Who’s to blame for Leicester relegation? Part 5: centrebacks

One of the worst possible facets of Leicester City’s 2022-2023 season has been their defence, or lack thereof. From renegade Frenchmen, absent captains, cast-adrift internationals and own goal braces, this season has had it all, apart from anything positive.

Wesley Fofana – Games (2) Goals (0)

I wrote about this at length at the start of the season, but Wesley Fofana can take a fair chunk of the blame. Okay, he only played in two matches but he sulked his way through them both before demanding a transfer away from the club to Chelsea.

This was only months after the club helped him through rehabilitation and rewarded him with a healthy long-term contract. That he was allowed to leave and not made to stay and help keep Leicester City up before this rebuild is another monumental error by the club. Fofana’s attitude stunk as the fans let him know on his return with Chelsea in February, he is everything that is wrong with the modern-day footballer, greedy, unprofessional and self-entitled.

Wout Faes – Games (36) Goals (1)

In an act of desperation, the foxes moved for a Belgian international to add to their growing collection. His debut was in the biggest thrashing of the season in a 6-2 defeat at Tottenham. Bizarrely it was seen as a positive debut and there may have been some truth to it, as Faes starred in the next game, a first win of the season against Nottingham Forest. Bar some questionable defending choices against Bournemouth, Faes went on to give the East-Midlands outfit belief of a more solid Leicester City with wins and clean sheets arriving in abundance up till the World Cup.

He was on the plane to Qatar with his Belgian teammates ready to make an impact after a successful transfer. Now perhaps Leicester City could throw some blame at Roberto Martinez, as the Spaniard went on to ignore the Foxes centre-back, favouring a more senior approach in Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld. Belgium crashed out of the first round and Faes was making an early return.

Call it bad luck, but post-Christmas was not pretty for Faes. His inexplicable own-goal double at Anfield cost the East Midlands side some much-needed points and it continued to get worse from there. His lack of a partnership with Daniel Amartey, Harry Souttar and eventually Jonny Evans showed no cohesion as Leicester City bounced from one bad result to the next. Faes normally seems to be the player playing opponents onside with sluggish runs out that leave acres of space for hungry strikers. His rash decision-making leads to many free kicks for opponents and cards thrown at him.

Most tellingly right up to the last game of the season, he was seen arguing with a certain Northern Irish teammate frustrated and annoyed with being told what to do. His first goal later on in that match was scant consolation for a transfer that has not gone how he hoped.