The Fosse Way

Before the game, London City Lionesses were 6th and we were in 10th, but those four places actually amounted to them having double our amount of points: the gulf between the top 5 and the other 7 teams is only widening as the league goes on.

For those unfamiliar with London City Lionesses, they are backed by billionaire owner Michelle Kang and this is their first season in the WSL. They’re well stocked with international stars like Grace Geyoro and Nikita Parris and promising young players like Freya Godfrey, who came in from Arsenal this summer.

London City Lionesses are very much the ‘haves’ in this situation and we can only dream of that sort of money to spend on players. But one thing we need to talk about here is the name. London City feels weird to type and ‘Lionesses’ is very famously taken, so I really don’t know what to call them. So I guess it’s London City?

Rick Passmoor has clearly had a few ideas and we adjusted our formation to something a lot more attacking than our usual fare. Granted, London City felt like a better chance of a win than Manchester City last week, but there was clearly some intent to get a win here from the start. We were still largely playing long ball and certainly weren’t dominating the possession by any means but it felt very different.

Chantelle Swaby slid a long through ball out to the right wing for Hannah Cain to run onto early on, but she started her run a touch too soon and was caught offside. This kind of run would be a theme of the day, with Cain looking much more free in this formation without the defensive work that’s she’s been expected to do recently. London City were pressing hard and Janice Cayman was caught with the ball in the centre of goal, just outside her own box: only the referee blowing for a foul stopped this from being an early setback in a game we really needed to win.

Another beneficiary of the change in formation and mindset was Asmita Ale. She was found unmarked a few times on the left side of the London City area a few times. Whilst she’s good defensively, her talents are best used in the opponents’ half. While Olivia McLoughlin and Sam Tierney had more work to do in midfield than usual,they were still given licence to get forward. McLoughlin, possibly inspired by Abdul Fatawu’s goal at the King Power the day before, spotted London City’s keeper Elene Lete off her line and went for it just inside the opposition half. The quality wasn’t there, but she displayed the intent to push forward and grab that first goal.

We were not dominating possession, but whenever we got forward, the player on the ball had runners and passing options, which is a change from our usual play. We were even playing short passes around in front of London City’s box and probing for openings, rather than instantly losing the ball with a hopeful punt forward. It felt like we were looking to win by playing football, not looking to grab a point by means of a heist. By the end of the first half, Leicester had genuinely dominated the pitch, if not the ball, and London City looked under real pressure. It was even at half time, and this first-half performance was a huge confidence boost. 

Swaby was subbed out at half time for Celeste Boureille after a good performance, so hopefully that’s just a little knock more than anything else. In the first few minutes of the second half, Boureille was found at the far post from a corner and managed to get a good shot away on the volley, and Lete’s save was all instinct. A missed opportunity, but certainly a sign that Leicester were set on carrying a good first-half performance over into the second. 

In the 52nd minute, all these warning shots almost paid off with a lovely chip over the keeper from Cain. It was the second time we’d looked to catch Lete off her line, and it looked like a good route to goal. Cain was found in space again, out on the right wing, and lashed another shot right at goal that was dealt with again by Lete. It really felt like a matter of time until we got that goal. 

Just before the hour, we did the unthinkable and took a lead. A deep pass from midfield found Ale out on the left, and she nodded the ball down to Shannon O’Brien between London City’s two centre halves. Rather than gloriously smashing the ball into the back of the net, she was chased down by defenders, into the onrushing keeper and was basically tackled into the back of the net, with the ball following her in. Any port in a storm. A goal is a goal, and this felt significant and, quite frankly, a huge relief. We’ve so rarely seen Leicester lead in a game, to do it at home against good opposition felt special.

But to paraphrase Dr Dre on some Kendrick Lamar song, getting to the top is the easy part; the hardest part is keeping it. It seemed like London City’s airpod-wearing manager, Jocelyn Precheur, took real umbrage at being a goal down to us, and they made two substitutions not long after. You’d never catch Rick Passmoor with a pair of airpods in. I was riding high on the thrill of being ahead and got a sharp reminder of the insecurity of a one-goal lead when Isobel Goodwin met a low cross and hit the post for London City.

Noemie Mouchon came on for McLoughlin, and O’Brien dropped back a little. Mouchon’s fresh legs and direct running almost paid off, with a run onto a through ball down the right channel that had given Leicester a fair bit of joy. It was excellent to see Mouchon back after going off injured recently, and she looked good. It may be that she’s best as an impact sub to come on and run at tired defences in the last 20 minutes, and in an age of ‘finishers’, not substitutes, it feels like a valid role for a player with her quality and injury record. 

The final 20 minutes saw Leicester under pressure from London City’s attack, with Geyoro impressive in midfield. She’s a France international and truly classy midfielder, who a newly promoted side has no right to have, but Michelle Kang’s big money has drawn a class of player outside of what Leicester can ever imagine having. But it wasn’t all one way, we saw plenty of good breaks forward, not content to simply sit back and park the bus, but not throwing away our lead, this felt like a performance we’ve been waiting for all season.

It was topped off by a 99th-minute penalty save, Janina Leitzig denying Kosovare Asllani after Cayman had flattened Geyoro.

This approach was a new idea from Passmoor and it actually worked. We’re now 6 points ahead of 12th place and safety is looking very, very possible with another 11 games left of the season. The possession stats in the end were 70/30 to London City, but it didn’t feel like we were played off the park. It’s interesting to see a change in formation and attacking mindset yield a win and a much more assured performance, but the amount of time we have the ball has not changed. But there’s only one stat that matters, and that’s the score.