Brendan Rodgers is balancing the Leicester squad expertly

Leicester City’s perfect run in the UEFA Europa League has been extended, after the Foxes were victorious in the Greek capital, beating AEK Athens, 1-2.

Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers addressed some further injury problems ahead of the fixture, with summer signing, Timothy Castagne, now expected to miss the next three matches with a calf injury. There was also news that Jonny Evans had a slight back problem that could make him unavailable for the game versus Leeds United at the weekend.

Leicester City’s injury list doesn’t seem to be getting any shorter, in fact, it feels like after game another key player is added to this never-ending list. With this in mind, Rodgers had to find a balance of personnel and system, to ensure the Foxes would get a victory in Athens and still remain competitive in the Premier League on Monday night.

At first glance, it seems odd that when you’re lacking centre-backs, you revert to a system that requires you to play three of them – as Leicester City lined up in Greece with a 3-4-3 formation. However, as seen by Christian Fuchs’ role in the first-half and James Justin’s in the second, you can play full-backs in the wider centre-back positions, whilst also adding extra support to the defence.

With news that Castagne wasn’t fit to play, Marc Albrighton slotted in as a makeshift right wing-back, and in all honesty was exemplary. I think the 3-4-3 formation, which almost becomes a 5-4-1 in defensive transitions, gives Albrighton his best role at the club. His moments of attacking creativity and quality are becoming increasingly infrequent, and given his desires to track back defensively and support his full-back, playing Albrighton as a wing-back – with a winger in front of him, is his perfect implementation.

Another change in the starting XI saw Nampalys Mendy drop to the bench with Hamza Choudhury replacing him. The 23-year-old partnered Youri Tielemans in the Foxes midfield. Again, with similarities to Albrighton’s deployment, Rodgers got the best out of Choudhury whilst playing him in a double pivot. Ordinarily, he’s tasked with being the holding midfielder, due to his best assets being defensive, but – as seen by Ross Barkley’s goal for Aston Villa – he lacks positional awareness to truly flourish as the sole defensive-midfielder.

Instead, in the double pivot, Choudhury was able to push high in the press (when required), he could sit when Tielemans drifted forwards, and even if he was bypassed, there’s a midfielder (Tielemans) who is able to cover him. I’ve often overlooked his ability on the ball, and was impressed with his rotation of the ball – on a very poor pitch might I add. He competently played through the lines, and also made the same run (twice) to the back-post that resulted in a goal for himself. Drifting to the back-post on a corner, is essentially stating you’re ready to finish the chance off if the ball gets through to you – which it did, and he finished it very confidently.

Another component that aided Choudhury’s performance was James Maddison as a winger. The versatile creative midfielder started the game as the Foxes left-winger, but very rarely held that position, instead opting for a more central attacking-midfield positioning. This added another body in the centre of midfield, which I believe helped Choudhury in both the press and build-up.

With Maddison drifting in from the left, he’s got a lot more free space to play in. As the left-winger, it’s the job of the oppositions right-back to defend him, however as soon as Maddison drifts into the centre, it causes confusion as to who should be marking him.

Undoubtedly, playing this sort of “free role” has its consequences. For example, I think the left-side struggled offensively and defensively without a clear option in the advanced position. With Maddison playing internally, Justin was tasked with being the most attacking outlet on the left, and that limited his success.

Throughout the second-half, AEK looked very strong when playing down their right, Maddison would operate on one of the central-midfielders and the full-back when out of possession, but when you’re juggling two players there’s always time to be caught out in transition. This left Luke Thomas (who came on a substitute at half-time) and Justin (now playing as the left centre-back) relatively exposed.

In all honesty, with the personnel available and the constant balance of a congested schedule, I thought Rodgers’ team selection was good. He was also able to relieve Fuchs, Jamie Vardy, Cengiz Ünder, and Maddison of their duties with 25 minutes left in the game – allowing for the majority of those four to start versus Leeds United on Monday.

With regards to the 3-4-3 system, I think it’s got its shortcomings with a fully-fit Leicester City side. I don’t think Rodgers intends to use a formation like that with Wilfred Ndidi, Ricardo Pereira, Çağlar Söyüncü, and Timothy Castagne all fit. But, given the circumstances, it’s another formation that the Foxes have proved they can play – with good success as well – I thought both Wesley Fofana and Wes Morgan were excellent, making formations with three centre-back fairly viable for Leicester City.

With a difficult game against Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United, I’d be surprised to see the 3-4-3 again, purely due to the high-intensity nature of The Peacocks under the Argentinian. It would suffocate the back line when in possession, and make progressing the ball extremely arduous. However, the Foxes aren’t blessed with options currently, so Rodgers may opt for a system that’s brought him relative success. It’s a tough call, but Leicester have one of the best managers in the world for executing a game plan.