Early substitutions of James Maddison for Leicester City explained and discussed

Recently, under-fire Leicester City boss Claude Puel has received criticism for regularly substituting James Maddison, as fans believe the midfielder has more left to offer the team.

In a time that is undoubtedly causing the biggest rift within the Leicester City terraces in recent memory. Claude Puel continues to polarise fans, seemingly in every aspect of the club. The issue of James Maddison is no exception to the rule.

However, the Frenchman has responded to this particular criticism regarding his summer signing, saying that:

"“James [Maddison] has only been playing in the Premier League for a few months and he has to keep his focus and concentration on his game.“For a young player, we have to find the good consistency in his game and be able to do it for a full game, a full 90 minutes.“Maddison and the young players are not the finished article. They haven’t got enough consistency and clinical edge all the time.“He needs to find sometimes the consistency and have an impact all the time in games, but this is normal for a young player.“He knows a lot of good things from the beginning of the season. He was more clinical from the beginning of the season and we need to find again a good clinical edge, to have more impact in games, but this is normal for a young player who is continuing his development.”Via Leicester Mercury"

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In terms of clinical edge, there is some evidence to suggest that Maddison is lacking the prolific nature previously shown in the opening stages of this season. Despite netting five times this campaign, the 22-year-old has failed to score in the last 11 games.

On the other hand, in the Foxes’ most recent outing, a 3-1 defeat at Wembley, Maddison made a whopping seven key passes, as he adopted a deeper role alongside Youri Tielemans, stat via WhoScored. This change of system seemed to suit both Maddison and his Belgian team-mate, as the pair fashioned multiple clear-cut chances for the likes of Harvey Barnes and Jamie Vardy.

Puel continued, outlining the drawbacks of his young squad:

"“For young players it is not easy to keep the same level and consistency and concentration all the time in their game.“They need to make progress and we will be patient with these players.“Leicester City is a good club and we are now showing the project we are trying to put in place.”Via Leicester Mercury"

There is certainly some validity in what Puel is saying here. City fans need to show more patience towards these youngsters, otherwise they may be tempted away to bigger clubs to escape the increased toxicity developing at the King Power in recent weeks.

Overall, there were plenty of positives to take from Leicester’s defeat to Spurs last weekend, including the performance of the England Under-21 international. Of the Foxes’ next five games, four are against opposition beneath City in the table. The results from these upcoming fixtures will be pivotal in both Puel’s future at the club, and the outcome of Leicester’s season.