Our Danish friend: Why Mads Hermansen is a Champions League ‘keeper
Leicester have a proud history of Danish goalkeepers coming over here and dominating the league. Jamie Barnard thinks we might have the best one yet.
Stormzy headlining Glastonbury. Ketchup in the fridge. Boris Johnson in a position of authority. Mrs Brown’s Boys on prime-time BBC One. All things you look at and think: “what on earth is that doing there?”
Ten minutes into the Cardiff City home game, it’s Mads Hermansen stood in the centre of defence, 30 yards out of his goal, passing the ball left and right like a prime Virgil Van Dijk. What on earth is he doing there?
It’s something we’re not accustomed to seeing as Leicester City fans but also something that we’re not really accustomed to seeing in the English game. Whilst we’ve seen Alisson and Ederson taking plaudits for what they can do with the ball at their feet, they’re not quite playing as far out of their goal as we’ve seen Hermansen doing for Leicester at times this season.
It’s a high-risk, high-reward strategy, and thus far it’s paying off handsomely in giving Leicester an extra body in the middle third of the pitch. It’s allowing us to dominate possession to the extent that there was almost an audible gasp in the King Power stadium as the scoreboard showed, 20 minutes into the Stoke City home game, that we’d had 80% of the ball.
Premier League, you’re having a gaffe
The harsh reality is that we’re living through an age of bang average goalkeepers in the Premier League right now. Outside of the aforementioned, there’s not much there to better our Mads.
Pope, Pickford, Leno, Martinez, Sa. All decent keepers on their day, but nothing special. Onana at Manchester United has had a questionable start to his time there, as has Raya at Arsenal. Notts Forest could do no better than taking Arsenal’s back up keeper, Crystal Palace no better than Manchester United’s. The likes of Vicario and Flekken are unproven at best.
Almost a third of the way into this Championship campaign, it’s become clear that Leicester City have got an absolute bargain with the reported £6m purchase of Hermansen from Brondby. Hot take, maybe, but we have a top six goalkeeper on our hands.
I know it’s all ‘ifs’ and ‘ands’ and that if my aunty had balls she’d be Robert Huth, but imagine if we’d had Hermansen in net last season…
One of Brendan Rodgers’ many failings was his persistence with Danny Ward. Goalkeepers are difference makers. It’s a cliché to say that they can win or lose you games but there’s no one on this planet who could convince me that with Daniel Iversen in goal for even just another five games, we’d not have picked up the extra couple of points that would have secured us Premier League survival.
I said at the end of last season that we had two keepers that could do 50% of what you needed a keeper to do. Iversen was a shot stopper but couldn’t kick to save his life, or ours. Ward couldn’t catch a cold, but was passable with the ball at his feet.
To his credit, Maresca wouldn’t settle for just ok. Many Championship managers would be, and when January rolls round likely will be, happy with Iversen between the sticks. On reflection, it was a masterstroke in setting standards and showing resolute belief in a style to say neither Iversen nor Ward had what it took to be part of his plans.
With Hermansen, I genuinely believe we’ve got a keeper who will be playing Champions League football within the next few years.
Leicester’s number one…for now
One of the biggest signs that he’s got it all was at Norwich. During a spell of pressure, he almost cost us a goal by skewing a pass straight into the path of Kenny McLean, who smashed an effort against the bar. It could have been the difference between wining or drawing. So what did he do the next time he got the ball? He carried on exactly as he had been doing all season, playing it out with composure. The lad has balls of steel.
For this, Maresca and Hermansen are a match made in heaven in terms of their commitment to building from the back. The plan, is the plan, is the plan. If it doesn’t work this time, try it again in the steadfast belief that it will work the next.
I’m in danger, here, of making Hermansen sound like he’s top class just because of what he can do with the ball at his feet, but that would do him an injustice. He’s also pulled off some unbelievable saves. Prior to his mistake at Norwich, he’d pulled off a wonderful instinctive save from a Shane Duffy header at close range. At home to Coventry, with the score 1-1, he tipped Haji Wright’s effort onto the bar to provide the platform for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s winner.
At 81.5%, he tops the stack rankings on save percentage in the Championship this season. He has the lowest goals against average per 90 minutes of any keeper in the league (at 0.67 goals per match). Add up the points he’s earned and you’re looking at the gap between us and the chasing play-off pack.
Then you remember, he’s 23 years old. 23 years old.
Enjoy him whilst we can, Leicester City fans. We’re just a step on the journey to the top for Mads Hermansen. As a goalkeeper who can do it all, Europe’s elite clubs will be paying close attention to how he progresses at Leicester. As soon as he’s shown he replicate it all at Premier League level, the big money offers will start coming our way.
The Denmark starting eleven. The Premier League top six. The Champions League. All things you look at and think: “what on earth is Mads Hermansen not doing there?”
12 Days of Christmas at The Bridge
For the past 10 years, The Bridge Homelessness to Hope has served a 3-course Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings to hundreds of people in Leicester who are experiencing homelessness.
This year, they want to go one better and offer their guests (service users) not just one day of celebrations but 12 days of festive events over the month of December.
If you’re enjoying The Fosse Way, please consider donating to The Bridge’s Christmas appeal:
