Stoke City 0 Leicester City 5: Foxes capitalise on Potters’ gifts
The start of February saw the close of the January transfer window and from the outside at least, it looked more chaotic and disorganised than Leicester fans would like. No such drama presented itself at the bet365 stadium in Stoke though, the home side crumbling as the Foxes ran riot and further extended their lead at the top.
No need to doubt if Leicester can do it at Stoke on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Yes was the emphatic answer to the joy of the energetic away crowd. Football fans and dolphins share a key trait; long memories Leicester fans, of many generations anyway, still recall that day in 2008 away at Stoke and the relegation. For Stoke, their penance for this has come in an inability to beat the Foxes in the last nine meetings. This match turned out to be no different, Leicester scoring five in the process. The biggest win of the season and the most goals scored since that ridiculous 9-0 win against a side who also play in red and white.
Enzo Maresca will be happy to have plenty to talk about post-match that might mean he finally doesn’t have to answer another question about transfers and his squad. For all the meltdowns and grumbles, it doesn’t seem to have impacted the Italian or his players. The goals and assists came from all areas of the pitch and again showed that we may not have unlimited resources but we do still have options. Missing out on Sensi may not be ideal, but today showed the breadth of creativity in the side.
The type of game where virtually everybody could put themselves forward for the Man of the Match award and no weak links. With Abdul Fatawu back from suspension, Enzo had close to a full side to pick from, our Nigerians notwithstanding. With Abdul straight back in on the right, Callum Doyle retained his place at left-back and the other notable switch was Kasey McAteer slipping into the number eight role, an exciting prospect before kick-off. Both made their mark on the game pretty quickly.
Cruise control for Enzo Maresca
The opening minutes felt scrappy, perhaps not assisted by the pitch, see also some tackles that flew in throughout the game as the rain set in. But it was Leicester who wrangled control of the game and opened the scoring just shy of the thirty minute mark, Patson Daka there to tap in as Abdul somehow kept the ball in and put it back across goal from an awkward angle.
Stoke had tested Mads Hermansen in the first half, but not often enough and our Dane was more than up to the test. Schumacher’s men may have been frustrated by the referee after a harsh yellow card just before our first goal but they were the makers of their own downfall having gifted Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall the ball in a dangerous area. Lessons they seemed not to learn from as the Foxes notched a second only three minutes after the opener, McAteer left in enough space to tee up a shot that took a deflection but still went in.
Maresca may have brushed off the question post-match but it didn’t look like the Foxes switched into second gear often. A professionally managed first half saw the away side leading 2-0 and the only time it threatened to change was when McAteer found himself in a moment of madness, squaring up to Burger.
McAteer looked exciting in the number eight role before the sensible decision to substitute him at half-time to avoid a possible red card. Dennis Praet replaced him and probably should have scored a goal himself. Maresca had an enforced half-time change too, Ben Nelson coming on after Jannik Vestergaard took a knock.
Do we have a set penalty taker this season? It seems to be more of a Russian roulette wheel of who’ll step up, this time it was Patson Daka taking up duties after Thompson brought down Wout Faes who’d made a surging run forward. The Zambian comfortably notched his second goal, Leicester’s third and with no change on the horizon, sending more Stoke fans towards the exit.
Two more substitutions linked up to make it four, James Justin, playing higher up than usual on the right teed up Jamie Vardy who finished as emphatically as ever. The game looked dead and buried but for any Stoke fans who had endured past the ninety minutes, Michael Rose bringing down Dewsbury-Hall in additional time would have had them rolling their eyes at the gifts on show. Vardy took on the penalty this time, adding the cherry to the already plentiful cake. Five on the day, which unfortunately had my mind wandering to a Leicester version of Mambo No. 5: a little bit of Maresca in my life, a little bit of Daka by my side, a little bit of Winksy’s all I need…anyway, sorry.
Patson Daka: the enigma
Spare a thought for Tom Cannon who had no choice but to start with Vardy’s injury and Daka on AfCoN duty, but who really took up the challenge and impressed. Despite this, Daka has been straight back into the side since landing back in the UK. He’s Maresca’s favoured man up top and it’s understandable, even if he will continue to generate grumbles for the smaller moments. His record of 6 goals and 3 assists in 8 games is excellent but then he probably could have added more to it if not doubled it given the chances he’s had.
Daka is an enigma. For everything excellent he does, he will equally present something that confuses or frustrates usually a result of his decision making. See his miss in the Swansea game as James Knight covered. But he does suit our system and we create more chances with him in the side. His opening goal was a very routine finish for a striker but he still had to be in the right place.
Finally having a run of games seems to have been a key factor for Daka and despite what he sometimes lacks, he is an incredibly likeable player. His acrobatic celebrations (and having Abdul mirror them), his always smiling presence, he’s clearly well liked in the squad as well. With his energy and effort,and how he was treated by the previous manager, to see him be successful for us is very pleasing. If he could gain a little more consistency across a full ninety minutes, it’s interesting to think of how good he could be.
Any striker, or player who finds themselves getting forward will benefit from Stephy Mavididi and Fatawu as well. Stoke struggled to contain Mavididi and having Abdul back on the right meant plenty of opportunities across the board. It was a little surprising that Vardy was the man to replace Daka, not Cannon but then this is the Championship and the fixtures are always stacked so perhaps Enzo is just relishing having all at his disposal again.
That Mad(s) save and Big Ben
Mads Hermansen deserved a clean sheet after pulling off two great saves. One was world class, turning one way but getting a hand to it and following up immediately after with another save. Lots of fuss has rightly been made for how good he is, not to mention his wholesome Instagram account and cute dog, but being able to trust a goalkeeper again and have one who is making a difference should serve us well for the tougher challenges to come.
There was another big chance for local boy Ben Nelson too, replacing Vestergaard and filling in pretty perfectly. Following on from a contender for Man of the Match against Birmingham in the FA Cup, he didn’t look out of place alongside Faes in the back-line. He put in a solid second half, brimming with confidence but incredibly calm and composed. It’s not ideal to think Vestergaard being out for a period of time, but Nelson could benefit from it and it does feel as if Maresca trusts him more than Conor Coady, at least in our preferred formation anyway.
Maresca may say that his substitutions were largely determined by players on yellow cards and injuries but they all felt like they had a positive impact and kept the momentum going. He’ll be happy to have nipped a little run of conceding late, silly goals in the bud for a week too. Stoke City struggled generally to put Leicester on the back foot, giving themselves more issues when they did press forward and ultimately left chasing long range shots that were never going to really trouble Hermansen.
Statement win might be a little overzealous given how deflated this Stoke team looked, perhaps not helped by how few fans remained after the fourth goal, but it felt about time that the Foxes finally got a bit more clinical and really buried their opposition. It has been coming and proves that while it may not be ninety entire minutes of non-stop action every game, there’s a whole bunch to enjoy and a team you can really root for.
It’s anybody’s pick for Man of the Match, Ricardo and Winks won’t be the obvious choices but their command of the midfield was outstanding and well, everybody was excellent.
It’s another away game next for Maresca’s men, a reasonably short trip to Watford. The Foxes are eleven points clear of Southampton in second.
