Talking points from Leicester City’s 3-1 win over Ipswich, looking at Abdul Fatawu’s goal, Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s influence, the improvements, the cohesion, and a statement victory
Marti Cifuentes celebrates with Abdul Fatawu after Leicester City’s 3-1 win over Ipswich
Marti Cifuentes celebrates with Abdul Fatawu after Leicester City’s 3-1 win over Ipswich
There are very few players who have the vision, skill and sheer audacity to pull off what Abdul Fatawu did.
It should go down as one of the game’s all-time great long-range goals, not just for the distance but for the exquisite nutmeg that preceded the strike. That moment elevates it into something unique.
But while at face value it feels like a flash of ingenuity, it’s not. For a start, this is Fatawu’s signature move. He’s been trying it since his days in Ghana’s youth teams. Plus, it’s something he practices. It’s a skill that’s been honed in training.
Not only that, but it’s a team achievement too. Manager Marti Cifuentes revealed that Leicester City’s analysts informed Fatawu that Ipswich’s Christian Walton tends to position himself further from goal than the average keeper.
Even with all that, it’s still a ridiculous strike to try. It’s not the done thing in today’s age, where keeping possession and creating high-quality chances is paramount. The expected goals figure will be minuscule.
He will have risked the wrath of his teammates too. Jordan Ayew said Fatawu has often been screamed at for such attempts. His efforts in the Premier League last season were especially wayward.
But this, as Cifuentes romantically put it, is “the kid inside him”. It’s a goal that kids dream about scoring and try on their local park growing up, rather than something that’s possible in a professional match. It’s a goal that has a wondrous quality to it because it defies the modern wisdom of football.
That’s why it is an unforgettable moment. Twenty years on, City fans still talk about Joey Gudjonsson’s halfway line goal. They’ll do the same about Fatawu’s.
De Cordova-Reid shows influence he was signed for
Poor Bobby De Cordova-Reid. It’s not often a player will score a goal as good as his and have it completely overshadowed.
An arrow to the far corner from close to 30 yards out is usually the goal of the weekend, never mind the goal of the game.
It’s a strike that also helps confirm how important a player he is becoming. That’s now three games in a row in which De Cordova-Reid has scored. The last City player to do that was Jamie Vardy in the final three wins of the last Championship season.
Had the last-minute strike at West Brom, one that ultimately went down as a Nat Phillips own goal, been attributed to the Jamaican, he’d now be on five goals for the season and level with Jordan James as City’s top scorer. That’s impressive work given Saturday’s game was just his sixth start of the campaign.
Beyond the goal, he’s also showing the influence of his experience, one of the qualities that Steve Cooper brought him in for.
Bobby de Cordova-Reid of Leicester City scores their first goal
Bobby de Cordova-Reid of Leicester City scores their first goal (Image: 2025 Getty Images)
That know-how means he gets the timing of his press slightly better, it means he can read the game and get a toe in defensively, it means he can create slightly more space for himself, it means he makes better passing choices.
They might only seem like small moments, but they make a big difference when added up.
Aaron Ramsey might be fit to return next weekend and given his performances before his hamstring injury, it felt like he would be a shoo-in to start the moment he was available. But De Cordova-Reid’s displays means that’s no longer the case.
Cifuentes bangs his desk as City improve problem areas
Just three games ago, City had the Championship’s worst record in the opening 10 minutes of matches.
Since then, they’ve scored twice in the opening 10 minutes, four times in the opening 20 minutes, and seven times in the first halves of matches. There’s now parity in their first-half numbers for the season, with 15 scored and 15 conceded.
Over the previous two games in which they’ve taken healthy leads into half-time, they’ve sat back on those advantages. They held out at Derby, in which they had no second-half shots, but succumbed to the pressure at Bristol City, where they didn’t have a second-half effort until the 88th minute, once the scoreline was 2-2.
That game at Ashton Gate was the fourth time in eight matches this term that City had drawn despite leading at the break.
On Saturday, they had four second-half shots, scoring with the first of those. They came out for the second period in a much more confident, forward-minded mood than they did against the Robins and it was immediately clear to see in their competence and speed on the ball.
At Ashton Gate, they lost their way and fell apart. They completed just 49 passes in the second half there. By the time of Ayew’s goal seven minutes into the second half of Saturday’s game, they’d already completed 51 passes.
Credit should go to Cifuentes and the squad for addressing both of those issues, around the starts of matches and defending a second-half lead.
Obviously, those improvements need to be sustained to definitively declare them problems of the past, but these quick upturns are promising.
It was especially pleasing how City came out for the second half on Saturday. Given their recent experience at Bristol City, and knowing how good Ipswich can be, they could have wilted. But it felt like Cifuentes’ message finally got through.
Discussing his half-time team talk, Cifuentes said: “It was very similar to what we said on Wednesday, firstly that we had to chase the third goal and second that it’s about being ourselves. Being us.
“It’s about the identity that we want to build. The identity is about teamwork, commitment, playing for the badge, playing for each other, but it’s as well about attacking, it’s as well about scoring the next goal.”
As he said the words “being ourselves”, Cifuentes lightly thumped the desk in front of him. It was a point he was literally trying to hammer home.
He clearly feels City lost their identity on Wednesday but maintained it on Saturday. Now they need to maintain it over the weeks to come.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid of Leicester City celebrates scoring the opening goal vs Ipswich
Bobby De Cordova-Reid of Leicester City celebrates scoring the opening goal vs Ipswich
Potential problem may be blessing in disguise
Because of injuries to a handful of players, and because of the omission of Harry Winks, Cifuentes has, over the past few games, made fewer changes to his line-up than he usually would and fewer changes that he would have liked to.
It could have been a problem. It’s the busiest month of the season and using the same players game after game could lead to injuries.
However, a lack of senior options meant City played the same 11 against both Derby and Ipswich, with Hamza Choudhury replacing Ricardo Pereira in midweek.
While the negative effects of using the same players may yet materialise, it feels like, in the short term, it has been a positive.
A settled 11 means there’s been greater fluency and speed in the passing and greater cohesion and organisation in the defensive line.
Ipswich arrived into Saturday’s game as the second-leading scorers in the division, and yet they were probably limited to two big chances, for Jack Clarke in the first half and after Jakub Stolarczyk’s mistake in the second.
City defended in and around their box with desire, helping them to make impressive blocks. But that heart is not enough. They need unity and structure, and they had that, perhaps because of the consistency in their line-up.
Players know their own roles and those of their teammates around them, and they’re looking like a better team as a result.
Statement win eases Cifuentes pressure and provides hope
City started the weekend three points off the play-offs and they finished it three points off the play-offs. However, they are now five places closer. Sitting in eighth, rather than 13th, makes the standings look much more palatable.
Perhaps more importantly than the look of the table, they now have a statement victory under their belts.
For the goals they scored and for the way they sealed the points, it was a very good win. But that it came against an in-form promotion chaser makes it the best of the season.
Following the joy of last week’s victory over Derby, that’s probably the two biggest highlights of Cifuentes’ reign in the space of eight days.
It’s a big boost for the Spaniard. He was the favourite to be the next Championship manager sacked at the start of the month. Now he’s sixth-favourite.
But for a fanbase that was worrying about a potential second successive relegation a couple of weeks ago, there’s now hope that a much better season could be in store. By beating Ipswich, they’ve proven they can beat anyone.
Be the first to comment