EPL legend wrong to suggest Evans consider retirement
Premier League legend Ian Wright has suggested Leicester City captain Jonny Evans should consider retirement after the 4-2 defeat. Here is why he is wrong.
Ian Wright is very well-known in the English game and seldom gets it wrong. However, this time, he has it bang wrong. Following Leicester’s 4-2 drubbing to a surging Arsenal side, ‘Wrighty’ exclaimed club captain Evans should consider retirement.
"“I’m not being disrespectful to Jonny Evans, but the fact is it was the kind of game where you start thinking ‘maybe I need to start considering retirement… Evans will be thinking, ‘wow, I’m losing my powers'”"
To be honest, that fixture was one of the Foxes’ worst from a defensive standpoint. It was also the lacklustre performance of our backline – pulled to shreds by Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus – which highlighted the frailty of our defenders. Particularly, it highlighted the lack of depth.
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Leicester City captain for longer
A 5.8 Sofascore rating is truly not his best result. The Northern Irish defender has been a stalwart of the King Power side ever since joining from West Bromwich Albion, establishing himself as a standard of experience and professionalism. It is fair to say the Arsenal match was not his finest by comparison.
Nevertheless, the disrespectful comments are not easy to understand. Wright claims that Evans should consider retirement because he is no longer the defender he once was. To be blunt, this can be no further from the truth.
According to FBRef, the international centre-back remains one of the highest quality defenders in the game. This is due to his involvement in progressive plays and aerial challenges. Evans is within the 86th percentile for non-penalty goals, 84th for passes attempted, and 70th for aerials won.
Interesting to note, the Foxes’ captain is not an active defender anymore. Instead, Evans acts as a composer for that backline, orchestrating the breaking up of play, and choosing only the right moment to come out and make a challenge. Good decision making is not easily tracked.
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The international defender might not be at the top of his game, but that experience, expertise, and tactical awareness is rare to come across in any player. We can suspect to see the skipper very often. Wright may act to have made a good point, but we know Evans has what it takes for the King Power club.