As far as starts to a season, Leicester City’s hasn’t been ideal. Six games, one win, two draws, and three losses -memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Yesterday I wrote a piece looking back at September, picked out the three best players from the squad, and wrote about what hope they bring to the squad. Today is the other side of the spectrum.
For every positive last month, there were at least two negatives. It’s been dire. Even the 2-0 win over Millwall in the Carabao Cup was a very low-quality game which was only rescued in the dying minutes with a Kelechi Iheanacho thunderbolt. Even the two draws were negative: the 2-2 against Napoli saw the Italian giants dominate the game and overcome a two-goal deficit, and the 2-2 against Burnley was a must win game that the Foxes nearly lost in the final moments.
I wrote the article about the best players just before the Legia Warsaw game started, and knew that if we had performed well, then the piece may have needed a slight re-write. Instead, we were treated a drab 1-0 loss away to the 15th best side in Poland and this article became a little easier to write.
The attack this month has been, overall, okay. It’s not been fantastic, but it hasn’t been dreadful. Barnes scored his first goal of the season, Vardy continued netting them in, and Lookman looks to have settled nicely into the squad. For a moment, even Perez looked to be getting back to being mildly effective.
The defence however. Oh my. The performance against West Ham in August was an early sign of what Foxes fans could look forward to. It’s been bad and choosing just three players to write about here has been difficult.
This isn’t supposed to be a hit-piece, and none of these footballers are bad. In fact, all three are internationals, and even one is a Champions League winner. They wouldn’t be playing for Leicester if they were awful. But we have seen time and time again this season that there are some serious issues in this Leicester squad.
To move positively forward, we need to pick out and analyse the negatives and see how they can be fixed. This is exactly the point of this piece. So what better way to get started than one of the most experienced players in Leicester City’s squad, a seasoned international, and a Champions League winner.
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.
Caglar Soyuncu
Oh Cags. August was an utter disaster for him. After an appalling game against West Ham, he then went on international duty to try and shake off a few cobwebs; instead he got sent off in a humiliating 6-1 defeat to the Netherlands. September needed to be a good restart for LCFC’s No.4, instead it was just a continued nightmare.
I’ll be honest, Soyuncu was close to missing out on this list. James Maddison can count himself lucky that he doesn’t feature here after still not registering a goal or an assist for Leicester City in over 17 games for Leicester. Though his cameo against Legia Warsaw – in which he was very unlucky not to score – was just enough to bring him out of consideration. Meanwhile, that 1-0 defeat solidified Soyuncu’s place in this list.
It’s Soyuncu’s fourth season now at Leicester and so far this is easily his worst. September started poorly for him, as he was far too easily turned by Bernardo Silva and then missed a tackle in Manchester City’s opening chance. Soyuncu was very unfortunate when it came to the goal that City finally scored from; he made a positive block that rebounded straight into the path of Bernardo and resulted in the one and only goal of that game.
The games against Brighton and Burnley weren’t awful for Cags, but he didn’t help himself or the team either. He didn’t build up any real momentum and looked as confidence-shot as he has all season. But then Thursday happened.
Against Warsaw, Soyuncu and all his faults were exposed for all to see. Cags pressed wildy and at all the wrong moments in the wrong places for Leicester City. His rushed pressing left space behind him numerous of times, causing Thomas to have to cover for him which therefore left space on the left. But when Soyuncu did press, there was so real conviction in his tackling, and it never seemed like he was going to win the ball. Instead Legia simply spun around and exploited the space that Cags had left. That was just the first half.
Then the final fifteen minutes happened. With a goal down in a must-win game, Leicester attacked and pushed up high in the pitch. But when Legia then counter attacked, Soyuncu was s far up the pitch that the Polish attackers only had empty grass to run in to. Twice in the final stages did Legia break and expose a wide-open backline.
The first break Soyuncu missed one tackle on the halfway line, was left chasing the Warsaw attackers, lunged in for a last-minute block and managed to miss that as well. It was only poor composure from Lirim Kastrati that left Soyuncu and Leicester unpunished.
Soyuncu’s confidence in himself is seemingly shattered, as is the midfield’s trust in him. With Soyuncu now a liability, the midfield is currently less likely to make risker passes in fear of a counter attack. This needs fixing urgently.
What next for Soyuncu? The issue with Cags is clear: he hasn’t got Jonny Evans in the back line to support him and communicate to him throughout the game. Evans has been desperately missed this season, and fans will hope for an immediate return for the Northern Irishman. Brendan Rodger’s comments suggested that Evans may well start in the tie to Crystal Palace, which would be a welcome relief to Soyuncu and the whole squad.
Cags faces being dropped soon if his form doesn’t pick up, as his lack of confidence is currently a detriment to the whole side. Here’s hoping that his head is fully screwed on in October. I don’t want to be writing about him this negatively in a month’s time.
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.
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)