Again Ruud van Nistelrooy picked a team with both Bounanotte and El Khannouss in the starting line-up and he could have been rewarded early on, but it was not the day of convertion from a Leicester point of view, Jamie Vardy missing clear chances to score, and when you do that then it will punish you hard in the end.
Leicester had major possession in the first half and dominated the game, but still most of the play happened in the middle of the park as we have seen so many times before, playing back and forward and out wide, without the cutting edge on those passes and finishing.
Leicester had the advantage and with the first half ending we hoped for more positives second half, but still that rawness is not really there, of course playing a team that lately has found it’s standard and climbed places in the table.
Crystal Palace came out second half as a new team, being explained by the Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner having had a special half time talk. Harry Winks and Bouba Soumare struggled to keep Leicester floating, or even taking out El Khannouss or Bounanotte, as the Argentian lost a number of balls, but still it was strange to see that change happening.
A tough night.#LEICRY pic.twitter.com/LoT96FlJsv
— Leicester City (@LCFC) January 15, 2025
Then the worst happened, Crystal Palace scores in the 52nd minute from a great pass from Sarr, finding Mateta, but still no one coming into block Sarr, but please do not blame Vestergaard for that goal, had he tried to tackle in that position he would have been gone and dribbled or being passed through.
This was in real the killer goal and to see Ruud Van Nistelrooy panicking to make three changes with so much time left was a major surprise. Three changes and a formation change as well, was too dramatic, but still we got a reaction, would still have kept both Bounanotte and El Khannouss on the field, they need their minutes to get up to their best level and it looks as Ruud van Nistelrooy does not understand that these two players are the key to stay up this season, then to see them both taken off, makes it difficult to understand how it can be build enough confidence to get these two young players to take the responsibility that are needed, will not happen if the manager make the decisions he did today, he needs to support and back these two to get them up to the level needed and taking them of, you will not help them forward, it’s a major fault from the manager.
The changes came to early, despite having a few good chances and both James McAteer and Patson Daka had an impact. But in score, what happened was that Crystal Palace scored their second in the 78th minute, not really impressive defensive work from Leicester, as Guehi got it easy putting the ball in the net.
Stephy Mavididi and Bouba Soumare had major chances, but their attempt late on did not have the margins needed to get the ball in the net.
Not a bad match from Leicester, sadly not getting anything out of it, but today we did see some signs that hopefully we can get those goals needed in the next games coming up, Fulham is next, hopefully this will be a turning point.
- Positives
- Bounanotte and El Khannouss from start, good starting line-up, also having Faes and Vestergaard partnership is the best we have
- Jamie Vardy coming to many chances, that brings the positive picture
- Stephy Mavididi has stepped up, not his best game today, but still a danger
- Stolarczyk making some good saves and looks solid enough
- 70% possession tells a story of a team that is on a path potentially giving points going forward
- Negatives
- Harry Winks, again lacking the power we need in this role in this system, we miss Wilfred Ndidi
- Oliver Skipp, sorry do Leicester play his twin brother, so sad to watch his appearance to day
- Ruud van Nistelrooy panicking taking of Bounanotte and El Khannouss, is like shutting down the shop, sorry, but it was no need of that, could possibly given Patson Daka a chance, McAteer possibly a bit later, if Bounanotte or El Khannouss could have been taken off at a later time
Player Ratings: Stolarczyk 6, Justin 6, Kristiansen 5, Faes 6, Vestergaard 5, Winks 5, El Khannouss 6, Vardy 5, Soumare 6, Mavididi 6, Bounanotte 6 Subs: Daka, Skipp, McAteer, Ayew
- Leicester City, Man of the Match
Match Stats (H/A)
- Possession: 70 / 30
- Shots on Target: 4 / 4
- Corners: 4 / 3
- Fouls: 6 / 7
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