Gary Rowett picked a team focused on defence. He played Bobby De Cordova-Reid again. He did not use Jordan James or Devine Mukasa from the start. This was a surprise but also understanding the priorities.
Three former Leicester players in the squad for Ipswich, defender Cedric Kipre starting. George Hirst and Kasey McAteer on the bench.
The game started as an even affair with a slight advantage to Ipswich. They looked more steel and eager than Leicester, with more power in every possible intervention. Jacub Stolarczyk had a solid game all afternoon and made no errors, besided keeping the ball too long at times.
Leicester maintains balance. Oliver Skipp, Harry Winks, and Bobby De Cordova Reid made it difficult for Ipswich. This made it hard for them to gain the control needed to score. Caleb Okoli also showed his presence in defence with good blocking and tackling.
Towards the end of first half Leicester gets a bit of momentum. After 36 minutes, Caleb Okoli is close, but his shot is saved. Then in the 39th minute Leicester earns a free kick. Luke Thomas makes the cross following the set piece. Patson Daka gets the ball. His left-footed shot from the centre of the box finds the bottom right corner. Leicester are surprisingly 1-0 up.
Leicester are in the lead after the first half. That was a massive positive. The game looked very much like what we had expected, besides Leicester being in the lead.
A point on the board 🤝#IPSLEI | @BCGame pic.twitter.com/4ZexOLau7n
— Leicester City (@LCFC) March 7, 2026
Ipswich comes out second half with a mission to get back into the game. Their attempts are cleverly blocked and stopped by Leicester. But it looks uncomfortable and Leicester players were second on every ball.
Leicester are 1-0 up when Gary Rowett decides to make a move from the bench. Often such moves shall result in improvement. However, Gary Rowett and Andy King before him have often made mistakes. They have downgraded the team in quality. This time Divine Mukasa and Jordan James is given the chance, but it looks a very strange move. De Cordova-Reid had a yellow card. Mavididi never really shined. The change in players altered the balance. Unfortunately, it never worked as well as it should have.
Leicester had the lead. To put on two offensive midfielders, change the structure, and start experimenting might not have been obvious. It takes six minutes and the move shows no signs of being what should have been done. Ipswich scores from close range after a lot of chaos. Sindre Egeli scores from close range to get Ipswich back in the game. 1-1 after 76 minutes.
Lamaal Lascelles was a good player in the past and still is. However, his match fitness is not at the level it should be. He struggles with his placement and movement against quicker teams. This showed today and also in that fatal match vs. Southampton when being 3-0 up and losing 4-3. Lascelles entered the field when Leicester were 3-1 up. He had a nightmare end to that game. He was in the heart of the defence but could not control or organize the situation properly.
Ipswich push for a late winner. Gary Rowett makes new substitutions. Patson Daka and Ricardo Pereira makes space for Hamza Choudhury and Jordan Ayew. Hamza struggled from start, being back from a long term injury. Jordan Ayew never managed to influence anything. As we have said before, there is no need to take Patson Daka off the field. He is a better option in this type of game.
Leicester manage to hold on to that vital draw. Abdul Fatawu, again a huge dissappointment, is subbed off late on with Joe Aribo getting minutes.
Leicester managed to get a point, that was a result to take. Having the lead again makes it difficult to accept what happened in the second half. Leicester did not do anything other than defend. There was no momentum. Players looked to have little or no stamina. This made it hard to bring the team higher in the field. Not able to build any pressure on the opponent.
Leicester will play Bristol City on Tuesday and then next Saturday QPR will be on the other half. Both games are at home and with two wins in these games Leicester will be far of the relegation zone. Leicester has 35 points in the bag. They are third from bottom. However, everything can be sorted with good results in the next two games.
- Positives
- Jacub Stolarczyk playing a good game again, showing his quality
- Patson Daka scoring, he is hopefully getting starters from Gary Rowett going forward
- Caleb Okoli again with a solid performance, Leicester’s best player on the field
- Being more resolute in the the defensive area
- Getting a point on a day far from perfect
- Negatives
- Midfield problems, not really able to build anything during this game
- Abdul Fatawu is showing little worth at the moment, he has pace, but stops too often to play the ball backwards
- Gary Rowett making substitutions and structure changes during the game that does not work in his favour
- Again giving minutes to Jordan Ayew, he does not move enough and he has very little impact
- Ricardo Pereira should be on the field if he is not injured, Choudhury made no impact
- Losing another lead and having no plan to keep it
- Rowett not having any other calls than what we have seen earlier, leaving out youth and also showing no trust in them. There must a be reason for it. Are these youngsters not really ready yet and not having the focus needed to be part of this first team
- Again losing too many duels
- Not being on the front foot, and no attacking plan
- Dujuan Richards is he not a subs alternative to trust, Ayew given minutes instead?
Line Up:
Stolarczyk 6, Pereira 5, Okoli 7, Nelson 5, Thomas 5, Reid 5, Winks 5, Skipp 5, Daka 6, Mavididi 5, Fatawu 4, Subs: Ayew, Choudhury, Mukasa, James, Aribo
- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Caleb Okoli
Match Stats (H/A)
- Possession: 64 / 46
- Shots on Target: 3 / 3
- Corners: 10 / 2
- Fouls: 14 / 16
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