Damon Carter’s report cards for Leicester City’s season turn towards the strongly suited part of the squad, rightbacks!
Ricardo Pereira – Leicester City 21/22
Appearances 22 / Premier League – 14 / FA Cup – 1 / League Cup – 2 / Europe – 5
Goals – 2 / Premier League – 1 / Europa Conference League – 1
Moment to savour – A winning strike in Eindhoven to get Leicester into a European semi-final
Moment to forget – a broken leg from a Tyler Morton horror tackle
Ricardo Pereira just can’t seem to catch a break. Actually, that’s wrong, breaks are exactly what he seems to get. Be it from a break in-game time to a break on the leg (Thanks to Tyler Morton and the apparently deserved yellow card).
When he opened the season with a trademark run and cross for Jamie Vardy’s winning goal against Wolves, foxes fans rubbed their hands with glee at the prospect of their much-loved right-back returning to past form. Two weeks later at Norwich City, he repeated the trick by setting up Vardy again with a pressing and energetic run. Alas, it was not to be. His best run of games did come at the start, featuring in seven of the nine Premier League matches.
But, tellingly, the Portugal international never played three games in a row the whole season. He even came out of the matchday squad entirely on occasions with no reasons other than the rest given by the manager. Was he carrying the after-effects of previous injuries or genuinely being managed carefully?
There is nothing that can be done about broken legs and hamstring injuries and Ricardo has been dealt a cruel blow of injury problems for the past three seasons. Hopefully, Brendan felt the need to protect a prized asset of his by being overly cautious with him.
‘Ricky P’ still managed to contribute key goals at home to West Ham United and most importantly the winning finish against PSV Eindhoven to lift City to new European heights. Most disappointingly for Ricardo is how these injuries have contributed to him not receiving any more international caps since November 2019. Unless he gets a run of games and plays out of his skin it’s difficult to see how he will be going to Qatar in November.
Rating 6.5/10 – chances of leaving 10%
Please now click the link directly underneath to be taken straight to the final page of Damon Carter’s fullback scores.
Timothy Castagne – Leicester City 21/22
Appearances 36 / Premier League – 27 / FA Cup – 0 / League Cup – 0 / Europe – 9
Goals – 1 – Premier League
Moment to savour – A stunning top corner strike against Brentford
Moment to forget – Losing his man in Naples to contribute to crashing out of the Europa League
Ricardo’s position as Leicester’s right-back extraordinaire is now under serious threat. Mainly because the player challenging him in that position, is the persistent and consistent Belgian Timothy Castagne. Arguably one of Leicester’s most astute signings in recent years has been so consistent since signing that it’s difficult to justify not playing him.
Although ‘Timo’ started the season recovering from a horrific eye-socket injury, he was back to a full 90 minutes at Norwich City contributing with the typical gusto we’ve become accustomed to. His positional sense is normally solid in both attacking and defensive areas. He possibly still leans more on the defensive side of his game, but with modest tackling and interception statistics, it merely highlights how he adopts the correct positions game to game and does a lot of work off the ball that goes unseen.
His continuing bravery earns him plenty of bashes and injuries along the way. Witness the way he gallantly worked the left-hand side in the build-up to Leicester’s third goal at home to Manchester United. This typifies his attitude, professionalism and commitment to the cause.
Note how I mentioned the left hand side, he can still adapt to both sides pretty quickly in-game, always an advantage for a tactically-minded coach like Brendan Rodgers. He’s also hotly in demand for his country and is consistently picked for the Belgian national team and has a great chance of being selected to go to Qatar. How he copes following that could be key to who cements themselves in that right back slot for Leicester City in 2022/2023.
Rating 7.5/10 – chances of leaving 10%