After yet another poor performance from Leicester City, the Foxes were beaten at the Polish Army Stadium on Thursday evening, by Legia Warsaw.
Leicester’s poor form has continued, after sloppy performances in the past few games. The Foxes now find themselves bottom of the group after their 1-0 loss to Warsaw, and now need to find wins out of the next four group stage games to have a chance at advancing.
Questions will be asked about Leicester’s poor run of form as of late, here are some key points made about Leicester’s disappointing loss in midweek.
Defence looks lost
Without the centre back partnership of Jonny Evans and Wesley Fofana, who are both out injured, the Foxes' defence looked shaky and didn't look comfortable. This has been the story for the past few games.
The pairing of Caglar Soyuncu and Jannik Vestergaard have started the past two games, and don't look confident in playing with each other. Soyuncu likes to venture forward from the back, while Vestergaard usually remains as the last man and keeps the defence in control. This hasn't been the case recently, with the pairing not communicating. The Foxes tried a five at the back, which didn't work, with the back three seeming non-existent.
Leicester don't look the same side without Fofana or Evans and look lost. The goal led to poor defending and backing away from the striker, Daniel Amartey wasn't strong enough, letting the man dribble past him. Vestergaard then didn't close the shot down which allowed Mahir Emreli to find the back of the net. It's a difficult situation with the centre half injury crisis, but Brendan Rodgers needs to find the formulae to get the defence sturdy.
No attacking intent
Leicester have found themselves in the position on many occasions this season where they have dominated the ball but lacked that cutting edge. The Foxes showed no real attacking intent against the Polish side on Thursday evening, hence Legia Warsaw's clean sheet.
Leicester found it difficult to break down the side, especially in the second half, where the home side were inviting the pressure and then looking to hit on the counter-attack. Leicester so many times passed the ball around with no real tempo and not feeding it into the box where the targets are.
The visitors showed no fight on Thursday evening and didn't look up to the task, with them being second to nearly every ball. Leicester's pace going forward was slow and lethargic, and never really tested the Warsaw defence. To break teams down, there is a fine line between patience and urgency, and the Foxes were in the latter of that against the Polish opposition.
Timing of substitutions
Rodgers may be questioned on the timing of his substitutions on Thursday evening, with the former Liverpool boss arguably leaving them too late. In the past few games, Leicester seem to have needed to go 1-0 down before they start playing with intent, with the same point of slow tempo football.
In what is a big European competition, and something that Leicester want to do well in, you'd like to think that Rodgers is eager to go far in the competition but his substitutions could suggest otherwise.
It took until the 67th minute until Rodgers made a positive attacking change, waiting a further 10 or so minutes for Ademola Lookman and Jamie Vardy to come on. With only 25 minutes (or less for Lookman and Vardy) it's difficult for the players to engage into the game, leaving them with little time to make an impact.