Assistant coach Rasmus Bertelsen admits Randers struggled to cope with Youri Tielemans and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall during the 4-1 UEFA Conference League defeat to Leicester City, speaking to TV2 Sport.
Are there green shoots of recovery poking through the undergrowth? Or is this merely a false dawn, a one-off victory against limited opposition?
Only time will tell. And, should Leicester slip up away to in-form Wolves on Sunday, it will be back to square one, all the good work against Randers and West Ham undone.
But, as Brendan Rodgers’ hungry Foxes sunk their teeth into Denmark’s sixth-best side on Thursday night, their troubles were put aside during 90 minutes full of action and opportunity.
Wilfred Ndidi opened the scoring following an incisive one-two with the excellent Ademola Lookman.
And, after a brief scare and a shock equaliser, Leicester racked up the goals in a dominant second half, Harvey Barnes, Patson Daka and the increasingly influential Dewsbury-Hall ensuring that Leicester have one foot and at least two toes in the round-of-16.
Can Leicester City win the UEFA Conference League?
Randers are in no mood to accept just yet. As long as there is minutes on the clock, there’s still a chance, albeit a slim one.
But Bertelsen, the club’s assistant coach, knows that such space cannot be afforded to the dangerous Tielemans and Dewsbury-Hall if Randers are to ‘do a Dinamo’ and turn around a tie that looks lost.
“We have to try to make sure we get a little more compact between the two number eights,” explains Bertelsen. “We have big problems with them.
“The number of chances Leicester created may be acceptable. But the size of them (Leicester spurned several ‘big’ chances in addition to their four goals) is far too large.
“We have to make sure to get a little more compact.”
Leicester mustered a staggering 24 shots on last night, hitting the target on no less than 15 occasions.
No wonder Kasper Schmeichel identified his opposite number, the overworked Patrik Carlgren, as a deserving recipient of the Man of the Match award.
