Legia Warsaw vs Leicester: Five things we learned as Foxes suffer shock Europa League defeat

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Leicester City’s poor form continued in the Europa League on Thursday evening as they were beaten 1-0 by Legia Warsaw in Poland.

Brendan Rodgers’ men came into the game having won just one of their last five games in all competitions and could do nothing to stop the Polish champions.

Mahir Emreli’s 31st minute strike gave Legia a deserved victory over the Premier League side, who made six changes from their 2-2 draw with Burnley at the weekend.

The result leaves Leicester third in their group on just one point following their draw with Napoli in their opening round of Europa League fixtures.

Here are five things we learned from the game tonight.

It’s not even a surprise anymore - a statement indicative of the widespread danger racism still poses across Europe. The Leicester players were roundly booed as they took the knee before the first whistle this evening - there is no getting away from that.

The England national team received similar treatment when they travelled to Poland for their World Cup qualifier earlier this month, despite Robert Lewandowski pointing to UEFA’s Respect badge as Gareth Southgate’s side took the knee.

It might seem monotonous, but the booing needs to be highlighted every time. Otherwise, what’s the point at all?

At the age of 34, Jamie Vardy has returned to his bullish best at the start of the new Premier League season. The former England international has scored five goals in his first six games, meaning he is already halfway to reaching double figures for a seventh successive Premier League campaign.

Vardy was benched this evening as Rodgers opted to play Patson Daka and Ayoze Perez up front in a 3-5-2 formation. And the Foxes desperately missed their talisman’s runs in behind as they looked bereft of ideas in their new shape.

Rodgers finally decided to bring Vardy on with 10 minutes remaining but he failed to make any real impact.

One of the big takeaways from Legia Warsaw’s victory was the quality of striker Emreli. The Azerbaijan international has started the season sensationally and proved his worth once more against Leicester.

Remarkably, due to Legia’s three two-legged Champions League qualifying rounds and their Europa League play-off, tonight was Emreli’s 18th game of the season. Already!

Almost as impressive is the Azerbaijan’s goalscoring record so far in the 2021-22 campaign. The 24-year-old’s strike this evening sees him move into double figures for the season, joining the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland in reaching 10 goals before the end of September. And it is not only his prowess in front of goal that he offers the team. His ability to hold and link the play is also second to none.

Do not be surprised if we see Emreli linked with a move to one of the top five European leagues in the next 12 months.

Rodgers opted to change things up and switch to a trio of centre backs for the trip to Poland. He played Jannick Vestergaard, Daniel Amartey and Caglar Soyuncu in a back three with Timothy Castagne and youth team prospect Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall providing the width.

To put it bluntly, it simply did not work. Soyuncu was exposed over and over again in the first half as he failed to deal with Mattias Johansson and Josue’s smart link-up play down the right-hand side. The Turkish international is not used to playing on the left of a back three for club or country and it showed in a bad way this evening.

Vestergaard also struggled to cope with the movement of Emreli as Leicester’s 3-5-2 experiment turned into a bit of a nightmare.

Leicester’s best period of the game came in the final 20 minutes when James Maddison and Harvey Barnes came off the bench to add some much-needed creativity to their attack.

Since suffering an injury in the second half of last season and missing out on the England squad for Euro 2020, Maddison has struggled for any kind of form. But tonight he showed some of the best football he has played since the turn of the year.

His direct, forward-thinking mentality and technical skill on the ball reminded everyone why he was at one stage compared with Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and Mason Mount. He also should have had a goal late on but his scuffed effort was cleared off the line.