BREAKING: Maresca has no defense when Leeds resumes the title race.

After losing 3-1 to their closest rivals, Leeds United, Leicester City’s lead at the top of the Championship—which was largely regarded as insurmountable for the majority of the season—now sits at just six points.

With twelve games remaining in the league season, the Foxes still hold the power to win the title, but this setback indicates that the attitude problems that have cost City dearly in previous seasons have returned with a fury.

For a great deal of the Blue Army, the fact that Enzo Maresca doesn’t seem to be ready or able to do anything to help resolve these problems is very concerning.

At Elland Road, Daniel Farke, the manager of the opposing team, once again outwitted Maresca. Daniel Farke’s astute and aggressive deployment of players from his bench was crucial in deciding the result of this highly anticipated match.

Consequently, the hosts produced a spectacular conclusion that considerably boosted their title hopes and guaranteed another miserable weekend for the City supporters, even though they were outplayed for extended periods of time.

Maresca’s choice of starting lineup demonstrated his belief in the players who have, for the most part, performed admirably over the last six months and have been instrumental in the team’s league-leading success thus far.

But doubts have been raised concerning a number of those players’ capacity to handle the difficulties posed by more formidable opponents, particularly the center defense tandem of Wout Faes and Jannik Vestergaard.

Such fears were not allayed by the defense’s surrender in the closing minutes of this match. In fact, it carried on a concerning pattern that had been seen in the two matches against rival championship contenders Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday, and Coventry.

The fact that Maresca has several other defensive options at his disposal, such as the seasoned Conor Coady and the youthful prospect Callum Doyle, who were both signed under his direction, makes it hard to believe that he won’t give them the opportunity to perform the duties for which they were hired.

Change is now necessary, as Vestergaard faces a two-match ban after receiving his tenth booking of the year. Maresca can no longer afford to wait.

However, the City manager’s team selection and strategy seemed to have paid off for the first 80 minutes of the match. The team deservedly found an early goal to calm the potentially threatening home crowd.

Patson Daka, who is still starting in place of Jamie Vardy due to injury. tremendous long-range effort that forced home goalkeeper Meslier into a fantastic save. The ball was then flicked on the resulting corner, where Faes found the score with a header at the far post.

The national team retaliated with the same savagery that had so frequently destroyed their team over many years. Referee Pawson shockingly did not penalize any of the visiting players for a number of late, off-the-ball challenges, and he further infuriated the City contingent by booking captain Ricardo Pereira for a ball-winning challenge.

Still, City maintained their composure and refused to give in to such blatant intimidation. They pinned Leeds in their own half for extended periods of time in the second half, but they were unable to find the second goal that would have most likely won the match.

Stephy Mavididi came within two yards of the goal twice; first, Daka was set up but missed a good opportunity after an offside ruling was overturned due to inaccuracy, as seen by TV replays.

The strike was of a kind that many Foxes lamented, requiring two deflections before it cleared Hermansen. However, the truth is that City has given up a lot of goals of this kind on their travels this season, particularly in the closing minutes of games. Real quality defenses would have been able to stop shots like this one sooner.

Leeds gave the scoreline another, completely undeserved gloss in stoppage time when Bamford deflected a James free-kick home in situations that once more raised concerns about the visiting defense.

McAteer was used as a so-called “draught excluder” behind the wall to neutralize a threat that James lacked the capacity or inclination to make, rather than marking the home team’s striker.

The outcome put an end to a contentious evening for the roving City crowd, some of whom once more embarrassed themselves, their team, and their community by jeering at their own players for demonstrating their support for a cause prior to kickoff. For a significant portion of the game, supporters who were obviously under the influence of drugs or alcohol were harassing stewards and clogging gangways, making it difficult for many of those in attendance to have pleasant memories of the event.

In the meantime, to keep City’s title challenge alive, players and management on the field need to demonstrate fortitude and character in the upcoming weeks.

Failing to do this would cast a significant shadow on City’s future and leave Maresca with a stain on his inexperienced managing career that he could find difficult to erase.

Leeds (4-2-3-1): Meslier; Gray, Rodon, Ampadu, Firpo (Roberts 73); Gruev, Kamara; Summerville (Anthony 90 + 1), Gnonto (James 64), Piroe (Bamford 64); Rutter. Klaessen, Cresswell, Cooper, Shackleton, and Joseph were not substituted in.

Objectives: Bamford (90 + 4), Gray (83), and Roberts (80).

Meslier, Rodon, Ampadu, Kamara, Roberts are reserved.

Leicester (4-2-3-1): Hermansen; Ricardo (c), Winks; Fatawu, Dewsbury-Hall, Mavididi (McAteer 78); Daka (Cannon 78); Choudhury, Faes, Vestergaard, Justin. Stolarczyk, Coady, Nelson, Doyle, Akgun, Praet, and Albrighton were not substituted in.