These 3 Leicester players haven’t been good enough all season
Leicester City remain locked in a relegation battle despite a few seasons ago being in the top four battle. Here are three players who have not done enough.
The King Power club’s rapid regression has been shocking and frustrating. Claims of players not working hard enough, not being good enough, not being coached well enough, etc. have been thrown about. This season though, there are some who have stood out – badly.
To help illustrate my picks, I shall be using data from FB Ref, ratings from SofaScore, and snippets of information from SmarterScout. However, as is the usual, these will be personal opinion, so please let Foxes of Leicester know your thoughts on our social media channels.
Leicester City’s former star boy
A few seasons ago, the Foxes were in dire straits as their star left-back Ben Chilwell was out for the count. The next season he would depart anyway. In that moment, U23 starlet Luke Thomas was given his Premier League debut. He did a brilliant job coming in providing defensive innovation and attacking output.
During the 22/23 campaign however, his performances had left supporters yearning for the return of Ricardo Pereira and James Justin. Timothy Castagne has since taken on the left-back role with the Portuguese international returning to be the first-team right-back. Thomas has been dejected by supporters and the head coach.
The England U21 international has 10 appearances to his name this season, accumulating a total of zero attacking contributions of any form as well as giving possession away countless times (10.6 averaged based on minutes according to Sofascore, and only a 78% passing accuracy according to FB Ref). So, we have a player who has barely contributed and has actually ended up helping the opposition.
Needless to say, a lack of positional awareness has also left the Foxes questioning what changed to reduce the defensive competence of this brilliant young talent. You can still see glimpses of the talent we had come to expect of the English left-back: SmarterScout illustrate that Thomas continues to recover well – this means he can track back frequently into defensive positions. So, he may give the ball away, but he tracks back well.
Personally, I still believe Thomas has immense potential and remains a critical player for us going forward, but clearly being the only option put too much pressure on the youngster and led to a shattering of confidence and form. Brendan Rodgers has not managed this player well.