Legia 1-0 Leicester: Rodgers’ selection headache for the future

Up top, Rodgers got slightly creative — if not a little bit forced by off-field decisions. Missing the Nigerian-international, Kelechi Iheanacho, meant that if Rodgers wanted to rest Jamie Vardy he had to play a couple different look front two. Ayoze Pérez and Patson Daka started the fixture, which meant the side had an “out-and-out” number 9 in Daka, and a creative forward that drops into an attacking-midfield position in Pérez.

With limited chances to even receive possession, the two forwards didn’t impact proceedings. Patson Daka was excellent at pressing Legia Warsaw’s defence, but with little cohesion in the sides pressing structure — often sitting in a block as a team then pushing out individually — this wasn’t utilised to the extent it should have.

Stagnant possession, often resulting in mistakes when the Foxes tried to add intensity to their play. The structure was a slight feature of this stale football, but not the overarching problem. Brendan Rodgers needs to solve the confidence issue that spans through the entire squad as of late — they’re reluctant to take risks in possession as most turnovers are resulting in good chances for the opposition and thus impacting the confidence of the squad.

Honestly, I’m not sure what the solution is for Rodgers. His last two starting XI’s have looked good enough to gain maximum points, and I’ve definitely agreed with the choices of formations — but the mentality and attitude of the performances have been subpar.

Yes, Leicester haven’t got the luck at the moment nor are they taking their chances, but to overcome these issues you have to create in abundance: outscore the opposition, instead of trying to be efficient with little creativity. These aren’t formation issues, it is problems with personnel and tactics. Rodgers needs to find answers for these problems, but the Foxes faithful should remember how much this squad has grown under his management and allow him to rectify this.