The away game vs. Randers was one set with expectations for Scandinavian fans for Leicester and of course Randers fans able to watch their club play Premier League opponents at home.
Brendan Rodgers fielded a team of players that he knew would fix a result that was ok to live with and also taking Leicester into the last 16 of the tournament.
Leicester never convinced anyone after first half and the only positive to take from it was the early goal scored by Harvey Barnes after just 2 minutes and of course setting the tune of the game.
Randers made the most of it but every attempt coming during first half was stopped by Kasper Schmeichel, former FCK player Daniel Amartey and Jannik Vestergaard all on the field from start in the game.
Coming out 2nd half it was a bit of both really with Randers making it troublesome at times, but with James Maddison in good shape and ready to convert it was brilliant to see his two goals. First a well placed free kick in the 70th minute, then again scoring with a wonderful shot from distance 4 minutes later.
Kasper Schmeichel had the best opportunity to keep a clean sheet but made a blunder in the 84th minute that finally made it possible for Randers to score as they had many attempts earlier stopped by their fellow Dane. Odey was their goalscorer.
Leicester controlled their faith for the rest of the game and to score 3 away and a total of 7 over two games in Europe will for always be good enough and better.
Brendan Rodgers rested Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and played with a trio in midfield we all would like to see and to understand the importance of that trio playing together is so vital, despite having problems first half it all became a stamp on how Leicester manage to win games in such a set up.
Embed from Getty ImagesA number of changes were done towards the end of the game to just give more players minutes. Hamza Choudhury, Bouba Soumare and Ayoze Perez were all given minutes. Kelechi Iheanacho was also given the full 90 minutes pluss.
Mark Albrighton being the ultimate man as he covered to the right in defense being able to rest Ricardo Pereira and also showing that his squad to have the quality to reach far in Europe.
Everything is possible in this competition but as we have seen earlier Leicester could also be challenged harder as competition heats up with possible opponents showing special strength.
Randers are out but still in the competition are Bodo Glimt of Norway and FC Copenhagen from Denmark as Scandinavia are still in with hope for a sensational outcome.
Embed from Getty ImagesLeicester will know their faith later today and cannot come up against only seeded teams as they continue their travels in Europe. FC Copenhagen are among the seeded teams and could be an opponent, Roma and Feyenoord might the two others of those teams that would be very difficult.
Good to see Leicester still competing and that Brendan Rodgers can shuffle a bit and still get good results and be able to route this clubs again closer to an exciting journey.
- Positives
- Scoring 3 away
- Maddison showing his best skills
- Still in Europe
- Winning with a shuffled team and a bit of changes
- Negatives:
- Kasper Schmeichel doing a massive error leading to Randers scoring
- Not being able ot keep a momentum and of course giving Randers opportunities
- Ndidi yellow
Player Ratings: Schmeichel 6, Amartey 6, Albrighton 5, Thomas 5, Vestergaard 6, Ndidi 5, Tielemans 6, Maddison 8, Iheanacho 5, Lookman 5, Barnes 6 Subs: Perez, Choudhury, Soumare
Embed from Getty Images- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- James Maddison
Match Stats (H/A):
- Possession: 43 / 57
- Corners: 8 / 6
- Shots on target: 6 / 5
- Fouls: 12 / 5
TCF - FILBERT WAY 
Leave a Reply