The Fosse Way

Abdul Fatawu

Matt Jedruch

Without Abdul Fatawu’s individual brilliance we would be languishing in mid-table, and the outlook for the season would be very different. To this point the main output of his brilliance has come in the form of outrageous long range strikes, together with some excellent direct dribbling.

Fatawu has 33 successful take-ons so far this season, the most in the Championship with the next highest player in the division having 17. The list of players who have carried the ball the furthest contains 6 centre-backs followed by Fatawu.

The hope is that as the season progresses we will see more chance creation and assists from Fatawu, but this is obviously dependent on 1) other forwards being in the box and 2) those forwards having the technical ability to hit the target.

I think we can all agree that whilst 25-yard wonder strikes are a joy to behold, relying on them to pick up points is not sustainable over the course of a season, and our attacking play has to improve.

This season, only Jannik Vestergaard (20) has more tackles and interceptions than Fatawu (18) among Leicester players and the only players to have made more clearances are all defenders.

An honourable mention has to go to Jordan James who we should all be incredibly excited about. Our Player of the Season will be between these two if they stay fit.

Jordan James

Helen Thompson

It’s probably a little premature but for the potential and what he’s brought in just 5 games so far, it’s Jordan James and he’ll be in with a shout at the end of the season if he keeps this up.

He’s young, he’s exciting and he’s bringing something to Leicester that feels unique compared to the rest of the midfielders we have. The closest similarity would have been Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, he’s different but he fills the void we’d had since selling KDH.

He’s an ideal midfielder, one who can get forward, contribute to chances as well as take his own but gets stuck in to help out defensively too. His ball recoveries highlight his work rate but his link up play with his team mates has also been really positive. James feels like a breath of fresh air in midfield.

We’ve tried playing him in a couple of different roles, but the traditional box-to-box role seems to suit him best. He and Winks are already our best midfield pairing, a better fit than anything we’ve seen in the last 18 months.

With two goals in his last two games, that goalscoring attribute is going to be key. We find ourselves without a guaranteed 20 goal a season striker, so everybody is going to need to chip in. James’s two goals both showcased his movement and football intelligence and surely the best is yet to come. The Swansea goal also showed what a strike he’s got in him, giving Abdul a run for his money for great goals.

Jordan James is the only Leicester player to feature in the top 10 in the division for goals per 90 minutes (0.62) and shots on target per 90 minutes (1.23)

The other reason to tout him already? The way he speaks, both in analysis about games but also how he talks about being at Leicester, he’s so positive and excited. It’s impossible not to enjoy hearing that as a fan. We’ve been so used to players who have used us as a stepping stone or whose excitement quickly fades or things sour. He seems incredibly professional despite his age, captaincy could be in his future and it would be great to see him grow more with us.

Yes, I’ve fallen in love with a loan player again. But we have an option to buy and notwithstanding financial issues, or a bigger offer elsewhere, we’ll be able to keep James around. And we should when the rumoured fee is only £5million. Bargain.

Jakub Stolarczyk

Iain Wright

The easy answer (and probably the correct one) would be Abdul Fatawu. However, I think we all hoped that our Abdul would recover quickly and slip seamlessly back into the team, so it’s not a major surprise. Therefore, I’m going to pick out someone who had a few questions around his place, and is beginning to answer them.

Jakub Stolarczyk has taken over from Mads Hermansen in goal, and started to make his mark as the Number 1. Physically, Stolarczyk looks like a 21st century goalkeeper, with his height and long reach. He also appears to have a bit of personality and mental toughness about him, where he can move on from the odd mistake here and there. This can’t be underestimated.

Only two Championship keepers have made more saves than Stolarczyk’s 25 and his save percentage is the second best in the division at 78.1%, only behind Stoke’s ex-Leicester keeper Viktor Johansson (Daniel Iversen is 6th).

I’ve been a very vocal advocate of giving our younger players a chance to shine and develop. Although Stolarczyk is 25 in December, so not truly a ‘young player’, this is his first full season as a number 1, having only played a handful of times on loan with Dunfermline and Hartlepool, and then deputising here.

Martí Cifuentes has said at almost every opportunity that he’s keen to develop younger players, but recent team and particularly bench selections are beginning to contradict this. Some of the players we hoped to see more of like Ben Nelson, Louis Page, Bade Aluko, Jake Evans, Silko Thomas, and even more established ones like Caleb Okoli, have been left on the sidelines in favour of a number of ‘failed’ players I personally hoped we’d seen the last of.

Therefore it’s worth highlighting and indeed praising the manager for sticking with Stolarczyk and giving him time to develop, rather than taking the ‘easy’ option of turning to Asmir Begovic, as Martí has done in other areas of the pitch.

As with all ‘young’ players, Stolarczyk hasn’t been perfect. There’s been the odd goal he’d be disappointed with like the first one at Oxford. There’s also been a few tricky moments with distribution, which have reminded everyone of Kasper Schmeichel’s time between the sticks.

Like Schmeichel, his distribution is erratic, rather than bad. But. Like Schmeichel, Stolarczyk’s best quality is keeping the ball out of the net. Even at this early stage, he’s building an impressive show reel of saves, and has significantly contributed to our points tally.

This leaves us in the top 3 ahead of the international break, rather than having fewer points and being in the bottom half. These are those fine margins where having a very good goalkeeper can make such a difference, especially in a tight league.

Harry Winks

David Bevan

You can’t be positive about Harry Winks without addressing all the stuff that isn’t about kicking a football around, so let’s get that out of the way first.

The truth is I’ve always had a nagging feeling that Winks has been hard done by. 

Copenhagen: not a great look, but clearly one of his team-mates arranged for “I miss u Enzo” to be on display and he found it funny. Worse things happen at sea. 

Aperol Spritz-gate: this split the fanbase more, but I’m inclined to think he was again scapegoated here, this time by Ruud van Nistelrooy, at a time when most clubs would be supportive of a major event in a player’s life.

The moody start to this season: the non-celebration at Huddersfield and walking straight off the pitch at Preston have been his biggest crimes, because they effectively punished the fans when there’s never been any real criticism of him from the stands.

But then we started the season with Boubakary Soumare and Oliver Skipp in midfield, and all was forgiven. The difference between a Leicester midfield with Winks in it and what happens when he’s not on the pitch is stark and startling. He’s essentially the key to the football club’s entire style of play.

The opening day against Sheffield Wednesday was heading for disaster until he came on at half time and took control of the situation. It was a similar story at Oxford. He bossed a Coventry midfield that has been bossing everybody else and he’s been excellent in the three games since.

Harry Winks has the highest pass completion percentage of any Championship player so far this season (91.8%). Only one player has completed more passes into the final third than Winks (62).

Leicester have had the air of an old banger slowly chugging to life this season. There have been some shocking periods of play and a lot of moments when fans have begun to wonder if this season is destined to end in failure. But adding Winks to the mix has restored a sense of superiority. A touch of Premier League class amidst a very average Championship.

One man and his dog

James Knight

Before this season there were a couple of big question marks against this side. Did we have any leaders, and who was going to score the goals?

A couple of months in one player has stood out above the others in answering that question. Not only has he shown leadership, barking out orders to his teammates, and contributed more in front of goal than all bar one other man, but he’s helped Marti Cifuentes instill his tactical style as well. 

Calm, controlled possession, more direct passing between the lines to build attacks, combined with ruffing it at the back, putting your body on the line with your defensive work. These have all been key to Cifuentes’ Leicester, marrying positivity with resilience in grinding out results.

Paws to think about it, and there’s only one man who defines those characteristics.

That man is Jannik Vestergaard.

Only four players in the division have had more touches than Vestergaard (722) this season and only one player has carried the ball further. He is the only outfield player to play every league minute for Leicester.