Steven Schumacher began making substitutions before the hour mark at King Power Stadium, with the Pilgrims already losing 4-0 and another away fixture on Wednesday.
Steven Schumacher admitted to turning his attention to Plymouth Argyle’s away game against Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday midway through the second half of Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Leicester City.
After trailing 1-0 at the break, the Pilgrims conceded three goals between the 49th and 55th minutes at King Power Stadium, as the Championship leaders proved too much for them.
Soon after, Schumacher began making substitutes, removing left-back Mickel Miller due to a yellow card for Brendan Galloway and replacing striker Mustapha Bundu with Ryan Hardie.
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It was an opportunity to give Hardie some game time following his recent hamstring injury, which held him out for five weeks until making his comeback off the bench in the 2-1 home win over Stoke City on December 2.
Then, in the 66th minute, Finn Azaz and Morgan Whittaker, who had featured consistently throughout the season, were replaced by Luke Cundle and Bali Mumba in preparation for the midweek fixture in west London.
“Morgan and Finn have been influential for us, and so much workload goes through them,” Schumacher said. I knew the game was almost done, so I took them off after 60 minutes to save them for that (the QPR game).
“I think it was clear to everyone why we made those decisions.” Mickel had a yellow card, so there was no point in putting him in danger. It was just a matter of keeping everyone as fresh as possible and ready to go again on Wednesday for what will be a major game.”
Argyle are 18th in the Championship, four positions higher than QPR but with only three points more. Rangers have won three straight games under newly appointed Spanish manager Marti Cifuentes.
Schumacher must decide whether the fit-again Hardie is ready to play again. Bundu has led the assault in recent games, and he had a fantastic chance to tie the score at 1-1 against Leicester when he was passed through by Whittaker, but he shot straight at goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.
“They are big moments, they are the defining moments, and they are the ones we have got to do better on,” remarked the manager of the Argyle Football Club.
“As we’ve shown, we had chances against Leeds and performed admirably against Ipswich.” We’re getting opportunities, but they’re not blowing us away. We are not outclassed throughout the game.
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