A trio of Leicester City players who regularly underperform, regardless of commitment, have let the side down once again. Even before the match begun - this particular writer pleaded for the exact three to be dropped, believe it or not! And the Newcastle United fixture was no different to what this Foxes-focused website envisioned.
Leicestershire Live, Leicester Mercury or whatever they're actually called these days, picked up on the predictably poor performances and acted accordingly. In fact, the athletes in question were pretty much annihilated in the outlet's player ratings from the disastrous St. James' Park display. And rightly so in my opinion.
Now we explain just why the defensive group need dropping by LCFC boss Ruud van Nistelrooy - and fast! But which Foxes are we referring to exactly? Will the men at the heart of this brief piece finally be dropped after being reinstalled or persevered with by van Nistelrooy? And which peripheral King Power footballers would potentially be in line to take their respective places if foreseeable opportunities arise? Let's discover the latest LCFC news.
First of all, let's just establish that van Nistelrooy got it wrong in the north East on Saturday afternoon. Tactically, system-wise and, not to mention, personnel selections all appear questionable. Yes this is hindsight - but the proof is in the Leicestershire pudding!
Prior to the match versus Eddie Howe's team, I personally wrote that Victor Kristiansen, Conor Coady and James Justin's continued inclusion was contentious and, possibly, counterproductive. Unfortunately, they all played and produced the usual generally unsatisfactory performances
I know there aren't many quality back ups available to RvN. Though some Leicester supporters are probably wondering if Wout Faes and Ricardo Pereira (in particular) would help after this specific assessment:
"James Justin: Like many full-backs do, he struggled against Gordon, who was too tricky and combined too well with Hall to keep quiet. He did read the game well to intercept at times, but while he moved forward with energy, he was wasteful on the ball. 4
Conor Coady: He was quiet in the first half, but that’s not all bad for a centre-back as it means it’s a mistake-free performance. But he did fluff a chance to clear for Isak’s goal and then, when moved into midfield, the game passed him by. 5
Victor Kristiansen: Newcastle had such joy down their left that they didn’t really attack Kristiansen’s flank, but neither did the Dane make a positive impact on the match. In the second half, he got sucked in too far and gave up all sorts of space to Murphy. 4"