Leicester City drew with Everton in what was a thrilling fixture. Too many chances conceded, and too many missed. Here are the three who let us down.
The King Power club did not really perform that poorly, they simply lacked a killing edge and were defensively inept at times. Just to illustrate this, according to FB Ref, the Foxes accumulated 3.4 in expected goals (xG) versus 3.1 xG for Everton. At the same time though, around 0.75 of both our xG came from penalties: at least the Toffees scored their penalty.
Clearly, there were some players who performed well – such as Youri Tielemans, Jamie Vardy, and Caglar Soyuncu – and others who truly let the side down. On that topic then, we begin our parade of shame with the shambolic performance of our English left-back.
Luke Thomas of Leicester City
The English defender Luke Thomas did not always look bad, and often appeared pretty good: these moments were only really when the rest of the team performed better, and also rested on a bit too much luck. Inconsistency was the killer.
Prior to the fixture, I had noted the importance of containing Alex Iwobi and Dwight McNeil: their wingers. These were the Toffees’ primary threat and required an immense amount of defensive awareness and resilience to control their movement and prevent attacks. Well, as can be seen from the chances the Foxes conceded, Leicester failed to control them.
Thomas only succeeded with six out of his 11 ground duels, meaning he failed to disrupt the play and prevent Iwobi making devastating movements and link-ups with fullbacks. Additionally, with jus a 73% passing accuracy, the academy product gave the ball away too many times. So, the Englishman could not contain Iwobi and could not help Leicester retain the ball.
Victor Kristiansen was previously considered untouchable but was dropped for the Everton fixture, likely due to a less than impressive showing in the proceeding match. The Dane is clearly more defensively sound, if sometimes not always an attacking asset.
The Nigerian DM
Wilfred Ndidi was known previously as one of the best defensive midfielders in the league, capable of breaking up play and providing the shield for our defensive line. The Nigerian was integral to how we defended, but against the Toffees he showed none of that.
According to Sofascore, he was involved in just four ground duels, two of those being successful, and did – get this – zero ‘tackles’. Of course, the player did put in challenges, but these were shambolic excuses, and very few included attempts to win the ball.
For a player we excused his lack of progressive passing for being purely defensive, Ndidi offers us very little in recent fixtures. As is the usual, the player created nothing in xG or expected assists. So, our DM did nothing as a DM, and offered nothing progressively or creatively. Disastrous in comparison to our other options.
Clearly, Nampalys Mendy would be a better option in future games: a mix of stability, progression, and neater passing. Ndidi is off his form, and it is time for a little bit of change for Leicester City.
Finally, a duo of poor choices?
I am merging two players due to both making a similar error, merely at the other end of the pitch. One gave a set piece away, the other took one poorly. I am of course talking about Timothy Castagne conceding a penalty needlessly, and James Maddison failing to score one.
The Belgian right-back has a further issue. The defender failed to control Dwight McNeil, which was of crucial importance. The player was constantly being outrun, outmanned, and clearly outsmarted by the English left-winger. That was an uninspiring performance.
Meanwhile, despite a usually flaring and impressive creative performance, the English attacking-midfielder took the penalty from Tielemans – who has done well with penalties – and then absolutely misfired. Oh, no, said the crowd as ‘Madders’ tamely placed one in the middle for Jordan Pickford to comfortably save.
My issue here is that the Belgian midfielder probable would have scored it. To have taken it was selfish when the star player has barely taken a penalty for Leicester for some time. The Foxes must remember to not let big personalities and names decide what to do on the pitch, just the calm leaders.