5 of our favourite things from Leicester City’s win over Wolves
There isn’t much time to reflect on Leicester City’s 2-1 win against Wolves before tonight’s crunch clash at Elland Road but let’s enjoy it while we still can - we’ve picked 5 of our favourite things from Saturday’s win.
Seeing the real Leicester again…
Picking just one thing after a win, such a rare experience this season, is tough. The what formation are we playing, blimey that's three strikers on one pitch when the lineup came out moment. Not just dropping our heads when we went behind, showing some resilience, the winning goal, the fact that the stadium was still full at the final whistle, the tannoy guy choosing to play 'Freed from Desire' after the game. But I think I'll steal match winner Timmy Castagne's line post-match, "I think we saw a bit of the real Leicester back today".
That performance, especially second half, did feel more familiar than it has for a long time. You could see that on the faces of the players, from celebrating the second goal to the full-time reaction, virtually every player mobbed either Castagne or Daniel Iversen. The relief from fans too that despite how sick we all felt in the additional time, we came through it, we didn't capitulate.
Top's reaction echoing my own, a moment to breathe before celebrating. I think most of us would have taken a scruffy, 1-0 win of any kind but the fact that it felt like we deserved to win in the second half too. I felt hopeful as I left the King Power for the first time in a while. Players who prior to this season had been great, or at least promising, seemed back at it. That despite the unconventional lineup too, largely dictated by the unavailable players as much as those Dean Smith's been impressed by.
If nothing else, and even if it doesn't last, we looked a united team again.
Helen Thompson
A change in the atmosphere…
The rejuvenated atmosphere in the ground stood out. Our performance wasn't the prettiest, but the fight and character shown by the players and coaching team resonated with the crowd, and it clearly helped the players on the pitch.
Inevitably, there were moments when the crowd dipped and the players had to dig deep, but we stayed in the game and for the first time in a while it really felt like it mattered to the team.
The brave team selection and tactical decisions was the catalyst for this. This team was sent out to play on the front foot and show aggression all over the pitch, and although there were some nerves and indecision in the first half, it felt as though the players were invested in and well suited to what they were being asked to do.
This made it easy for the crowd to respond and stick with the team through the difficult periods. One of the keys to us winning the game was identifying the issue with us being overrun in midfield in the first half. It was refreshing to see a manager willing to adapt with an obvious tactical decision before it was too late.
The players and fans have a new management team to get behind, and although some of the mistakes from the previous regime will be difficult to shake off, it really did feel like a new dawn at the King Power.
Matt Jedruch
Celebrating good times…
Quite simply, celebrating that Castagne goal - the raw emotion around the place as he ran over towards the corner after slotting the ball into the net was just euphoric.
I couldn't remember the last time I celebrated a goal at home that much; a few people suggested Sevilla being the last and I can't argue with that at all.
It really felt like the club was healing in that moment, everyone was together on and off the pitch and my little brother enjoyed the classic hugging of randomers sat behind us, something often only reserved for away goals.
While individual performances from the likes of Cags and Soumare were great to see and played their part, those celebrations will live long in the memory.
Becky Taylor
Something different…
Shout out to all the people on Twitter who'll reply with 'we won'.
For me it was the fact that it was something different. For months we've been crying out for change, for a manager with fresh ideas who'd look at the squad in a different way. Smith starting all the strikers, going four up top, sticking Tielemans and Soumare in the middle, putting Soyuncu at the heart of defence, was all new.
We've been an imbalanced mess for ages, only capable of generating width from one side of the pitch. We still only had one winger. Yet the winner was a full back crossing to the other full back to finish.
Rodgers had already made up his mind on every player, whether through stubbornness, delusion, or incompetence, and we were stuck watching an endless loop of the same thing. This was, emphatically, not that.
The utter frustration of watching us try something that didn't work over and over was grinding me down. We might still get relegated, but at least I feel like the outcome isn't inevitable any more. We're going to give this a proper shot.
James Knight
A back five to believe in…
They’ll probably go and concede six at Leeds tonight now but I was impressed with the defensive performance against Wolves, particularly given that we started with four attackers strung across the halfway line.
There were few options for those playing out from the back and although you could argue Wout Faes shouldn’t have played the pass he did to Youri Tielemans leading to the Wolves goal, generally the defenders made fewer mistakes than usual.
We’ve long been crying out for a reliable back line. Leicester fans have endured, if that’s not too harsh a word, Danny Ward and Daniel Amartey’s performances. We’ve seen Luke Thomas suffer inconsistent form. Harry Souttar has looked okay since arriving in January while not making himself undroppable.
Of course we’ve also seen injuries scupper any run in the team for Ricardo, James Justin or Jonny Evans. That’s without even getting into the Bertrand and Vestergaard situation.
Is that everyone? Saturday’s defensive personnel inspired a bit more confidence than those listed above. It still seems a risk to field Soyuncu and Faes in the same back four but if they carry on playing like they did against Wolves, with the returning attacking talent, we’ll be tough to beat.
It may all fall flat very quickly. It’s nice in the meantime to have things to be positive about for a change.
David Bevan
