As the social media apologies move at a snail’s pace toward our Instagram and Twitter feeds, (come on Foxes – make the right move for once this season!) this relegation nightmare still shows no signs of clearing. So let’s do what nobody at Leicester City seems to be doing right now, discover the reasons for this shambles. The full-back position could well be where this whole mess started.
Ricardo Pereira – Games (11) – Goals (1)
According to Brendan Rodgers his whole game plan for this season was hinged on the inverted fullbacks, key to that plan was the Portuguese hitman Ricardo Pereira. His marauding runs into spaces that would overload opposition full-backs sounded like a tasty prospect given his injury record over recent years.
Of course, he was typically injured after rupturing an achilles tendon only a week before the season started and ruled out for six months. Following Wesley Fofana’s horrific leg break a year earlier, you could be forgiven for thinking that the club may be cursed. Despite having Timothy Castagne available in that position, Rodgers abandoned his strategy and chopped and changed his team and backline causing chaos throughout the season.
When Ricardo did eventually return at the back end of a rare win over Tottenham Hotspur, it seemed like things were looking up. But it was a false dawn, Ricardo struggled to get into games and cause problems from an attacking sense. All confidence seemed to have dropped when he came back in, as defensive duties seemed to be Leicester City’s new focus, despite being absolutely woeful at it all season. Ironically in Brendan’s last game for the club, Ricardo scored a stunner from one of his marauding inverted full-back runs and still ended up on the losing team.
Brendan was probably smiling to himself at the end of that game, comfortable in the knowledge that he knew Ricardo’s importance had been missed all season, whilst simultaneously ignoring every single defensive failing of the team he had constructed. At the time of writing, Ricardo is one of the few players to apologise to the supporters for this season, which is very humble considering he played very little part in it in comparison to others. Without injuries Ricardo would be a strong full-back in any division, I hope it is with LCFC, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Timothy Castagne – Games (42) Goals (2)
With the most Premier League minutes played at Leicester City this season (3,254) it was nice to see a full-back play lots of minutes this season. With the club reeling from Ricardo’s long-term injury on opening day, Castagne lifted spirits by heading in the opener against Brentford. But the problems were already beginning. The Belgian was asked to play as a right-wing back, as a left-back and as a right-back this season.
The clear utility-man skills are valuable but you get the sense that we are never seeing what the identity of this man should be and as such his positional sense and marking abilities have gone wayward all season. But he’s an ever-present player so what can you do but keep playing him and hope for moments like that exhilarating winner against Wolverhampton Wanderers. His reliability and versatility will surely see him leave the King Power this summer, with him likely to do much better elsewhere.
James Justin – Games (15) Goals (1)
The Luton Cafu started to come into his own as the World Cup break neared, the foxes form had turned and there were even calls for an outside bet of an England call-up to travel to Qatar. Alas, this was not to be, as injury (A ruptured Achilles) seemed to curse a City full-back again. It was only in January 2022 that ‘JJ’ returned from an anterior cruciate injury.
Up until his injury, Justin had started to solidify himself as a very competent left-back who was constantly pressing down the line, like Rodgers prefers his full-backs to. He was starting to get the balance correct as well, along with the whole back line that went on a run of six clean sheets in eight games. This form seemed to help Harvey Barnes ahead of him, who is not known for keeping to his defensive duties consistently.
Although they coped in the last game before the World Cup without him, you could easily point to Justin’s injury as being the turning point to why Leicester City were so poor after Christmas. Just to make matters worse Justin was available before the end of the season for the relegation battle but Brendan Rodgers decided to pip for the invisible Ryan Bertrand, Jannik Vestergaard and Lewis Brunt in his January 25-man squad instead. Another brilliant move Brendan!
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.
Victor Kristiansen – Games (14) Goals (0)
With Thomas struggling in January, Leicester City moved to sign the Danish left-back from FC Copenhagen for 17 million pounds. His first two games were a whirlwind of success with back-to-back victories against Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur. He showed a different type of play to previous left backs with a penchant for last-ditch blocks and a case of nasty gamesmanship this team has so sorely lacked.
He’s also aggressive with his teammates as well, bellowing at them to press better and have more heart – Harvey Barnes must get earache when he plays with him. Of course, Kristiansen fell foul to both injury and bad form being caught out of position and not knowing when to press or hold his position defensively. He was subbed at halftime of Dean Smith’s first game but returned a week later to set up the winning goal against Wolves. But then following a sluggish performance against Leeds United he was dropped for Thomas before his part in a disastrous defeat at Fulham.
Dean Smith clearly didn’t fancy him in the final few games, which is odd considering his influence on games this season. When he’s good he is very good for the team and has an attitude that is sorely lacking in this cowardly mentality of this squad.
Lewis Brunt – Games (2) Goals (0)
If anyone can answer why Lewis Brunt was brought on for only his second-ever Premier League appearance at the City Ground with 20 minutes to go of a game they were trailing, I’m all ears. No prizes for guessing which side of the pitch Brennan Johnson’s goal was scored from. Brunt will be 23 in November and has appeared in four professional football matches in his career.
Ryan Bertrand of Leicester City – Games (0)
£80,000 a week for no appearances or believable reason for his absence since December 2021. Now his contract has expired he’ll obviously score the winner for his new club against City next season.