Brighton 1-2 Leicester: The importance of two No.8s for the Foxes

I’m not attempting to pin this subpar performance on the two No.8s either, that would also be unfair, but their struggle to understand when to sit, or push, caused a lot of issues in the first-half – particularly in transition. The goal wasn’t a fault of either though, in fact, it was very poor defending from the three centre-backs – who all played their part by not recognising the danger.

The goal stemmed from one of the centre-backs committing to a challenge on a forward with their back to goal. It’s well documented that Neal Maupay connects the attacking sequences for The Seagulls by offering wall passes, but there Foxes’ overcommitment to neutralise this actually caused bigger problems. Instead, they vacated dangerous areas by pushing to challenge and a quick pass around the corner unlocked the defence – as shown by Adam Lallana’s early goal, but also the offside goal for Maupay. The similarities between the two “goals” was concerning for Leicester City.

At half-time, there was only one manager looking for solutions and that was Rodgers. His answer was to neglect the defensive three and resort to the 4-3-3 formation. This was made possible by Daniel Amartey shifting to right-back – with Ricardo Pereira advancing into the right-wing position. The central midfield remained in the same composition, Wilfred Ndidi at the base with two roaming No.8s, although this time they were influential. For me, that was the major influence on the result – ensuring the two “playmaking” midfielders actually dictated the game for Leicester City and Youri Tielemans definitely did that.

I’d also suggest the passive press, that took up the entirety of the first-half, became aggressive and actually looked like an effective counter-press. It was through this intensity that the Foxes won the ball high-up, before off-loading to Tielemans in the centre. An exquisite pass through the lines into Kelechi Iheanancho was enough for Leicester City to make it 1-1, but the quality of the combination, the finish, and the overall sequence was excellent. In the absence of Vardy’s goals, Iheanancho is starting to become an essential part of the Foxes front line.

I feel it’s important to highlight Vardy’s performance last night, which was great. Recent games have seen the striker struggle to impose himself on the game with the limited amount of possession he’s granted. It’s mentioned often how little of the ball Vardy will see in a game, but his impact has been non-existent (in those few touches) – but, yesterday was the epitome of a Vardy performance. Little ball action, but good connections, pressed with intensity and looked threatening. This bodes well for the coming fixtures.

Perhaps the weirdest substitution was the arrival of Marc Albrighton, who replaced Tavares in the 72nd minute. The structure had already switched to a 4-3-3 formation, there was a vacancy at left-wing (as Iheanancho had been drifting their prior to the substitution) but his involvements seemed exclusively down the centre – in a similar position to the player he replaced. I think, Rodgers played Albrighton as a makeshift #8 for the last 20 minutes purely due to his energy – both in transition and the press. Regardless, his corner in the 88th minute was exactly what Leicester City needed to eventually take the lead in the tie – a very smart header from Daniel Amartey.