Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri has explained reasons behind
his decision to start Super Eagles striker Ahmed Musa in his starting XI ahead of
England forward Jamie Vardy in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace. Vardy, who scored 24 goals in last season's title-winning
campaign, came on as a second-half replacement as Ahmed Musa, Shinji Okazaki
and Christian Fuchs wrapped up the Foxes' first Premier League victory for over
a month.
It was the first time since March 2015 Vardy did not start a
Premier League game when available but Ranieri wanted to keep him fresh as the
Foxes juggle their Champions League campaign having beaten Copenhagen 1-0 last
week.
Ranieri said he has to bring in Musa because he was impressive
in the training session before the match and the former CSKA Moscow of Russia
star justified his inclusion as he scored his first premier league goal in the
encounter.
"It's normal because we have to play so many matches.
All the matches are important and when you see Okazaki and Musa in training I
have to put them on the pitch," Ranieri said.
"It wasn't (because) of injury, if he was injured he
wouldn't have come with me on the bench. I don't know if he needed a rest but
if I don't have Shinji, Musa and (Leonardo) Ulloa maybe I have to play him but
when you have some good players it's right to have a rest. Always I tinker,
when we play every few days it's important to choose the right player, this
time I left Vardy and (Marc) Albrighton out."
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