Leicester City 2-4 Newcastle: 5 talking points from disappointing display

2. No Evans, no party

Brendan Rodgers has repeatedly referred to Jonny Evans as the “Brain in our defensive line” and his last-minute absence certainly affected the performance. Certainly, it is remiss to fully blame his absence on the loss, but its effect on Söyüncü and Fofana cannot be understated.

Without Evans’ calming presence, Leicester’s once-solid rearguard fell to pieces with the Turk, in particular, putting in a terrible performance. His lack of concentration and common sense for the first goal in trying to Cruyff turn when under pressure does stand out, and afterwards he looked increasingly jittery. It’s all well and good when such skills come off but there is a time and a place for ‘frills’.

Fofana was better in general, but his lack of understanding with his Turkish partner was sorely highlighted for Newcastle’s fourth goal. Playing the offside trap requires communication as well as timing, with neither being utilised as Wilson helped himself to his second goal.

Ultimately, what this highlights is that without the Northern Irishman, there is a leadership void in the backline, with neither Fofana nor Söyüncü able to demonstrate adequate communication or composure to take control of the defence. With Evans an injury doubt for upcoming games, this puts the viability of the three at the back system in jeopardy.

3. Running out of attacking ideas

Leicester’s limited attacking display yet again raises more questions. This performance suggests much off-season work is needed, and that previous victories against West Brom and Crystal Palace have simply papered over the cracks.

Once again, the lack of movement and dynamism led to long spells of ponderous possession rounded off by an aimless long ball. It is hard to put a finger on one reason for this, with the lack of dynamic running from players such as Barnes being one possible reason. Even so, the players on the pitch in theory had more than enough quality to dispatch the Magpies, yet such quality did not materialise.

Maddison once again put in a disappointing display, although this may be down to his lack of full match fitness. Brendan Rodgers described this as a “Catch-22” situation, with the importance of the games meaning Maddison has no time to work his way back to fitness in ‘low-pressure’ games. Regardless of this, there is a strong case for him to be dropped in favour of Ayoze Pérez, with the Englishman’s lack of creative spark or end product unable to be ignored any longer.