‘Criminal to leave him out’: Should Conor Coady come back into the Leicester City team?
The Jannik Vestergaard renaissance that everyone predicted and Conor Coady’s return to fitness has left Leicester with a selection dilemma heading into the meat of the season.
We asked our writers if Coady deserves to come back into the side and who should get the hook to allow it.
Jamie Barnard
I originally reached for the old adage “never change a winning side”, but it seems, after the team selection for the Norwich game, that even Enzo doesn’t buy that. In all honesty I’m left clutching at straws for reasons why Jannik Vestergaard shouldn’t keep his place (let’s face it, it’s Coady or Vestergaard for that deep central defensive position).
The reality is that for the last couple of games he’s been in our top three performers. It was noticeable at full-time at Southampton that the other players were hyping his performance and at Norwich he was part of a defence that really had to dig in for the first time this season. So you’re in on merit you big gangly Dane, you!
Am I convinced he’s the long-term answer and Coady won’t claim that spot before Christmas? No. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before Coady takes both the position and the armband. But why rush him in now when Vestergaard is playing like a prime Robert Huth?!
When Jannik’s even hanging round the committee discussing plan of action for 30-yard out free kicks, you know he’s feeling like a different man to that one singing like a canary about a move away to any Danish journalist who would listen. We love an underdog at Leicester and I’m here for the Vestergaard redemption story (for now).
Matt Jedruch
As keen as I am to see Coady play this season, we find ourselves in the luxurious position of being able to gradually introduce him into the side rather than desperately throw him in. Presumably he'd take the place of Vestergaard, and there is simply no justification to drop him other than if he needs a rest or has picked up a knock.
Huge credit has to go to Maresca and the rest of the team for re-integrating a player who most fans (including myself) had totally written off and wanted to see leave this summer. Vestergaard looks to be fully invested and it has been great to see him show some genuine enthusiasm for the first time in his Leicester career, along with some very solid performances, particularly in the last two games.
For Coady, it would make sense to start him in the League Cup game against Liverpool and build from there.
Becky Taylor
If completely fit, 100%.
Coady is club captain, even if it hasn’t been officially announced, and Enzo has clearly stated his importance to the team. As one of our biggest signings of the summer it'd be criminal to leave him out.
I understand the basis of any argument for not changing a winning side, but Enzo himself has shown that we can continue to get results whilst making changes so it's a no brainer for me. Whilst this season has been a breath of fresh air so far, there's still been some moments of painful defensive frailties. If we'd kept clean sheets week-in-week-out it may be a different story.
The player he comes in for is Wout Faes and not Jannik Vestergaard, which is a sentence I didn't think I'd be saying. Doyle gives us balance as the left centre back so that leaves the aforementioned other two to choose from to drop out.
For me, Vestergaard has completely bought into 'the Enzo way' with the ball and he has also remembered he is 6’7” and wins headers defensively now too. He's arguably the pick of the bunch of our defensive minded players this season.
Wout does give us more pace, but can be a complete car crash - he's been hit and miss this season at times. It just shows our strength in depth having him and Justin as the 'back up' players.
Captain Coady should come in to shift us to the next gear.
Adam Hodges
Conor Coady needs to be back in the team so I would pick him ahead of Jannik Vestergaard who has got better on the ball but is still prone to errors.
The fact that he can get beaten in the air despite his 6’6” frame still baffles me. Coady should offer better organisation and confidence the defence needs.
Helen Thompson
On the surface, had you asked me at the start of the season it would have been an instant yes with the answer 'drop anybody, just play him'. It's not quite as easy now though, is it? Not because I'm not keen to see Coady but more because who to drop is a dilemma.
Wout Faes made the Championship team of the week after his performance against Norwich and he's been very solid. Arguably, he should be, given we signed him to be a Premier League centre back but he looked all kinds of chaotic and clumsy at various points last season.
Then there's the Jannik Vestergaard revival and then some. This may well be the redemption story of the season if he can keep it up and I'm happy to be wrong in thinking he was done. Channelling all the energy of Gandalf on the bridge of Khazad-dûm on Tuesday, he was excellent alongside Faes and dropping either after a clean sheet sounds harsh. They dominated aerially and look a solid pairing.
Our defensive display against Norwich was pretty resilient, shades of luck and an incredible save from Hermansen notwithstanding but it was the kind of display we could have only dreamt of last season. Defending ten corners with somewhat ease? Madness. The only argument that works in Coady's favour is that Championship games come thick and fast and it’s ideal for a rotation policy.
Coady needs to get some minutes behind him and something tells me he'd relish a game against a team managed by Nigel Pearson. While Coady is clearly having a good impact off the pitch and I'm sure he'll make one on the pitch too, we're in a bit of a luxury position of not having to rush him back. Which I didn't see coming when he first got injured.
Chris Iliffe
This is a really tricky one for me. A few months back I wrote a piece that was basically a love letter to Conor Coady, saying how his passion, positivity and leadership were going to be crucial for us.
His signing was a statement: we may be down in the Championship but we can still attract top players. There we were, bringing in Coady and Harry Winks, two players with enthusiasm bursting out of their veins and huge smiles across their faces, wanting to give their all for the club and believing in Enzo's project before any of us had even thought about what that project could look like. Winks has already shown how much quality he has, making football look easy in the middle of the pitch and hardly breaking a sweat.
Coady was going to be that same calm head at the centre of the defence, organising the team, looking a step above most players in this division. When he got injured I was gutted. I knew we had some solid defenders in Faes, Justin and Souttar (little did I know at the time that the latter of those was not even going to get a look in!) and then there was Jannik Vestergaard.
It was a heart in the mouth moment - everything was crossed hoping Jannik could do a decent job and then vacate the team when Coady returned. And now here we are... despite the odd stumble, our great Dane has taken his chance and is absolutely bossing it these last few games.
He's actually winning headers, mouthing off at the ref, celebrating goals like we've won the league and looking pretty commanding, growing massively into his role in the middle of the back three. He makes mistakes and hasn't got a great deal of pace, but I think he deserves a lot of credit for how he's shaken off his Leicester City demons and also the constant negativity towards him from the fanbase.
He pretty much said that he didn't want to play here, insinuating that he was too good for this level despite the evidence we'd all seen that he was barely good enough for the Premier League in those final forgettable months of the Brendan Rodgers era. What is clear is that Enzo has breathed a new lease of life into players who were once good regular Premier League starters (See Vestergaard and Wilfred Ndidi, possibly even Dennis Praet) but who had lost their way under Brendan Rodgers.
So back to Conor Coady - my new favourite player who hasn't yet played a minute. Should he start against Bristol City this weekend? My answer is no, not for now. Keep Jannik in there and bring Conor on from the bench in the next couple of games if we can. I'm 100% sure Coady will be a regular starter in the coming months, and it probably will be Jannik who is phased out.
I'm looking forward to seeing him in the Leicester blue but for now, let's stick to the defence who just grabbed us a key clean sheet. There are so many games coming up now that Enzo will inevitably rotate - so I'm sure we'll see Coady contributing regularly very soon. Then the make up of our back three when all players are fit and firing will be an interesting debate topic.
