Leicester’s recovery at Stoke was a comeback in more than one sense. By reversing the course of the match after going two goals and one man down, Claudio Ranieri’s side showed what made them champions. There could be no questioning their desire or spirit after this rousing draw.
“We can hopefully use this as a springboard for the second half of the season,” said Andy King, echoing the thoughts of his manager, who said: “I hope this could be a turning point to us coming back much better.”
Three times in the early part of last season Leicester recovered from going two goals down, including at Stoke in September 2015, and the morale they showed in doing so helped to drive them on to the Premier League title. Their fumbled defence of that title this season has led to doubts about their desire but King said this performance should banish those. “One of the things that we have always had at this club, especially in recent years, is character. I know that has been questioned a little bit at times in recent weeks, rightly or wrongly, but we showed that we’re back to that. The boys showed unbelievable character in what was a difficult situation.”
The circumstances were difficult because Stoke had played well to gain a two-goal lead by half-time, thanks to a penalty by Bojan Krkic and a tap-in by Joe Allen, and because Leicester looked to be in danger of turning into a wayward mob because of their anger with the referee, Craig Pawson. The official sent off Jamie Vardy for a tackle on Mame Biram Diouf that he deemed to be dangerous and later awarded a penalty against Danny Simpson for handball. Leicester’s players were so frustrated by those and other decisions that three of their players were booked for dissent. Another three were shown yellow cards for fouls. Having passed the threshold of five yellow cards, Leicester will be punished by the Football Association.
However, Leicester used half-time to recover their composure and began rebelling in a positive way. “It is hard enough when it’s maybe one or two decisions but when it goes into the teens you start to maybe think that it won’t be your day,” King said. “But we didn’t do that, we said, ‘There’s no excuses here, it’s down to us why were 2-0 down and it’s only us who can rectify it in the second half’. We went out there and showed that with a brilliant second-half performance.”
After a headed goal by Leonardo Ulloa, Leicester’s equaliser was scored by a player who has spent most of the season being described as an inadequate replacement for N’Golo Kanté. The goal two minutes from time could do a power of good for Daniel Amartey, and for his team.
