Justin wins praise for subduing Zaha
‘DEFENSIVELY BRILLIANT’ PERFORMANCE KEPT PALACE STAR QUIET
BRENDAN Rodgers heaped praise on the performance of young rightback James Justin following Leicester City’s 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
As a result of City’s change in formation, Justin played as a rightsided centre-back in the first half, and as a right-wing-back in the second, but performed in both roles, particularly in keeping Wilfried Zaha quiet.
That helped City keep a 12th clean sheet of the season, and earn their first win since the restart.
But Justin wasn’t the only player to prosper in Rodgers’ new formation, which he admitted added extra risk.
“We haven’t been creating so much, so we changed the system to try to put more risk into it and freshen it up, and I think the players dealt with it very well,” he said.
“We played 3-4-1-2, and firstly it was to get, defensively, a greater press and a higher pressure up the pitch, with Jamie (Vardy) and Kelechi (Iheanacho) up there as the two.
“We played Ayoze Perez just behind, and it’s about getting goalscorers into the game. We haven’t been scoring goals so that’s been the issue for us, and we’ve not been anywhere near as creative as what we would have liked. So we tried to get people who can score goals on to the field.
“Marc Albrighton had to fill in as a wing-back but he did that marvellously well, and James Justin was up against one of the top wingers at this level, and once again he’s come through, he was defensively brilliant. There wasn’t much change out of Wilfried Zaha today.
James Justin was up against one of the top wingers at this level, and once again he’s come through
Rodgers
“Then playing with three defenders. When Ryan (Bennett) comes in, he’s a natural centre-half. James Justin started as that right-sided centrehalf and he worked it very well in both positions he played.
“It gave Ben (Chilwell) the chance to get forward that bit more as well, but still giving us security from behind with the three centre-halves, and the defensive midfield players.
“It worked well, the guys coming into the game worked very well. We showed a real mentality to not concede and to get our goals.”
The system may even improve when City have a fully-fit squad, with James Maddison and Ricardo Pereira watching from the sidelines.
“I think it was a real collective effort,” Rodgers said on the victory. “We haven’t, in the last few games since we came back, been at our fluent best.
“We’re missing some of the really key players, in terms of James Maddison, a really creative player, Ricardo Pereira, one of the best right-backs in European football.
“Collectively, we’ve come together to get a result and I think we were very worthy of it.”