These 3 Leicester players haven’t been good enough all season

Wilfred Ndidi

This one is honestly a little sad to say. The King Power club will remember but a short couple seasons ago, a midfield of Wilfred Ndidi, Youri Tielemans, and James Maddison: the most balanced trio you could get. The Nigerian did all the defensive work, the Belgian all the possession and progression, and the Englishman all the creativity. Now, Ndidi looks a shadow of that former glory.

FB Ref still rate him within the 97th percentile for interceptions and 95th for tackling, which is good, but the reality is that his defensive output has fallen dramatically. For example, SmarterScout rated the player 97/100 for defensive quantity, 63/100 for quality; this campaign has seen 54 and 21 respectively. These are shocking declines in the amount of actions taken by Ndidi to break up play and in the success of these actions.

We already knew the player had no attacking output, but not now not have anywhere near as much defensive output, while continuing to have extremely low possession and progressive passes comparatively to other midfielders, is genuinely really sad. I miss the player we used to watch dominate as our anchor at the base of a midfield better than any other.

All three must be replaced in the starting XI. Viktor Kristiansen, Kelechi Iheanacho, and Papy Mendy have earned their chances ahead of these players. Let us hope they can keep their places and build some positive performances.