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Football News: Team Review - Leicester City

Team Review - Leicester City
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Team Review - Leicester City

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League Position: 8th

 

Ins And Outs

Ins:
Patson Daka from RB Salzburg
Boubakary Soumare from LOSC Lille
Jannik Vestergaard from Southampton
Ryan Bertrand from Southampton
Ademola Lookman from RB Leipzig (loan)

Outs:
Rachid Ghezzal to Besiktas
Dennis Praet to Torino (loan)
Sam Hughes to Burton Albion (loan)
Matty James to Bristol City
Christian Fuchs to Charlotte Independence
Wes Morgan (retired)

 


Goalkeepers:

Kasper Schmeichel
Danny Ward
Eldin Jakupovic

A solid, if not great, group of keepers, though you have to question the Ward signing as he should have displaced Schmeichel by now if he is ever to make it as their long term first choice goalkeeper. They really need to be looking for the replacement for Schmeichel as he needs someone to push him.

 


Defenders:

Caglar Soyuncu
Wesley Fofana
Jannik Vestergaard
Jonny Evans
Daniel Amartey
Filip Benkovic
Ryan Bertrand
Luke Thomas
Ricardo Pereira
Timothy Castagne
James Justin

The Foxes' defence is beginning to look like a Rodgers' coached defence now, especially with Evans missing so much time out through injury. It has lost all organisation, unless Evans is playing, and looks shambolic at times. Yes, they have had a lot of injuries to contend with, but it now looks to be playing exactly the same way he left the Liverpool defence when he got sacked from there. The discipline is poor and the panic buy of the Vestergaard, who is nowhere near good enough, has not helped. At least their full-backs now look sorted for a few years.

 


Midfielders:

Wilfred Ndidi
Boubakary Soumare
Nampalys Mendy
Youri Tielemans
Hamza Choudhury
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
Marc Albrighton
Harvey Barnes
James Maddison

The problem with Leicester is not the quality of players, they have a lot of players that their lack of progress under Rodgers is likely to see them leave. Their problem is the lack of discipline, which leaves a laziness amongst far too much of the midfield. With a team that is playing a press, having players not putting in the effort leaves gaps in that press, which other teams can exploit to get at the defence or behind it. They are heavily reliant on Ndidi to provide all the cover and he is good, but no one is that good that they can do it all on their own.

 


Forwards:

Ademola Lookman
Ayoze Perez
Patson Daka
Kelechi Iheanacho
Jamie Vardy

It looks like they have found a good replacement for Vardy in the shape of Daka, which is massively important as they have been heavily over reliant on Vardy in the past. They will always have a chance of picking up results with a goalscorer and that will keep them in a position their play overall might not deserve.

 


Manager: Brendan Rodgers

Rodgers took over a team with a solid defensive platform for him to build on, but that is now looking worn out and full of holes. The injuries to Evans are exposing how disorganised the defence is and how little cover is given by the midfield. The press is lacklustre and there is a lack of discipline within the club. The fact that they are below both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur just shows how far they have fallen this season. The blame has to be placed squarely at the feet of Rodgers as they have the quality of players to be above both of those two clubs, who are having terrible season.

 


Conclusion:

This is a squad of good quality being dragged down, bit by bit, by a manager who lacks tactical acumen and is too soft on the players. They should be 4th, all three of the teams between them and that place have been having a season to forget, but they are instead 8th. The only question now is whether the owners have still got the ambition to look for more or not. If they do, it is only a matter of time before Rodgers' time with Leicester City comes to an end.

 

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Written by Tris Burke December 15 2021 16:35:38

 

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