During a recent appearance on the Talk Sport Game Day podcast, Alex Crook slammed Leicester City goalkeeper Danny Ward as not good enough to play in the Premier League.
The Foxes have struggled so far this season, largely due to their porous defence which has seen them concede 16 goals already, the second-worst record in the league while they sit rock-bottom of the table.
While their backline has taken a huge hit with the departure of Wesley Fofana to Chelsea, they are also very thin in the goalkeeping area after former star man Kasper Schmeichel left to join OGC Nice this summer.
As a result, they have been left with Ward as their starting shot-stopper who has been slammed by Crook on the Game Day podcast, where the journalist claimed he is not good enough to play at the top level in England.
Crook said, “The goalkeepers not good enough to be a Premier League number one, I’m sorry, but that’s the brutal reality you can tell the backline don’t have any trust in Danny Ward”. (20:15)
TIF Thoughts on Crook’s comments…
While the Foxes have the likes of James Maddison, Harvey Barnes, and Youri Tielemans still on the side, they are going to struggle to survive the season let alone hit the heights they have in recent seasons with a player like Ward in goal.
The 29-year-old has only made nine PL appearances throughout his entire career and has conceded 21 goals and failed to keep a clean sheet during this time. Over the last year, Ward ranks in the 1st percentile for post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed, which are the expected goals based on how likely the goalkeeper is to save the shot, which is currently at -0.59.
They needed to go out and bring a new keeper in during the summer but failed on this front, they are now stuck with a player who is not good enough to play in the league and are doomed to battle relegation, and with Ward, in goal, it is hard to see how they keep enough goals out to survive.
Will Leicester survive the season?Yes
No
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