Leicester City 1-2 QPR: These Foxes let the side down

Three back to back losses in the EFL Championship leave the Foxes on the edge of losing the top spot to surging Ipswich Town, and leave them within two losses of play-off football. It was only a couple weeks ago we were talking of record points totals and being 12 points clear of second.

Again though, the King Power side were utterly dominant. 74% possession, 18 shots to three, and nine corner kicks to nil. We scored none, QPR with only three shots, two on target, scored both their on-target shots. That is from an xG of 1.0 to our 1.2 xG. So, yeah, they were not the best shots but enough to get passed Mads Hermansen.

These Leicester City players let the side down

1. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall

The golden boy of Leicester. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has been the impassioned voice of action on the pitch for the vast majority of our season. Our success is at least partially due to the player's performances. However, only one shot on target, seldom breaking through defensive lines, and zero defensive contributions to boot. One of his least impactful performances.

2. James Justin

The English fullback has been very good this campaign. The Foxes' starter rarely makes major mistakes, but seldom standouts due to his position and role within 'MarescaBall'. The player tends to have to sit back unless on the ball, when he can maraud forward to progress. However, without doing anything impressive against QPR, Justin also failed to make a meaningful contribution to prevent at least one of the goals, he also failed to support progression where needed.

3. Mads Hermansen

This feels harsh even for me. The Danish goalkeeper has been brilliant since joining the side, completely leaving Daniel Iversen and Danny Ward with zero chance of ever playing for Leicester City. Nonetheless, after facing seven on target shots the 'keeper conceded... seven. Of course, the Dane has made a couple saves and been let down by a couple deflections against Leeds United. Yet still, those are poor stats for Hermansen after such a strong start to the campaign.

It may seem a little harsh on the players chosen. After all, Leicester did not play poorly: again, we were the dominant side. However, you have to convert that dominance to goals, and those goals to victories. To do that, you need a strong collective defensive effort, and these three did not do a particularly good job as part of that. They were not alone: Abdul Fatawu and Hamza Choudhury were partially at fault for the first goal for example.

Enzo Maresca's men need to see Conor Coady and Jamie Vardy in the starting XI, and after the Bournemouth win we should see Kelechi Iheanacho in the starting team. There is also the argument that Callum Doyle needs to come in for JJ, and 'KDH' needs to be rested so he can rediscover his own form.