Sheffield United 1-2 Leicester: 3 Things we learned
By James Bishop
Jamie Vardy saved Leicester City once again with a crucial last-minute goal to deny Sheffield United their first win of their season to propel the Foxes into the top four.
A recalled Ayoze Perez gave Leicester the lead which lasted all of three minutes when the Foxes inability to win headers and defend set pieces cost them again as Oli McBurnie scored a rare goal for the Blades.
The second half seemed to be meandering to a score draw but Leicester City legend Vardy was slipped through by James Maddison and he scored sparking differing emotions on both benches.
The win was so crucial for Brendan Rodgers’ side after a mixed bag of results since the international break, but what did we learn from Bramall Lane?
Youri Tielemans is the man for Leicester City!
In the last two Europa League games we have seen a very disjointed side. Dennis Praet and Hamza Choudhury have been armed with controlling the game and in both games Rodgers’ side have lacked fluidity, control and presence in the attacking areas of the pitch.
Against Braga Praet was taken off at half-time and Tielemans was brought on. A sign? Obviously. Rodgers clearly showed that the 23-year-old is easily one of his most important players, someone who is needed to play the way he demands.
City controlled the game there after on that night, and it was a similar situation today. The Belgian was running the show, which certainly had Jamie Carragher purring at all ends.
Whether he was picking the ball up on the half-way line, driving at the defence or playing defence splitting passes in the final third, he was at the heart of everything.
The midfielder got his team ticking and pressed from the front. Although chances were at a premium, the Blues were never under pressure, because they had such control of the football. A season high of 70% possession ensured that a final chance would come, without Youri, we’d probably be talking about another defeat or disappointing performance.
Despite all the injury problems Leicester have to such key players, the loss of Tielemans would pull them out of the top four race for the time being, let’s hope it doesn’t happen.