Leicester City’s 21/22 season is best characterised by a decline in performances despite initial hype. This is most personified by our Turk, Caglar Soyuncu.
Disjointed, incessant changes, a lack of core, and a real degradation in our neat passage of play are just some of the myriad reasons why the King Power club declined from Europa League to top ten challengers. The side Brendan Rodgers formed was hardly consistent and lacked the quality depth to bounce back.
This much is self-evident when analysing the situation with our defence during the gruelling campaign. An inconsistently fit Jonny Evans, a leg-break for Wesley Fofana, immediate injury for Jannik Vestergaard, and struggling returns for James Justin et al. Rodgers was always forced into altering the centre-back pairing.
Leicester City’s defensive decline
Solid defending is the base on which football is played. As an invasion game, being proactive, active, and passive in defence are critical to prevent opportunities for attackers. Plus, knowing when to use which defensive style is equally important.
This is what has been our downfall in defensive situations and from set pieces: not knowing what to do when. Often, defenders like ‘Cags’ have made the wrong choice either too late or too soon to meaningfully impact the passage of play.
One statistical indicator of this is clearances per game. This is because it implies a rush to clear the ball: it does not reflect any lack of quality in the defender. Using Sofascore, we see that in 20/21, Soyuncu made 3.5 per game whereas in 21/22 he made 4.0 per game.
Also worth noting is the statistical comparison with the 19/20 season. This was the peak time for the Turkish defender: he featured in more matches and defended well. He actually made more clearances per game at 4.4.
The same pattern can be seen when looking at tackles per game. Sitting at 1.8 per game during 21/22, 1.2 per game during 20/21, and 1.8 per game in the 19/20 campaign. Stats do not tell us everything, but they inform what we have seen from the Turk.
The truth is that during the 19/20 season, Soyuncu was impressive and proactive in defence. He was the aggressive defender taking steps forward and making challenges whenever possible. On top of that, the CB often chose the right time to surge forward and press.
The Turk was impactful, devastating, and made very few errors. However, during the 20/21 campaign, the player featured less, and tried to become less proactive and more active in style. This was to counter the passivity of Evans and proactiveness of Fofana.
His decline was because Soyuncu does not suit that role here at Leicester. However, it would not have even mattered were Cags to have adapted to that role. The next season would challenge his style and make the defender even less suited to the role Rodgers laid out for him.
What happened to Soyuncu?
21/22 preseason comes around and the Northern Irish stalwart is out of action. The Turk and French defenders are training together and looking good as they provide a strong and active core at the back. Optimism was rife in the support base for this partnership. It was not to be.
Like a grisly poem about anguish, ‘Little Wes’ was injured during the Foxes’ preseason fixture against Villareal. So, it would seem the soon to be signed Danish international would become his partner. Once again, Vestergaard would not even get a chance to play before injury struck again.
The opening match is Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester wins 1-0 with a backline of comeback king Daniel Amartey and Caglar Soyuncu. The situation appeared at least stable: Cags had to take on the leadership role and become more passive to guard against any mistakes by Amartey, but this worked well.
The next match was a polar opposite: a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of West Ham United with Soyuncu making the wrong decisions in being proactive at the wrong times and Amartey being your average low-quality CB.
After a brief period working fine but unconvincingly with Jannik Vestergaard, Amartey and Evans were more involved alongside Soyuncu. In fact, the Turkish defender had his best games in a back three with the composer Evans beside him.
This period ended with Cags’ injury and Wilfred Ndidi taking a temporary CB role. Once again, this would change quickly as Ndidi himself received an injury. Eventually, Amartey and Soyuncu settled as our partnership as injuries kept the side fluctuating. However, regardless of settling, it never became fully consistent.
This is because Soyuncu just does not suit it. He is the proactive defender, not the passive composer we needed in place of Evans. That is compounded by the Ghanaian defender just not being all that good. Cags was working overtime to cover for Amartey and did not suit it.
The system broke down and he had to work more than ever before. This was not because he personally performed better, as was the case in the 19/20 campaign, it was due to everything around the player.
In our real poem, Caglar Soyuncu was the enemy identified by supporters for our weakness. The betrayal element of the poem was written. With myriad mistakes, a maelstrom of poor choices, and an appearance of hapless rushing around.
Should the Foxes sell?
For the King Power club, the time has come to make a decision on the defender. Is Cags what we need? The answer to that should be clear: unfortunately, no, he is not the right player for the job.
What is needed is a quality player to perform alongside Fofana. The French defender is our proactive player making the right decisions almost every time, so we need a high-quality Evans-style player who will not be injured incessantly.
This does not mean there is no place for the Turkish international. He could be second to Fofana. This being said, Leicester still have Amartey and Vestergaard who will be happy to continue playing the second team role.
If the option becomes available, it is time to sell. The player does not suit our playstyle anymore and will be looking for first team football. Additionally, any good resale value will help fund a Levi Colwill or Gleison Bremer bid – someone to replace Evans long term.