Danny Ward – A liability or Leicester’s number one?

Danny Ward – A liability or Leicester’s number one? by Alex Merson

Since the departure of Premier League winner and Leicester hero Kasper Schmeichel, the goalkeeping spot for Leicester has been one of the major issues in the squad during this season.

For the most part of the current season, Welshman Danny Ward has been in the sticks, and fans have had mixed opinions on whether or not his performances have merited the number 1 shirt. It wasn’t until last Saturday’s game against Brentford that Brendan Rodgers made the call to give Daniel Iversen his Premier League debut, in a 1-1 draw against Brentford.

In this article, we are going to look at whether or not Danny Ward is the right man to finish the season, or if Iversen should now take reigns as the permanent goalkeeper for the Foxes.

Throughout the 26 games Ward has started, he has conceded a Premier League worst 46 goals, with just 6 clean sheets. From those clean sheets, they have come against Crystal Palace, Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Leeds, Everton and West Ham.

These clubs have one constant theme, they are all involved in the relegation battle that Leicester find themselves sat in, whereas in some of the bigger games it has been clear that he has struggled.

6 conceded against Spurs, 4 against Arsenal, 5 against Brighton and 3 against Man Utd, Newcastle and Chelsea.

In the big games, Ward has struggled to make an impact, and despite it not being entirely his fault, he has had his part to play.

According to Fbred.com, Ward’s PSxG (the expected goals based on how likely the goalkeeper is to save the shot), Ward is expected to have conceded 36.5 goals this season, nearly 10 less than he has conceded.

However according to the PSxG per shot on target, his average is 0.29 which means that per shot on target the difficulty to saving the shot is the 5^th highest in the league.

These numbers may be confusing; however, it is a big indicator to how a goalkeeper is performing, and despite having one of the worst ratios in the league, it’s clear that the defending does not help him.

In Daniel Iversen’s first Premier League game, he performed well, however conceded a rather unlucky goal to Mathies Jensen after a deflection on the way.

Playing out from his feet, in 17 attempts at long balls, he completed just 17.6%, a by far league worst compared to usual starting goalkeepers, whereas normal number 1 Danny Ward averages 31%, a 5^th worst stat in the league.

With Danny Wards’ struggles, it may be time for a change for the Foxes as they look to pull some wins together if they want to stay in the Premier League.

The goalkeeping spot is a huge problem for the Foxes since Schmeichel left, and after this international break it is unclear who will finish the season off, but Danny Ward has not been the answer so far so seeing him dropped permanently may be no surprise to fans.