Zorya Luhansk 1-0 Leicester: Poor decision-making from Foxes

Leicester City’s brighter moments

In the brighter moments of the fixture, Leicester City had a couple of good exchanges – especially on the right. My man of the match was James Justin, again, and his connective play with Ünder was solid. Unfortunately, when the Foxes drew Zorya players into challenging them, they didn’t utilise the space they were creating on the opposing flank. For example, Ünder’s quality in possession naturally drew a couple of Luhansk players to attempt to tackle him (the best example of this being his incredible piece of skill between three players), then he’d combine with Justin – attracting another defender, and all of a sudden it would be two Leicester players versus four or five Zorya players.

In that scenario, there’s an overload on the opposing wing because Zorya have committed men towards Ünder and Justin, thus removing presence from Leicester City’s left-wing. There was so many occasions where Luke Thomas (left-back) was free during an attacking phase, and he wouldn’t be utilised. The Foxes need to learn that they’ve done the hard part by attracting a numerical overload from the opposition – a switch of play gives the east Midlanders their own numerical superiority and would reward them with higher percentage chances in the final third.

With all things considered, it’s quite natural to see a fluctuation in performances and results. Leicester haven’t been able to keep the same players in the starting XI for a while now, there’s always alterations – which for the most part Rodgers gets right.

I would’ve liked to see Ayoze Pérez make an appearance. I think he would’ve been excellent in between the lines – where there was a lot of space for the Foxes. Almost all of the “chances” came from shots around the 20-yard out mark, and that was a by-product of vacant space in those areas – had Pérez featured, I think he would’ve thrived in those areas. Plus, it would’ve given him some additional minutes, which I personally feel he deserves.

At the end of the day, a loss isn’t detrimental to Leicester’s UEFA Europa League campaign. Although, a good performance would’ve been nice. We’re now looking ahead to Sheffield United, who will probably operate in a deep-block in their defensive transitions. This will provide another test for the Foxes, but one that I hope Rodgers has got the answers for.