17th time’s the charm: LCFC Women 3-0 Brighton & Hove Albion (15 January 2023)
Leicester manager Willie Kirk said the winter break was ‘like another pre-season’. It’s a classic football manager trope but maybe, just maybe, this time it’s true?
This was a Leicester transformed from the passive, fragile side we saw before the winter break. A dominant display saw them score three goals and pick up three massive points, 17 games and 336 days since they last tasted victory in the WSL.
Working hard to bring new faces in
Over the last week Leicester, in a stark change from common practice around the King Power these days, have been freshening up the squad. One of the most significant changes here was in goal, with new signing Janina Leitzig starting ahead of Kirstie Levell.
Leitzig only joined on Friday but was straight in for her debut. She made an immediate, and dramatic, impact. Not only is she far more physically imposing than Levell - a shade over 6 feet tall, compared to 5”7’ - but she came up huge in big moments as well. Where Leicester have lost games on fine margins all season, this time they won them all and it showed in the scoreline.
Levell cost Leicester an awful lot of points over the first 9 games. Leitzig, on loan from Bayern Munich, was a huge reason they picked up three this time. Despite barely having had time to learn her teammates’ names, she saved brilliantly at the feet of Katie Robinson with the game at 0-0 and made a plethora of comfy stops as Brighton peppered the goal from long range, including one which may well have gone in over a smaller ‘keeper.
Late on, with five minutes to go and the game mostly secure, she made a brilliant double save with her legs to deny Brighton any hope, settling any last minute Leicester nerves in the process. For a team which has suffered so many last minute heartaches this year, it was another crucial intervention.
Playing up to the level
A feature of Kirk’s reign so far has been an extremely pragmatic approach to each opponent. He has more or less written off every game against a top team before it’s even started, an attitude which certainly seeped through to the players and ended up in hammerings, like the 8-0 defeat to Chelsea at the King Power before the break.
This time, in a game against the team one place above Leicester, was completely different. Kirk’s team came out with far more intent and belief. They created chances from the off and the first 15 minutes was vastly better than anything that has gone before.
An early flowing move involved the returning Hannah Cain, making her first league start back from an ACL tear, shooting just wide. Molly Pike, far more influential with a stronger team around her, shot wide after a cross was only half-cleared to the edge of the area.
It wasn’t all perfect in the first half. Leicester’s aggressiveness led to chances but the the price was that they got caught on the hop at times. Ashleigh Plumptre and Carrie Jones were both forced into last ditch interceptions to stop Brighton getting in on the break inside the first half an hour.
As time ticked towards the half, Leicester were clinging on and it was starting to look like it might be another valiant performance in vain. Leitzig stepped in to save them with five minutes to go and snuff out a beautiful flowing counter from Brighton and was tested again almost immediately.
And then came the goals.
Goals, goals, goals
Leicester hadn’t scored a home goal since February. Their only goal at the King Power in the WSL this season was scored by Drew Spence, of Spurs, on the opening day.
Almost 11 months to the day since Freya Gregory scored against West Ham, Leicester’s overhauled attack sliced through Brighton with a brilliant series of one-touch passing.
Pike, Cain, and Missy Goodwin combined on the edge of the box to play in Aileen Whelan, who finished coolly past Megan Walsh to finally end the goal drought, to widespread relief, in the dying stages of the first half. Buoyed by the goal, she could have doubled her tally within a couple of minutes but blazed over with the goal at her mercy.
Leicester didn’t have to wait long for that second goal. A couple of minutes after the restart, Jemma Purfield’s free kick was headed down for Sam Tierney to bundle in. A few minutes later Cain burst into the box before slipping and firing wide. On the hour she volleyed a Pike cross over the bar.
This was a very different Leicester, one with far more quality in the final third and more ability to create chances. After 70 minutes the rout was complete: Goodwin found herself in space on the left and her blocked shot rebounded to the edge of the area, where sub Monique Robinson was on hand to hammer in Leicester’s third.
Not surprisingly for a team that isn’t used to winning, Leicester tightened up with the finish line in sight. CJ Bott, who had an excellent game from right back, threw herself in front of a shot to prevent an instant Brighton reply before Leitzig was forced into action a few more times in the dying stages.
The Great Escape?
Overall, this was a huge step forward. The winless monkey is finally off Leicester’s back and suddenly there are only four points separating them from Brighton and Reading, who have 7 each. Just above those two sides sit Liverpool, on 8 points, and Spurs, on 9.
Results went the Foxes’ way in the rest of the WSL this weekend. Spurs and Reading both lost, to Aston Villa and Everton respectively, while Liverpool took a 6-0 hiding from Manchester United.
Now, an unlikely route to safety is opening up. Two of Leicester’s next three games are trips to Spurs and Liverpool, sandwiching a free hit at home to Manchester City.
In addition to bringing in a new goalkeeper, they also signed a striker - an obvious necessity for a team who hadn’t scored a home goal for a year - in the form of Remy Siemsen from Sydney FC last week. More reinforcements are on the way: after unveiling Siemsen and Leitzig, Kirk promised other additions in January to spearhead a survival bid.
In the first half of the season, Leicester showed that they could be competitive despite being heavily outmatched by wealthier and more experienced rivals. They’ve started the new year by closing the experience gap and securing three must-have points. With 12 games still left on the schedule, this might be on?
