Former Leicester winger Matt Piper believes Brendan Rodgers has made the right decision by replacing Danny Ward with Daniel Iversen in goal, but said "some will say he should have made it sooner".

Piper told BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast he doesn't expect to see Ward return to the side before the end of the season.

He said: "Danny Ward has not been helped out by the way the whole team has defended.

"There were 123 shots against him and he has let the goals in that he has let in. If [Kasper] Schmeichel was in goal, would we have conceded the same amount of goals? I totally believe not.

"From that point of view, Rodgers did have to look elsewhere. Iversen did really well out on loan, Rodgers said he has impressed him in training and credit to him for making the decision.

"Some will say he should have made it sooner, but it is a big decision to take out. I think we have now seen that Danny Ward is probably not a number one at Premier League level."

Times journalist Charlotte Duncker added: "Realistically, Rodgers probably wanted to bring someone in last summer, but the finances weren’t there.

"Then you have Ward there who has been a very good number two. It was always going to be a massive task replacing Kasper Schmeichel, and it doesn’t help when the whole team have been defending poorly.

"But when you don’t have a confident goalkeeper, it’s going to breed throughout the team. It’s a big decision by Rodgers and it will be interesting to see if it pays off in the last 11 games of the season.

"Ward has waited his whole career for this opportunity and it’s come at a time when the team is so unstable and maybe whoever was in net was going to have a tough test this season."

Listen to When You're Smiling on BBC Sounds

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o67CZ5qopV%2BovbC%2B02iYq6yZmLmmv46cpWltpmy5uIHQq6Y%3D