“Unfortunate” Hamza Choudhury not affected by criticism: Leicester City

Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury has been criticized by two Premier League managers for heavy tackles – Brendan Rodgers says he is not affected.

Hamza Choudhury is a defensive-midfielder with an edge – an absolute necessity to make it to the highest echelon. As an elite player in the combative part of the pitch, an athlete must be: tough, physical and instantly into the challenge. Overzealousness aside, it is vital to continue this way for 90 minutes plus.

Omitting the sharpness of tackle for a player like the England Under-21 international would be detrimental to his game. Although he does have to ensure his challenging is legal within the rules of football and that hurting an opponent would be a purely accidental byproduct.

Leicester City’s accused

The Foxes academy graduate has received heavy criticism due to three main incidents: one for the Young Lions; a hotly debated foul versus Newcastle United; and more recently diving in against Liverpool.

Jonathan Bamba was the France player injured by a hard foul that saw the then 21-year-old dismissed. Though he did apologize to his French rival afterwards. Matt Ritchie of Newcastle underwent an operation for the ankle injury inflicted by Choudhury’s reckless tackle, for which he was booked.

Then the is the latest effort, the notorious Mohamed Salah takedown in the Reds clash – simply a heel clip gone wrong. A standard attempted lunge or ‘professional foul’ which all midfielders occasionally employ.

Subsequent to the final whistle, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp described the Englishman’s foul on the Egyptian as “dangerous as hell”, as well as the defensive-minded central player needing to “calm down”. On Twitter the Fox was then subjected to racist abuse from a section of ignorant so-called supporters.

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In response to Klopp’s condemnation, Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers said:

"“He [Choudhury] makes challenges and that’s what you want because you can’t tiptoe about an arena like this.“No, he’s not [affected by comments from opposition managers]. That’s something he’ll deal with in his career.”Read more at Leicester Mercury"

It’s good that Rodgers wants his team member to keep his tough streak but within the match limits. Every team needs a dogged chaser – but no longer do they require choppers. Choudhury is adroit in the art of tackling. He wants the ball – if the man is floored too so be it. There is certainly no malice; he should continue as he has!