Leicester City 2 West Brom 1: A change of luck and Hamza heroics revives the Foxes
After two dismal away games, Leicester City were back home at the King Power and anything less than a win just wouldn't cut it. This was a chance to restore some unity and get back ahead of our promotion rivals. It wasn't pretty but the Foxes claimed a 2-1 win over a team we do enjoy beating, West Brom.
After several weeks where we've faltered only to watch Ipswich and Leeds stumble too, it's been hard not to think of the alternative reality where our promotion would have long been sealed and we could enjoy these sunnier, spring games with less trepidation.
Alas, that's just not us. I'm convinced that if you dissected our badge there's a secret code or wording buried within that says ‘We're Leicester City, we don't do things the easy way’.
I generally try not to have too much pre-match anxiety (the games so often provide enough of that!) but it was a little tough today. The pressure on this, the dwindling number of games left. After allowing our large lead to disappear, we've made the title race interesting again for everybody else and torturous for ourselves meaning every game is huge.
Not least being back at the King Power for the first of three remaining home games. Not necessarily the advantage some expect given the jitters and frustrations. We needed something to happen early to settle a lot of nerves.
My drive involved seeing a lot of the away fans and I couldn't not think about how they’d play. West Brom are a side who play a similar style and have playoff aspirations so need momentum. They also have the highest proportion I think I've seen of fans who have personalised WBA number plates. They weren’t going to come and defend for ninety minutes.
The music playing, playlist allegedly on shuffle, also seemed to add to the anxiety. I had lyrics that prophesied doom and pending disaster. Then Taylor Swift’s new single that I assume must be about being a Leicester fan with the line ‘I love you, it's ruining my life’.
The game was the football equivalent of being strapped into a rollercoaster ride for a full ninety minutes. It felt strangely similar to the Everton home game of last season, albeit that confirmed our gutless nature would remain and relegation was all but assured. Whereas this was a different performance from this Maresca side, more about just getting the job done in any way, less incentive on it being fiddly and pretty.
Nobody can say they were bored with this game though, as it barrelled from end to end and had three goals, a missed penalty and countless near misses. How many games have you been to lately with double figure chances for both teams and multiple goal line, last ditch clearances? Arguably this had something for everybody.
Low scores on the LCFC bingo card
We knew this lineup might look a little different after the injury and illness worries but to be honest, none of us had our fullbacks down to be Wout Faes and Hamza Choudhury at left back and right back respectively. I want to see receipts if you claim to have predicted this.
Enzo Maresca gave the majority of us what we wanted by putting Conor Coady into the starting eleven, but many expected that to be at the expense of Faes rather than just moving him to the left. Debates of whether it would be Justin or Doyle were over pretty quickly. A few eyebrows were raised and I'm not sure it necessarily quashed any nerves pre-match. But it worked. Faes was able to put a good cross into the box that led to our opening goal.
West Bromwich’s favourite villain Jamie Vardy was also restored to the starting lineup, hoping to continue what is generally a rich vein of goals against the West Midlands side. Otherwise, Dewsbury-Hall made it after his illness and Ricardo was fit enough to make the bench.
The away side started brightly, slightly helped by some very poor passing in our box that led to an early chance. They couldn't put it away though and this narrative persisted. We started much like we have lately and the atmosphere hung on a knife edge, grumbles and shouts seeping in from what had been pretty loud and hopeful pre match.
Both sides were making a few mistakes, sloppy passes but West Brom looked the more likely to score. The closest they came was only stopped by Hamza Choudhury who had charged back to block Johnston’s shot off the line. Against the run of play, the Foxes took the lead, it was scrappy but it was Wilfred Ndidi who put it away. We all felt for you, Baggies fans. This is exactly what we felt had been happening to us lately.
This goal lifted the tempo amongst the crowd, finally sensing our luck might be changing. We could have seen ourselves going in for the half-time break with a 2-0 lead but Jamie Vardy couldn’t convert the penalty he’d won, Alex Palmer saving his less than usually powerful effort.
Holding out for a Hamza Hero
When Ricardo has been such an integral part of our success this season, not having him always feels like a loss. Maresca could have asked James Justin to deputise and cover right back but given the role has the inverted expectation, it makes more sense that Hamza Choudhury typically steps in to cover. This has seen mixed results though, some games he's been good, others he's gone missing in defensive duties.
Not today though and a few people owe him an apology for doubting his ability and selection. We needed somebody to dig deep, pop up everywhere and implore the darker arts of football that aren't this team's typical trait. Choudhury delivered all of that and more, adding in a hat trick of goal line clearances too. Rarely do pundits award a man of the match award to a defender unless he's scored but Choudhury fully deserved it.
He's had his challenges this year, between the inconsistent minutes he's had on field to the off field distractions. I was critical of the latter but it's great to see him then put in a shift like this. He's been asked to do a different role for us this year, both mirroring the inverted fullback and picking up the captaincy. But seeing how dominant and how hard he worked today showed why Maresca has been willing to trust him.
With the second half underway and a narrow 1-0 lead, Choudhury was one of the only reasons we kept that lead. He and Hermansen took consecutive turns to keep West Brom out in what felt like agonising minutes of just clearance after clearance on the goal line to deny them. It wasn’t that long of course but there were two brilliant clearances again, the first with his foot and then after Hermansen made a great stop, Choudhury was there yet again to head it off the line.
He was brave and quick to react. He got ahead of his attacker several times to snuff out danger. I don't think it's an over exaggeration to say this may be his best game in a Leicester shirt. That he's a local boy from our academy only makes it sweeter.
Whether it's the kiss he got from Maresca, or Tom Cannon pushing him to the crowd to ensure he got his dues, he deserves it. Abdul Fatawu may have been the man with the dancing feet who weaved in to put the ball into the box for Vardy to head home in front of the Kop, but that was only possible with the heroics we saw before that.
Getting the job done by any means
‘Would you rather be lucky or be good?’ was what my friend asked during this game, at 1-0 up. A lot of this calendar year we've either been good but without any luck, or we just haven't been good and still had no luck. Ultimately, with three games left, if having some luck means more wins than being good, nobody is going to complain.
After the Plymouth loss, we all berated the lack of flexibility, the chained limitations of plan A when it's failing miserably. This game wasn't an abandonment of the idea, or the main plan, but it showed some flexibility at least. And it felt more like everybody understood we just needed to get it done, to win.
Today we weren't great but it doesn't matter. We didn't have to resort to throwing the kitchen sink this time but I would have trusted us to just get it done. Some confidence looked to be restored when we had our two goal advantage, having ridden out the storm. But when West Brom finally got a goal, not undeserved given their chances and pressure, you worried the cracks would show.
Having Coady and Vardy in this game was great. Coady had some clever, crafty little moments of time wasting or disrupting the flow and Vardy was ever happy to play the villain role and wind up both the away fans and players. This was a team effort, everybody chipped in. Even the subs.
He won't get much kudos but Dennis Praet covering the right back role at the end was magnificent. The defensive contributions of Fatawu too, even if his tackle looked like it might see the referee brandish a red card again. This was an overdue, all hands on deck moment.
The relief, the joy was palpable from every single fan, player and staff when the six minutes (my heart rate spiked higher when the board went up for that) ended and the whistle blew. Perhaps it's all a little premature given the close proximity of Southampton coming to the King Power on Tuesday, but we all needed that.
What felt so fractured and fraught last week was just gone by the end of this game. What a difference a week and a win makes.
Back again on Tuesday to raise your stress and anxiety levels, it's finally time to face our game in hand and see if we can capitalise on it. Russell Martin's Southampton side had surged ahead while the three of us above them had slowed down. But given they then lost to Cardiff, their top two ambitions have been dealt a blow. They're another team who play very similar football so it should be another fascinating one.
