Brendan Rodgers’ disrespect for Timothy Castagne is real

Leicester City head coach Brendan Rodgers has dropped Timothy Castagne from the side. Here is why Rodgers was so close to making the right call.

After another frustrating injury to fan-favourite Ricardo Pereira, we all knew what was coming. The Foxes’ strongest fullback line-up is the Belgian right-back and James Justin. To bring them both into the side was non-negotiable.

Strangely, this was the case for some time, although the Northern Irishman had another idea of how to use them. During the opening five games, the pair were utilised as inverted wing-backs instead. Often marauding forward and cutting inside.

However, this has since changed, and the head coach has shown no remorse in his decision. Rodgers chose to drop Castagne. This is what the coach had to say for himself.

Dropping the best Leicester City fullback

"“We played Luke Thomas on the left for balance. And obviously JJ went over onto the right side”Brendan Rodgers as per LeicestershireLive"

Balance. That word is an interesting choice from Rodgers. The King Power side were imbalanced apparently. This is in reference to the inversions which were occurring during matches. An obvious feature of how the gaffer wanted us to set up, simply switched after five games.

Balance infers utilising the natural-footed players on their designated sides. Luke Thomas on the left is the only actual natural left-back beyond injured and frankly bad Ryan Bertrand, so that is a fair enough choice.

However, choosing Justin over Castagne is confusing. According to FB Ref, the Belgian defender ranks within the 83rd percentile for pass completion, 82nd for both clearances and aerials won, 77th for progressive passing, and 69th for tackling. Against other Premier League fullbacks, the player has been progressive and better than most other Leicester players in the air.

Adding to the disrespect, Rodgers was asked how the fullback could get back into the starting XI. The response was simply terrible and is another illustration of his poor man management in recent weeks, with players such as Dennis Praet and Caglar Soyuncu ignored, the latter disrespected as well.

"“By training well”"

So, does Castagne not train well? Does he not play well? What the Northern Irish gaffer is really trying to do is deflect from the poor decision by name-checking the player as not good enough. Rodgers did the same with Soyuncu. Such an implication from the Leicester City coach is unacceptable when confidence is supposedly at an all time low: clearly this will improve confidence.

More bemusing were later comments which inferred he disliked the defensive structure and organisation, which would be apparently improved by selecting Justin and Thomas. As per the already linked article:

"“Scoring goals isn’t the problem… that organisation, that collective responsibility to not concede. If one player isn’t quite doing it, then we will suffer”"

The gaffer is suggesting there is a collective responsibility for the Foxes to not concede. This is correct and nothing weird, although signings could have helped. However, to imply that Castagne was in anyway not doing well and causing the team to perform poorly is absurd and unfair.

In my opinion, Rodgers was so close to making the right call. Should the boss have stuck with inverted wing-backs, he should have switched Justin and Castagne. But, by utilising natural footed players, it should enable more balls into the box with crosses, which should benefit Jamie Vardy or Kelechi Iheanacho more.

This was the right call. Yet still, Rodgers got the player wrong. Thomas and Castagne could have been used. One cannot drop a Belgian international – a high quality team – for an U21 England international with less composure, and an England international who has not reached his former highs.