Leicester City have a balanced set of defensive partnerships, so join FoL as we analyse the partnerships and roles which can make the Foxes the best defence.
This will be a short series of articles, beginning with the centre of defence with this article, then looking more in-depth at the fullbacks, with a final glance at our goalkeeper situation. You might even find I have snuck in a few potential options to improve the defence even more. Wink.
Feel free to also check out FoL’s article on Leicester City’s Europa League squad, there is one major defensive omission which might change how we play!
Leicester City’s marvellous trio
The Foxes outfit is blessed with three of the leagues most exciting central defenders. Those are quite obviously Wesley Fofana, Jonny Evans, and Caglar Soyuncu.
It is already well documented how important these figures are to the current success of the Foxes. To illustrate this, here are two meaningful combined statistics.
Firstly, they have together contributed 1.7 blocks per 90. A block is defined as an action preventing an on-target shot on goal. So although the physical number does not sound like much, to put that into perspective, we have played 22 games of the 20/21 season thus far, each game tends to last 90 minutes, so we can see the per 90 as indicative of per game since at least one of them has featured in every match. So, 1.7 goals per match equals 37.4.
37.4 shots on target prevented. Some of those may have been converted into goals, some may not. Nevertheless, you can tell why Leicester City have only conceded 25 goals. They have been instrumental in preventing shots.
They also have an astronomical combination of 12 clearances per 90. This is slightly obscene. It is humbling to know that we have central defenders capable of noticing dangerous balls through or over, and preventing them from meeting their intended target.
Now, I want to look at the individuals more carefully. We will look at who they are, what they have done for us, and what role their strengths lend them to.
Jonny Evans – the stalwart
Jonny Evans is perhaps the most consistent starters for Leicester City. The Northern Irishman joined in July 2018, and since then has made himself integral to the squad. He deserves his prominence in the squad.
I have about three words to describe the stalwart: composure, success, and retention.
I would invite the reader to genuinely look in the Oxford English Dictionary, find the word ‘composed’ and you will definitely find a picture of Jonny Evans defending against some of the biggest names in attacking football. Seldom does Evans make a mistimed or mistaken challenge.
This fact is reflected in his style of play. It is hard to use statistics to back this up, as there is no statistic on a successful defensive non-action. This is his speciality. If a striker or any attacker attempts to round him, he will often get himself between man and ball, and just shepard the ball until he is either fouled, Schmeichel gets the ball, or he has a chance to clear the ball up the pitch or pass it.
What is reflected in the stats is his successfulness. As he makes less challenges than his colleagues, he is expected to at least make an impact. And an impact he does make.
His aerial duel success rate is 71.11% – the best of all our defenders. His ground duel success rate is 67.92%. He even has a 100% take-on success rate. Once more, when he makes a challenge, it is usually a very sound and well judged challenge. He does not make challenges which are likely unsuccessful.
I will also declare that he is simply critical to the way Brendan Rodger’s plays. The system requires a seemingly excessive ball recycling machine: constant breakthroughs and transitions, constant returns to the defence, and constant movement. It is incessant.
Jonny Evans perfectly suits this role. His composure making him uniquely poised to receive the ball under pressure and make still make the backwards or sideways pass to beat the pressure and not lose the ball. He completes more sideways passes than any other player on the pitch: 38.7 per 90. Almost all of his passes are in Leicester’s defensive half.
This is not the negative ball retention we saw under Puel, this is a positive, movement-based ball retention from Rodgers. So Evans helps the Foxes to not concede silly fouls, not concede in general, and to keep hold of the ball after a failed transition to attack.
Caglar Soyuncu – the Turkish wall
Caglar Soyuncu is one of the standout signings of the Srivaddhanaprabha Family’s era in charge of the East Midlands outfit. His signing represents everything which is good about the club at the moment.
An underrated young defender, brought in to understudy to Maguire and eventually take his place. He costed around €21m (around £18m). He is now worth at least €40m. So, what does he bring to the table?
There are three startling qualities which allowed him to supplant and improve upon Maguire – especially in Brendan Rodgers’ system. These are his progression, breaking pressure, and his strong tackling.
Soyuncu offers a very different role to Evans. He completes around 26.6 progressive passes per 90 – more than four passes higher than the next closest (Evans). ‘Cags’ loves to come quite far out of defence, passing the ball wide to an advancing wing back (usually Justin) or passing inwards to Tielemans. This is a very useful skill to have.
On top of that progression is his breaking of pressure. You will see this constantly when he plays: he receives the ball, is under pressure from an opposition attacker, and just rounds them. He just plays through the press.
Playing through the press removes two or three players from the opposition defensive block, thus providing more space for quick and fluid transitions to occur to get the ball forward. Where Evans can stay back, Soyuncu and break a press and start a transition to attack.
I need not dally too long on his strong tackling abilities. Nor do I really have to provide any statistical basis for this. He just does what he has to do. Though less energetic than, say, Fofana, Soyuncu will make more tackles, and be more disruptive than Evans.
A partnership between him and Evans was always natural. They play so differently they actually compliment one another, and both are versatile enough to pick up any slack left from the other defenders.
Wesley Fofana – the indomitable
Wesley Fofana is incredible. Simply incredible. I can predict with certainty that he will be a generational talent in defence, providing the disruptive and energetic backbone of the Foxes squad for years to come. He will supplant and exceed the heights of ‘Big Wes’.
He probably did not expect to be thrusted into the starting eleven so readily. He probably did not expect to be playing in the Premier League and being spoken of in the same league as Virgil Van-Dijk. But such is his ‘wonderkid’ status.
The 20 year old is already Leicester City’s most disruptive and pressing defender. He contests more ground duels, provides more clearances, interceptions, and take-ons than any other central defender at the club per 90.
He also completes many more opposition half passes (18.1 per 90) than any of the other defenders. This represents a third quality in his game: marauding. He maraudes forwards with pace and purpose, beating several players with an unexpected movement, thus allowing him to provide both the transitional movement, and the attacking pass.
I can imagine it being scary for a midfielder to see the tall Leicester City 20 year old marauding passed them and their mates, then managing to pass through to Castagne, Ricky P, Under, Barnes, Maddison, etc. He is immense.
This is why I deem him indomitable. The Foxes are very lucky to have such an energetic player in their midst. His interplay with Evans is the same as the Soyuncu-Evans partnership: Evans provides the composure and aerial balance, where Fofana dominates the ground, presses attackers, and disrupts play incessantly.
A similar defensive player, though no where near as energetic or marauding, is James Tarkowski. Tarkowski is an exceptionally balanced defender – from his years in one of the most defensive systems in the league.
He is aerially sound, makes a lot of successful challenges, clears the ball about the same amount as Fofana, and contests nearly the same number of ground duels with attackers. So, ‘Tarky’ presses well, is more composed, and provides a similar defensive balance. He would make a fine addition if Evans or Amartey were ever to leave.
Daniel Amartey – the aerial king
So it is we meet our final centre-back. I have excluded the versatile Justin and Fuchs, and the club captain Wes Morgan from this list. I do not believe we should be playing ‘Big Wes’ ever again unless we are forced due to injury. This was proven by his omission from the latest Europa League squad. He is retiring and should not play.
Daniel Amartey has had a troubled time at Leicester since joining in 2016. He was originally more of a defensive midfielder, playing there in much greater volume early in his career. He then moved to playing as a defensively-sound right-back. Well, then he got injured.
He made his long awaited return in a pre-season match versus Blackburn Rovers. Where he scored! I love Amartey – he has had to overcome a lot of bad luck, and is now rightfully back in contention at Leicester City.
His new role as a centre-back suits his personal attributes. He is tall, domineering, strong, very right-footed, and can almost always find a backwards pass to retain possession.
He mostly plays on the right side of a back three, usually as a substitute. He contests more aerial duels than any other Fox – 7.5 per 90! That is a very good statistic. He may not successfully get his head to ball in all those cases, but the presence of a tall and strong defender often forces either a misplayed pass, or a pass to be taken too quickly.
Amartey’s main contribution to the squad is therefore his aerial prowess and ability to quickly pass the ball back to retain possession in our own half; this usually leads to a Schemichel clearance rather than starting a progressive transition.
So although he does not build transitions like Soyuncu or Fofana, and is not as composed as Evans, he provides a much needed aerial presence against clubs – like Wolves – who have a lot of strong and tall players. Imagine having him, Fofana, and Ndidi in the same penalty box!
So let us rejoice at his return, at his new role, and at his solid performances in that role. We salute you Amartey!
Keep in mind these two names: Jonathan Tah and Duje Caleta-Car. Both are similrly aerially dominant, while also bringing two other qualities to the foreground. Tah is very similar to Evans in his ability to retain possession under pressure, and pass the ball around in his own half.While Caleta-Car is more progressive and more successful in his aerial challenges and ground challenges.
These two could be targeted for a transfer to the King Power Stadium in the event of either Amartey or Evans leaving the club. They would provide a more balanced and dynamic individual performance alongside the balanced system Leicester City already have.
The basics
Sean Dyche is renowned for the shape and system he employs at Burnley. His system is not that of attackers, midfielders, defenders, and a goalkeeper. He believes that every single player has a defensive duty at any part of the pitch.
So I want to let you know the two basics of football, which are inspired by the Burnley manager. First, enjoy yourself. As a player, you have always got to try and play with a spring in your step, being creative and working well with your teammates. Second, defend well. As a player, you have always got to do your part in the collective to prevent the creation of goal-scoring opportunities.
Something which is often avoided by commentators is to discuss the impact of ‘non-defence’ players in contributing towards defensive actions and the prevention of opposition chances. At the end of the day, football is about scoring goals and stoping goals. Those who can do both well are rare.
Such is the contribution of two players at Leicester City: Jamie Vardy, and Marc Albrighton. Vardy is a menace in his own box as well as in the opposition area. Vardy will always try to get to the ball first, provide a high pace outlet out of the defensive block, and even try to win headers from corners. Albrighton is critical to the Foxes defence from the wings, and often tracks very far back, pushing one of the defenders inwards so he might effectively become the right back.
One final remark. #BringBackBenkovic. It is very hard to judge Benkovic – the Croatian tower. He has hardly featured for the Foxes, but he did feature once in the 2018/19 EFL Cup. He was actually immense during those 90 minutes, his passing was on point (93.94%), and essentially took the role of Evans.
Benkovic is a younger, faster, more progressive Jonny Evans. He had plenty of time as a developing player at Celtic, and his loan moves have been poorly judged. He needs to play at Leicester as understudy to Evans if he is to progress in his career.
Next @FoxesofLCFC article is on Fofana & Co.
— Elliot Mackness (@ElliotMackness) February 4, 2021
Look out for the article on the website!
So here is a question... Who has been the best central defender?
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Leicester City’s central defence can be the best in the Premier League. It can be the most balanced, with dynamic and individually superb players in a plethora of alternate roles for different situations.
Dynamism and balance are the watchwords of all long-term successful defences; such are the words we can now come to apply to the Foxes. We have one of the best defenders in each role, and it can only get better with more development and a couple of transfers.