Rodgers Plays Down Iheanacho’s Early Substitution In Leicester City’s Draw Vs Norwich

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers says the decision to substitute Kelechi Iheanacho in the first half of the Foxes 1-1 home draw against Norwich City on Saturday was tactical.

Iheanacho was replaced by Demarai Gray six minutes before the break.

Rodgers has started with a diamond midfield and two strikers, a system which had proved successful against Aston Villa, but which he admitted did not work against the Canaries as City’s winning run came to an end.

“It was one where we wanted to go to 4-3-3 and when we moved him out to the side, he’s not a natural winger, he’s not one who can play on that outside,” Rodgers told reporters after the game.

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“He was fine. He was disappointed because he’s been terrific for us in the past few games. He understands, he knows it was nothing personal, just the flow of the game needed to change.

“It was as probably the right result. We didn’t start so well in our pressing and then our passing was slow. In fairness to Norwich, they played well in that opening period.

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“I felt we needed to change it. We started with the same shape as last week but it wasn’t quite working for us. We made the change and the last 15 minutes of the first half was better when we went to 4-3-3.

“In the second half we were much better, but it looked like the ball was never going to drop for us. We got the goal back as well earlier but we just couldn’t quite find that quality and final pass to get the winner.”