Player ratings vs. West Ham

Another lead thrown away in a home game and another goal from, surprise surprise, a corner. Just another day at the office this season.

Here are my ratings:

Schmeichel: 6 - Questions will be asked of the defending of course, but an aerially competent keeper comes out and sticks at least a punch on that ball in stoppage time. He knew the inswinger was going to be a danger, hence trying to get the corner to be taken from the left instead of the right. And then West Ham smelled blood.
Ricardo: 8 - We miss his flair when he's not playing. Good to see him looking back on form. My choice for our MOTM.
Amartey: 6 - You never quite know what you're going to get from Amartey. He started off poorly and looked jittery at times throughout, but didn't make any major errors.
Soyuncu: 6 - Looked more solid than Amartey but was culpable in the first goal.
Justin: 5 - Also culpable in the first goal as nobody properly tracked Bowen's run. Unfortunate to pick up a knock; hopefully it's not serious. But he was on the pitch through the bad start so his rating reflects that.
Tielemans: 7 - Started very slowly, then got into the game far more and tucked away a neat penalty.
Ndidi: 7 - Got involved more today and was involved with some link-up play helping the defence out in tight situations. Not back to his marauding best but decent.
Dewsbury-Hall: 6 - Struggled to get involved in the first half, but lasted well. Often looks more like a Championship player in style, but his stamina in midfield is needed right now.
Maddison: 5 - Had a quiet and pretty ineffective day, having been probably our best performer recently.
Barnes: 7 - Took a while to get into the game, then terrorised Coufal for a good fifteen minute period in the second half, resulting in an assist. Then disappeared again. I wouldn't argue too much with a MOTM rating for him because for a while he was the dominant force on the pitch, but it was time-limited.
Daka: 4 - Put simply, he doesn't do all the things that Jamie Vardy can do. We've seen he can sneak in behind and finish well, and that bodes well for the future. But more generally he finds it hard to get involved.

Thomas: 7 - Came on for Justin late in the first half. Not bad. Did a solid job and aided the team, making some decent challenges as well. Moving forward he needs to work on the fact that he tends to get dispossessed too much.
Lookman: 3 - Disappointing. Came on at right wing and was up against Cresswell on a yellow card. He never ran at him once. He was involved in some tidy play but he could have given a lot more.
Vestergaard: 1 - Gentle reader, I know you've been waiting for this one. You may even have skipped to it if you have no appreciation for the dramatic. Essentially, he had one job, one header to make, and didn't do it. The disastrous choice to go 5-4-1 instead of the far more sensible 4-1-4-1 wasn't his of course, so he was already put into a bad situation. But he has to demand more of himself. If you're down on confidence, struggling for form, the one thing you can always do is be determined to stick your boot, head or any other part of your body in where it hurts when the time comes. I can't help but think that Wes Morgan would have got his head on that ball. The man's not just a stinking vomit of a footballer, he's a Jonah too. We would have been better off going down to ten men. And that's not even hyperbole.


Special mention to the West Ham fans by the way, for their early song in support of their ostracised player. I didn't catch all the lyrics but I recognised the tune, and some of them.
"Kurt Zouma's magic," they sang. And apparently he wears a magic hat. Then something something something, then:
"He kicks it with his left foot; he kicks it with his right,
"And when (something something), we'll sing this song all night."
From what I could see, the entire away end was joining in gleefully. So I'll let you just sit there and admire that for all that it is.