Leicester player reviews: Get Carter’s 20/21 – Schmeichel and the understudies
By Damon Carter
As we look back over the season, Damon Carter gives his verdict on the players and what their futures might hold both at or away from the club. Today its the turn of the goalkeepers, and mainly one in particular
Kasper Schmeichel, Leicester City’s No.1
Appearances total – 48 – Premier League – 38 / FA Cup – 4 / Europa League – 6 / Total clean sheets 17
Moment to savour – That save in the FA cup Final
Moment to forget – Punching one in his own net to start the collapse from the champions league entry
The Future – The club captaincy and breaking into the top 3 of Leicester’s all time top appearance makers
Kasper Schmeichel has now completed a decade as Leicester City’s number one goalkeeper, and its fitting that he has ended it with another piece of silverware. One of the abiding memories of the season was that incredible save from Mason Mount at Wembley that was as good as any from the last year and ensured the famous trophy will be Leicester’s for one year. Only a week prior to that, Schmeichel pulled off an equally amazing save from Newcastle’s Joe Willock, emulating his father with the ‘starfish’ type spread.
One thing that Schmeichel hasn’t been given enough credit for is his distribution which has improved ten-fold since Brendan Rodgers joined the club. He has embraced starting attacks and keeping the ball moving at the back where appropriate and reduced the ‘shankers’ out of play considerably. Schmeichel as a shot-stopper seems a lot harder to beat these days, but strangely his save percentage is one of the lowest in the Premier League with only 2 goalkeepers below him.