Who’s to blame for Leicester relegation? Part 4: full backs

Luke Thomas – Games (25) Goals (0)

Slotting in after James Justin’s injury, Luke Thomas stepped into the fray at West Ham United and did a solid enough job in a 2-0 victory. But post-Christmas the wheels seemed to have fallen off. Thomas has played for the club for three years and doesn’t seem to specialise in anything. He isn’t a particularly solid and consistent defender or a versatile full-back that gets up and down the line or even acts as an inverted full-back to offer more presence in central areas.

Thomas seems to have been a victim of Rodgers poor coaching in that he has no recognisable traits to draw from. In January his confidence appeared to be rock bottom as he was getting bullied at places like Walsall in the FA Cup as well as the Premier League. He is clearly a player that would have benefitted from a year in the Championship a few seasons ago to toughen him up for battles against tricky wide players. Like most Rodgers players, he seemed to play far better in the earlier days, when they were more receptive to his new ideas before they quickly got old.

Dean Smith seemed to take to him well, after a spell out of the team he picked up form and seemed more solid positionally and was better at closing down opponents. He will be 22 when the new season starts in the Championship and will need to toughen up fast. He needs a late winner in a Leicester City home game for fans to sing his name proudly. After all, he is one of own.