Saturday? Let’s laugh it up while we can. Leicester are a point off the play-offs and Prolific Pat’s on fire.