Leicester City’s three worst performing players from September
By Will Kennedy
Leicester City’s Ryan Bertrand
Not the only new face to feature today, Ryan Bertrand came to Leicester on a free transfer after leaving Southampton. The 32-year-old was seen as an exceptionally smart deal for City as Bertrand brought years of experience with him, replacing Christian Fuchs in that role, as well as boosting the numbers at left-back whilst James Justin recovered from his serious injury.
At first, Bertrand looked fantastic. In pre-season he dominated the left of the pitch as well as providing with a new set-piece delivery option. Last season both James Maddison and Youri Tielemans struggled with their dead-ball delivery.
Bertrand’s most promising performance came against Villarreal in which he assisted two of his sides’ three goals – including a perfect delivery for Soyuncu during a corner. He was my personal MOTM in that game. I had him primed and ready for my FPL team.
Then, just before the season opener against Wolves, it was reported that Bertrand tested positive for Covid-19. Initially reports suggested he would only miss two games, but Bertrand missed the win against Norwich as well, with Luke Thomas impressing in moments of those three opening fixtures.
Bertrand made his full professional debut for Leicester in the opening September fixture against Manchester City and boy did he look tired. Whether he is still carrying side effects of Covid, or if missing three games just totally disrupted any momentum that Bertrand had, when he played, he looked as if he had never played alongside his current teammates before.
During that tie against Manchester City, Bertrand lacked energy and leadership (a common theme for this month). During several moments it seemed as if Bertrand just lost focus of the team he was playing against. He left acres of space for Jesus to nod an effort towards goal in the opening half of the game, only to then follow that up with a dreadful pass to Soyuncu which got intercepted by the Citizens’ impeccable press and allowed a break on Leicester’s goal. Neither time were the Foxes punished, but they were mighty close.
Bertrand followed up a poor debut with several tired and sloppy performances. Against Napoli, Bertrand again left plenty of room for Politano to freely cross the ball into the box which Victor Osimhen headed in for Napoli’s equaliser. Bertrand didn’t press or push at Politano, instead he backtracked and let the Italian winger have plenty of time to think about his next move.
Against Burnley, Bertrand leaves a struggling Vestergaard to tackle Vydra on his own, instead of helping his teammate out. If Bertrand had of pushed in, there would have been far less of a chance of Vydra finding the room to cross the ball to Cornet.
Overall, there simply hasn’t been any urgency from Bertrand. Watching him now, it looks as if he is feeling every single one of his 261 Southampton appearances. The energetic leader of pre-season seems to have vanished. After such a setback that Bertrand suffered, you’d expect the opposite. You’d expect a player who is keen to impress, not one who simply walks and steps back into his box rather than pressing a cross. A shoddy score of 6.08 on WhoScored.com says it all.
What next for Bertrand? We know what he can offer. Bertrand captained Southampton on numerous occasions. He has to show that leadership in his new team. The defence of Leicester is suffering, and someone lke Bertrand should be a key figure in bringing the solidity back. Right now Bertrand faces a huge task to get his Leicester career back on track, and maybe the upcoming international break will do him a world of good.
Right now, Bertrand faces high competition from Luke Thomas who – whilst he seemed overwhelmed and under supported in his role against Legia Warsaw last night – is a very promising option for Leicester and is only getting better and better. If that wasn’t enough, Bertrand faces even more competition from the returning James Justin, who will be likely seen at the end of October/early November. All in all, he has to do more and do it quickly.