Who’s to blame for Leicester relegation? Part 6: central midfield

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – Games (34) – Goals (2)

Despite a promising 2021-2022, Dewsbury-Hall will not look back on this season fondly. It all started so well, with a low long-range drive on the opening day of the season against Brentford. But he struggled to fit into the Rodgers systems – as did so many – with central midfield positions looking disjointed and lacking link-up play.

Partnerships are key as well and KDH wasn’t finding much in the way of interplay with any of his colleagues. Ndidi rarely wants to pass it forward due to his dodgy aim. Soumare is better but tends to go to sleep and not see where a pass is on and as said earlier, Tielemans was nowhere near his best. In terms of goals and assists (two & two) he was only one behind his Belgian counterpart.

Where Dewsbury-Hall is vital, is in carrying the ball forward and being difficult to shake off the ball, combined with wily gamesmanship, a quality sorely lacking in many of the team. What let him down ultimately was his final product, his reliance on his left foot and his lack of interceptions and tackles making him too easy for rivals to play through. But still, his footballing brain far exceeded many in a Foxes shirt.

It is mainly down to him being a Leicestershire lad and a fan of the club, but the club really needs to consider putting the captain’s armband on him. Seeing him lead the club back into the Premier League could be something special. Failing that, he might decide to go back to Luton now they’re a more attractive prospect.