Leicester City’s three worst performing players from September
By Will Kennedy
Jannik Vestergaard
This one is painful to write about. I wanted to find all the excuses I could to not include him, but Vestergaard simply hasn’t been good enough so far.
When news broke out that Leicester were signing Vestergaard from Southampton for only £15m, it was seen as a really good deal for everyone. A month later, and Leicester look to have egg on their faces.
Standing at an imperious 6ft 6, Vestergaard is a giant defender and should be a handful for any team when attacking against him. He bosses the aerial duels, right? He’s just under two meters tall. So tell me why on earth is Vestergaard being beaten to so many headers?
It didn’t start badly this month for the Danish giant, he was probably Leicester City’s best defender in their loss to Manchester City. But he couldn’t take any of that momentum with him when it came to facing Napoli and Victor Osimhen.
On several occasions Vestergaard showed little to no physicality in his battle with Osimhen. He should be getting in front of the striker and holding him off of the ball, instead he gave a simple shrug and left it. In the first half of the game, Vestergaard also atrociously passed the ball to Evans in the box whilst they were under huge pressure instead of booting the ball clear. Because of this, Napoli then get a really good opportunity to score.
Not being quite content enough with his days’ work, Vestergaard was at primary fault for Napoli and Osimhen’s opening. It was a fantastic passing move by the Naples side, but the ball is flicked up into the air for Osimhen to latch onto. In a bizarre choice, Vestergaard doesn’t jump for the ball, instead tries to win a physical battle with the Nigerian striker, which he loses, and Napoli find themselves back within a goal of Leicester – turning the tie completely around.
Vestergaard showed off his inability to use his stature for good use against Burnley when attempting to hold off Vydra. He didn’t, Vydra turned him, crossed the ball and Cornet scored a stunner. Later, in the final moments of the game, a scramble at the back in the air saw Vestergaard competing with Josh Brownhill to win the ball. Again, Vestergaard doesn’t jump and is beaten by Brownhill who nodded forward to Chris Wood to score. Vestergaard was saved by VAR and the game finished 2-2.
His performance against Warsaw was equally as appalling and really hasn’t helped the belief in him at all. Right now, Leicester look like fools for buying Vestergaard for so much, and Foxes fans are desperate for the return of Jonny Evans and Wesley Fofana.
What next for Vestergaard? I went in on Vestergaard here, but this isn’t the end for him, far from it. When he first transferred to Southampton, he endured a poor start to the season, and it was only in his second and third season with the Saints that we started to see the best of Vestergaard. There is a really good and solid defender in there, but right now he is in a defence that has errors all around him. On his day he can be a serious good defender who offers a real threat up front as well.
light. Related Story. 3 best performing Leicester City players in Sept.
Fans need to be patient with Vestergaard. He didn’t have a pre-season with the club and is a very new face and playing under a new system. If it wasn’t for the injury to Evans, I think we would be seeing a much smoother step into the squad. But patience only lasts so far, and fans are running out, especially when we see disastrous displays. Vestergaard can come good, but Leicester need that sooner rather than later. Lucky to miss out: James Maddison and Kasper Schmeichel.
(Words by Will Kennedy)