GARY O’Neil has explained that his decision to pick Adam Smith over Jordan Zemura at left-back was based on containing James Maddison.
The Leicester City dangerman netted twice and provided an assist as the Foxes beat Nottingham Forest 4-0 on Monday night.
But he remained silent as Cherries beat Brendan Rodgers’ side 2-1 at Vitality Stadium, Patson Daka’s opener being canceled out by goals from Philip Billing and Ryan Christie.
O’Neil made two changes to his XI which drew 0-0 with Brentford last weekend, with Ryan Fredericks and Christie replacing Zemura and Kieffer Moore.
Fredericks operated at right-back, with Smith playing on the left, helped by Marcus Tavernier going deeper when Cherries was out of possession.
Asked about his thoughts on bringing in Fredericks for Zemura and moving Smith to left-back, O’Neil told the Daily Echo: “James Maddison is obviously a key player for Leicester.
“So we tried to come up with a plan that I thought would suit that side of the pitch.
“Our left-back didn’t play much at left-back today, which is what I expected.
“You end up trying to follow James Maddison a bit, so I thought Smudge would be the best for that.”
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