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Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers has spoken about the hot topic of playing attacking midfielder James Maddison in a wide position.

Rodgers reverted to a 4-3-3 from a 4-1-4-1 for City's loss to Manchester United on Saturday, their first defeat of the season.

The system allows for an extra midfielder, Hamza Choudhury in this case, but it also means James Maddison is forced out wide, a position where he's not particularly comfortable.

Maddison has built his game around being a traditional number 10, playing in behind the striker, and it's in that position where he shone last season, finishing his maiden top-flight campaign as the Premier League's leading chance creator.

He has been pushed out wide a number of times this season, at least on paper, the 22-year-old drifting inside regularly during games where he starts in that position leaving an unbalanced look to the City line-up.

But what is the thinking behind it? Why is Maddison deployed in that position?

"Our idea at the beginning of the game was to press the game with two players who are very good at pressing the game in young Hamza (Choudhury) and Wilfred Ndidi," Rodgers explained after the defeat to Manchester United.

"But of course, there’s a setback when you concede so early. We played our way into the game and when we changed it, with the winger and putting James inside, we got a better link between the midfield and the front-line.

"I think it helped us but we couldn’t quite make the final pass."

The system again saw Leicester limited to chances on the weekend, the Foxes managing just three on target, which makes it nine shots on target across the four games the system has been used.

But Rodgers shrugged off the suggestion the system was to blame for that lack of creativity.

(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)

"We have played a few systems and sometimes haven’t created chances," he said. "It worked well for us at Chelsea, it worked well for us there where we played one winger on the inside, a midfield player on the outside.

"I suppose, if you look at Manchester United, they do similar. They have young Daniel James as an ou-and-out winger on the one side and Pereira on the inside.

"It’s something that you will do to try to get your numbers in midfield.

"I just think, first half, we just didn’t connect the game well enough from behind, through the midfield. We were much better as the game wore on, but it’s something we can look at."

One of the issues with Maddison cutting inside from a wide position is that it often leaves Ben Chilwell stranded, something our scouting report on the issue highlighted.

But Rodgers believes it's not an issue for Chilwell, despite the struggles the full-back encountered against United.

He added: "Sometimes, I think James’ (Maddison) movement is good, sometimes he is inside, sometimes he is outside

"I think Ben's strength is exploiting the space in front of him, so it works actually well when the player ahead of him sometimes goes on the inside."