Ouattara struggled at King Power Stadium, with Marcus Tavernier warming up on the sidelines from early in the contest. O’Neil made the switch on 38 minutes, Tavernier coming on for Ouattara on the left wing. Two minutes later, Philip Billing scored what proved to be the only goal of the contest. Quizzed on why he made the early switch,
Gary O’Neil said: “It was just a tactical thing. I just felt it would be better for the team.”
Asked if he regretted starting Ouattara, given Tavernier was seen out warming up early in the contest,
Gary O’Neil said: “I hadn’t asked Tav to warm up. I’m guessing the subs were warming up because they were just warming up. Obviously we have to be careful with Tav at the moment. I just decided at 33 minutes or whenever it was that wasn’t the time to be careful with Tav anymore and played him for maybe slightly longer than we should have. But I felt there was a real opportunity for us today to grasp a big win. So, nothing against Dango at all. He works his socks off, always. He’s an honest lad. Obviously he’s only just arrived. He’s had an incredible impact on the group. His number of assists, his work-rate. Today I just felt like Tav would be able to give us something down that side.”
Gary O’Neil added: “I felt there was an opportunity of us in that first half. I felt we needed to show a little bit more of an urgency, even though we had control. That was my thinking behind the substitution. Tav was generally only meant to come on at half-time, or later. I just felt we needed some urgency and punish Leicester in that first half really, where we had so much control. Because at half time they can fix a few things and the second half doesn’t always look the same. So it was important we managed to get a goal at that point.”
