Leicester 2-2 Napoli: 3 things we learned about Foxes

Substitutes cause much head-scratching

The Europa League affords clubs the luxury of five substitutions, which is much needed in a restless football schedule. Brendan Rodgers used it to his full advantage, but at what cost? Bizarrely he made two substitutions at halftime, a move he rarely entertains at all in the Premier League despite many recent contenders for being hauled off. Jonny Evans was subbed for Caglar Soyuncu, a like-for-like sub and a deliberate attempt to manage Evans back to full fitness. Ayoze Perez was then subbed for Youri Tielemans, this was possibly due to the shape as the central midfield needed to be beefed up to deal with Napoli’s threat but Perez must have been somewhat confused after a fantastic first half.

On the 70 minute mark Daka (who was unfortunate to have a small amount of buttock offside to deny his first Leicester City goal) came off for Lookman, a striker for a winger, meaning Iheanacho was moved more central whilst Lookman tried to operate off the right. By now the game had got to 2-1 and Napoli were continuing to threaten Like-for-like subs continued to diminish as James Maddison was brought on for Boubakary Soumare.

A real puzzler was this one, as Soumare was offering key support to an increasingly high backline and Maddison rarely got involved. Surely Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall would have been a better option to maintain shape. Unsurprisingly the equalising goal went in on 86 minutes and straight after Jamie Vardy was brought on for the closing stages but struggled to get in the game. One can’t help but wonder if all this tinkering with personnel and shape played a part in Leicester City throwing the game away and missing out on a valuable three points against a dangerous opponent. There is another theory though.