Leicester boss tries to justify contentious call fans disagreed with
Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers attempted to justify a contentious decision that many Foxes fans disagreed with in the Burnley draw.
Kelechi Iheanacho had one of his better games in a Leicester shirt on Wednesday evening, I’m sure everyone would agree. The promise of glimpsed link-up play was as slick as it has been under Brendan Rodgers, the former also made himself available in a general attacking sense by finding space and making runs.
While the Nigerian also applied the stunning finish to a wonderfully lofted feed from Wilfred Ndidi. A volley which is instantaneously one of the east Midlands side’s most impressive goals of the season. That was in spite of the usually reliable Clarets’ goalkeeper Nick Pope’s awful positioning with regard to the equaliser.
Therefore, many fans of the King Power club were astonished to see Iheanacho substituted at 66 minutes, especially when Jamie Vardy is currently rather ineffective.
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Leicester City boss justifies Kelechi Iheanacho call
Here is how the Northern Irishman explained his decision to retain Vardy and not Iheanacho:
"“It was just tactical. At the beginning of the second half, we were starting to get exposed on the sides, and for that we needed to make the change to 4-3-3.“Even though Jamie didn’t do much tonight, you would still back him to score if an opportunity came his way.”– Brendan RodgersVia Leicestershire Live"
A trip to the south coast to face Brighton is the next match for the Foxes. Leicester will fancy their chances of attaining all three points at Amex Stadium. Meanwhile, Graham Potter’s men are a more organised and dangerous outfit these days. Yet they are still stuck in Premier League mediocrity, as well as being susceptible to attack.
Whether Rodgers can summon enough attackers to handle the job against the Seagulls is another question; there are currently seven first team members injured or unfit on Filbert Way.
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Finding forward-thinking midfielders or a No.10 is a particularly impossible seeming task for the gaffer presently, with James Maddison, Ayoze Perez and Dennis Praet all sidelined. Under-23 personnel, Kelechi Iheanacho and Youri Tielemans have been used in the position to varying degrees of success. This fixture kicks off at 8pm on Saturday evening.