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Football managers do tend to be judged on their players performances, and in a struggling Leicester side at least Jamie Vardy is deliviring the goods with 6 goals in 7 games scored. He is top of the list together with Salah of Liverpool.

Jamie Vardy’s goals are what Leicester are and has been since he took up the job as being their main man up front and really given that special chance by Claudio Ranieri. Earlier being played a bit in and out under Nigel Pearson.

That special link up Jamie Vardy has had with Shinji Okazaki, Riyad Mahrez and Marc Albrighton, and also Danny Drinkwater and later Youri Tielemans has been the magic formula for the club.

Leicester are so depending on Jamie Vardy that without him they are a bit lost, though Kelechi Iheanacho has also showed great form up front when called up on, so why are their manager Brendan Rodgers reluctant to play the two together this season, and not happening before the game v. Crystal Palace, when they both scored two terrific goals in the first half.

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Brendan Rodgers have addressed his problem as being defensively, but still looks to have missed his target heavily as he continues to use Jannik Vestergaard alongside Caglar Soyuncu. They are doing the same job and together as a pair they are surely totally unlikely to keep a clean sheet together. Vestergaard being a stopper of the ball and without pace, and Caglar also being a stopper and not a big reader of the game as you need to have one of your central defenders capable of doing that cleverly.

Jannnik Vestergaard is not a bad player, but playing with Caglar Soyuncu is a difficult task as he do have a untraditional way of moves in the back and with Vestergaard being a stopper and not the player used to take out the depth and running the defense as we do know Jonny Evans does, you have a messy situation in the back, this has to be adressed shortly as we can just at this moment say that the Dane / Turk partnership cannot continue, never again. Both players can play alongside other players in the back, but with the two together it’s suicidal.

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If Brendan Rodgers continues to play Soyuncu and Vestergaard together he will be struggling and could set his future at the club at risk. Both players are depending on a corective man alongside each other, not play them together again, never.

To also change and chop from a back four to a back three is a massive risk as you upset all other areas in the field and all movement will be difficult to keep in the right way as players tend to find each other and have those special connections that are based on certain systems played.

At the moment Leicester do not have a great alternative to play alongside those stoppers as they are not readers of the game, and without Jonny Evans, Daniel Amartey is one to use, but he is not ideal as his presence in the team is not as major as it should be. Jonny Evans is of course the clear alternative that everyone can play together with, but without him Wilfred Ndidi would be a good choice, though that would hurt the midfield.

With Jonny Evans so much injured and Leicester struggling as they are at the moment, you need to be carefull in your selection of a player that could do that job properly, not an easy task as Leicester do depend on their best players available.

The rythm of the game is also upsetting Harvey Barnes. A player that suits a three man forward line the best. He is not a midfielder but an attacker that comes in from the wide, using his skills differently will just make him a player less confident and without that special edge.

To see Papy Mendy running around in the U.23’s on Friday is also frustrating as the squad heavily needs this man when without Ndidi. To leave Mendy out of the squad for Europe and Premier League is a risky decission that could be seen as fatal for Brendan Rodgers and his future at the club. Today bringing on Hamza Choudhury as he surely do not trust Bouba Soumare to do that job properly alongside Youri Tielemans, with Ndidi absent. Why then take of Hamza and bring on Bouba so early second half, looks very strange.

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Preston North End managed a 1-1 draw in their latest encounter against Stoke City. Daniel Iversen, currently on loan from Leicester, had again a briliant day at the office, making saves said to be out of this World as some North End fans described it.

Some say Daniel is a goalkeeper that should surely be first choice at a higher level and fully deserves it. There is no doubt that Leicester do have massive talent around, but with Kasper Schmeichel more or less in his prime as a goalkeeper, and also Danny Ward at the club, we could see another talented player on the move away from the club shortly.

Kamal Sowah did leave Leicester for a fee close to £8million to join Brugge, he had also impressed on loan at OH Leuven but never played a first team game at Leicester before making his move out of the club. Sidney Tavares also left the club this summer after being involved in only two PL games for the club.

The departure of Demarai Gray and Andrej Kramaric in latter years shows that being on the fringe at Leicester or little or not involved at all at first level at Leicester doesn’t mean you are not a good footballer. Rachid Ghezzal was by many fans stamped as useless and no good, but what he has done in Turkey shows the total opposite.

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At the moment Callum Wright do impress at Cheltenham, having played six games and scored three so far, he was impressive in their latest game winning 2-1 away to Charlton at The Valley.

To have players out on loan and giving them experience is a must going forward as we have seen with Harvey Barnes and earlier Ben Chilwell both getting to a better level by playing on loan at a lower stage and getting that vital game time needed to evolve.

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Tyrese Shade is another player out on loan playing up front for a struggling Walsall, and with only one goal in six games, surely not satisfied with his outcome. Walsall are at the moment 22nd in the fourth tier and have only two teams behind them in the total league pyramid.

Thakgalo Leshebela are also out on loan but has not featured much with just 19 minutes of game time so far with Shrewsbury, struggling at the bottom of League One. Hopefully he will get more game time going forward.

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Brendan Rodgers does like to have a group of not more than 20 players to chose from but at the moment he is in a risk of destroying talent and send players out to dry with concerns regarding Patson Daka, Kelechi Iheanacho and Jannik Vestergaard probably just being players on the fringe, that cannot last much longer.

Either you start a massive rotation system or you start to ship out players that you cannot find a place to, signing players for the future will never work as they are all getting to their best level by playing week in and week out, sitting out games will never be good and it will just stop your progress.

To see a number of players shipped out over the summer was no surprise as their game time in the first team at Leicester would have been very limited. Dennis Praet, Kamal Sowah and Rachid Ghezzal all departed and have found new clubs in Torino, Brugge and Besiktas.

We also did see Wes Morgan and Christian Fuchs moving, but to see new faces not really signed to go straight into the first team could be money thrown out of the window as Brendan Rodgers needs to use a different formula going forward, trying to sort out how he will progress.

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You need to have players available who are capable of playing two games a week during the season and not really being much bothered about them getting tired. If you look at Man City and Chelsea especially they do manage to keep this flouting without having a grand group of players to rotate.

You will see the key players in there two games a week as they are getting the rest needed to be fresh midweek and weekends during a season, that must also be what Brendan Rodgers will be looking at and not rest players in games and believe that he can water out and still get results.

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A big problem for Brendan Rodgers is the situation regarding Jonny Evans, probably his most important player at the moment struggling heavy with injuries and his age is working against him, so BR need to decide on what he will do, you cannot sit around and wait anymore as Jannik Vestergaard also will be seeking answers and of course at this moment nice to have alternatives, but long term, players will need to play and get the game time they deserve, a decission must be made about Evans very soon.

In the midfield area Sammy Braybrooke is looking as a player that could be introduced to first team action this season. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall cannot just be played in the EFL Cup, with Hamza Choudhury and Papy Mendy probably looking for an early exit in January.

The loan signing of Ademola Lookman looks exciting but what will then happen to Marc Albrighton and Ayoze Perez. Both players will be under great treath from Lookman and could be seeing the bench more often, and again time will be against especially Marc Albrighton.

Brendan Rodgers needs to consider the following, first of all, what is my strongest 11, what is the best system suited and who are my 18 best players. When that is done, you should also be able to keep a carrot for those in the academy set up so they know working hard can see them as first team alternatives and also get a feeling of being involved and close to an oppertunity. If you ignore that key in your work as manager you will never get your hands on the best recruits and they will go to other clubs.

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We certainly would like to see BR reducing the squad of first team alternatives down to 18 players, send the rest out on loan or going for complete sales as academy graduates must be seen as possible alternatives if injury strikes. To believe that you need three players to cover each position in a first team will not be the ideal plan going forward.

TCF belive the following should be the squad,

Goalkeepers: Schmeichel, Ward
Defenders: Castagne, Justin, Fofana, Pereira, Souyuncu, Thomas
Midfield: Tielemans, Ndidi, Soumare, Braybrooke,
Forwards: Daka, Iheanacho, Perez, Vardy, Barnes, Lookman

TCF believe that picking a starting eleven from these 18 players will be the only correct thing to do and as we have seen at Man City they do put younger players on the field and use their academy graduates frequently for cover if a first team player is out of play.

Sadly, at this moment, Leicester do have too many players either equal in quality or just being left as fringe alternatives, this will not be working well over time as a rotation of them will just see a weaker eleven week in and week out.

Of course harsh to make such drastic cuts in a player squad. But if you as a manager cannot secure first team action for most of your players and know that you cannot rotate too much to get results, you are stuck and will get into a very difficult dilemma going forward, then you need to gamble to get as high as possible in the table and have 18 players you believe in and if crises occur then giving one or two youngsters a chance on the bench, that would not be a problem.

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Players such as Vestergaard, Amartey, Benkovic, Dewsbury-Hall, Choudhury, Mendy, Albrighton, Jakupovic, Bertrand, Evans and Maddison will not accept to be sitting out most games over more than a season and you cannot hold them back as they will seek other options and to try to sign covers for fringe players is a bit of a bingo, so this is the way forward, building a stronger and more smaller squad unit.

Schmeichel and Ward are goalkeeper alternatives, if one of them gets injured surely U.23 alternatives Young or Stolarczyk will be more than capable of sitting on the bench. In the back four with Fofana and Justin still out, Castagne can cover in the center and play alongside Soyuncu. Pereira and Thomas will be the the full back alternatives. Soumare, Tielemans and Ndidi will be a great midfield, Braybrooke and Perez can go in and do a job if needed. Up front you need a bit of alternatives and with this set up Daka and Iheanacho both wold be more considered to play as you can alternate a bit with other players.

At the moment BR will just see his team getting weaker and weaker watering out the game time available for each player in this massive squad.

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