We’ve enjoyed various redemption and renaissance stories at Leicester of late. Boubakary Soumaré might be the least likely of them all. This is his fourth season at Leicester and the first one where we're starting to really see the player we thought we'd signed.
At 25, perhaps age plays a part. But he was full of energy and movement against Brighton, coming off the back of a good showing against West Ham. A criticism I've levelled at him before is his calmness leaning too much to being laid back but it was a perfect balance today. He knew exactly when and where to inject some urgency and when to slow it down. He tried some more creative passes and generally got forward more.
Had Vardy not instigated the comeback, Soumaré could have been in with a shout for man of the match. His perseverance and the way he just continued to push forward as we pressed for more was great. Strong, imposing and skilful.
The only downside was the Frenchman picking up a yellow card, his fifth and resulting in a suspension for next week. With Harry Winks’ return uncertain and Wilfred Ndidi going off in the second half, we could be looking a little light in central midfield to face Newcastle.
Soumare wasn’t the only one, this team look like a team who didn't stop believing in themselves the second we conceded a goal. Heads don’t drop, there’s less finger pointing and bickering. Instead, players are frustrated with themselves for losing the ball or not completing a pass.
Bilal El Khannouss is a perfect example of this. With Buonanotte absent, we really needed him to kick on from the performance against West Ham. He didn't hit those same heights today, maybe showing the naivety of a young player who's learning the Premier League but you cannot fault him for effort and passion.
Several times he didn't see a run or passed the wrong way and he was visibly angry at himself, keen to make up for any mistakes. It was a theme across the pitch. You can be frustrated with some of the choices players made, or our ability to pick up second balls and some of the luck. But this team was trying and didn't give up.
It’s hard to imagine this game would have finished 2-2 with the mentality we had previously. Whatever work Ruud may want to do with them, the shift in their body language in just a week is noticeable. Perhaps bringing in the leadership and calm that you get from Conor Coady and Jannik Vestergaard plays a role within that, but all players look like they believe in themselves and the team.
A four-point swing
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If you’d looked at the scores and the Premier League table at 3.30pm, things didn’t look so great for Leicester. Minteh put Brighton 2-0 up in a move that was signposted so early, yet Kristiansen, and a flying Coady, couldn’t stop him. Ipswich were 1-0 up against Bournemouth, meaning while they’d stay in the bottom three, they were within a point of Leicester.
By 4pm, Leicester had salvaged a point and left Brighton hanging on and Bournemouth had completed their own late comeback to topple Ipswich. Leaving Leicester four points clear of the Tractor Boys and leapfrogging Crystal Palace to sit 16th.
Our flying Dutchman will be pleased to see his ideas coming together. We didn't give up as many shots to Brighton, showing an improvement in defence. It's early days and there's more improvements to come. There's a brilliant full [breakdown of the tactics](https://x.com/tactic_ar/status/1865794739536294172?t=asRaOF-uYhZnCbxant_0fA&s=19) employed today over on X.
Essentially our weak points are still the same. Whether there's money available in January or not is unclear but we look short at both left back and right back. Victor Kristiansen was great in moments today but his part in Brighton's second, and a lot of their first half efforts coming from his side highlighted some weakness there. While James Justin didn't have as many battles with Mitoma as we all expected, we are giving up too many chances from out wide on both sides.
A lot of the frustration and grumbling today came from our inability to make better choices and how many second or third balls we gave up. It all felt a bit too easy and we were fortunate both that Hermansen is an excellent shot stopper and that Brighton didn't impose themselves as much as they would want.
The post-match comments from van Nistelrooy seemed spot on. The stats show that on reflection a draw was about the right result, even if Brighton will feel a bit sucker-punched by it. Fabian Hurzeler commented that the whole stadium thought the game was done. Perhaps true of a portion of the crowd, this was a particularly cold and damp affair, but our manager and our players never seemed to have taken that on board.
At one point when Soumare barrelled towards the box and we won a freekick, you wondered if we could be pushing for a last minute winner. It wasn’t to be but the energy in the crowd was electric again and the journey home was a much happier one.
Our upcoming fixtures are a concern. Take Wolves at home in a couple of weeks out of the equation, which is looking like a big game already, and it’s hard to see where we’ll pick up points from away trips to Newcastle, Liverpool and welcoming Manchester City to the King Power.
This point looks even more important when factoring that in. It’ll be fascinating to see how RvN tackles these next fixtures and balances squad injuries and fatigue.