Nottingham Forest 4-1 Leicester: Player ratings as FA Cup holders humbled by local rivals
FA Cup holders Leicester City crashed out of this year's competition at the fourth round stage on Sunday, succumbing to a humiliating 4-1 defeat at the hands of local rivals Nottingham Forest.
The visitors began strongly, dominating possession and fizzing a few dangerous balls across the Forest box. However, the wheels fell off this positive start in dramatic fashion with the home side netting twice in a minute.
First, Brennan Johnson's cross found Keinan Davis – who had hit the bar earlier in the half – and he nodded across to Philip Zinckernagel to shin it home. A matter of seconds later, Daniel Amartey's horrific back-pass set Johnson free, and he showed composure to nutmeg Danny Ward for 2-0.
Not long after Forest found a third when an unmarked Joe Worrall met James Garner's corner. Leicester did manage to pull one back before the break though, with Kelechi Iheanacho beating goalkeeper Brice Samba to James Maddison's long pass and finishing well.
The Foxes changed shaped at half time but it made little difference to their fortunes with Forest scoring a fourth goal on the hour mark. After neat approach play, the overlapping Djed Spence slipped in behind and he prodded the ball past Ward at speed.
Things could have, and perhaps should have, got worse for the Foxes before the end too. They failed to muster much in response and the hosts missed several half-chances, as they roared into the fifth round where they will take on Huddersfield Town.
Leicester player ratings
1. Goalkeeper & defender
Danny Ward (GK) - 2/10 - Pretty calamitous. Did not breed confidence in his backline with some poor decision making. Could have done better for all four goals.
James Justin (RB) - 1/10 - Nowhere near his peak condition. Looked pretty sluggish and will need time to return to form.
Daniel Amartey (CB) - 0/10 - A complete embarrassment for Forest's second goal. He wasn't even under that much pressure. Terrible throughout.
Caglar Soyuncu (CB) - 0/10 - Flappy Gilmour. Never looked settled and clearly hated Johnson's runs in behind. Hard to think of another player who's experienced a drop off in performance like his this season.
Luke Thomas (LB) - 3/10 - Fared well against Spence early on but it was not a sign of things to come. Probably still Leicester's most assured defender. He's 20 by the way...
2. Midfielders
Wilfred Ndidi (CM) - 1/10 - Lost his man at the corner for Forest's third. Did not give his side the control in midfield he normally does.
Youri Tielemans (CM) - 1/10 - Terrible in the first half. His passes so rarely found their intended destinations. Continued to struggled and was dragged off. What is going on with him at the moment?
James Maddison (AM) - 5/10 - One of the only Leicester players to emerge from this one with credit. Set up the goal and tried to inspire some intensity in midfield.
3. Forwards
Ademola Lookman (RW) - N/A - Hardly touched it in the first half. Bizarre he was not withdrawn before Barnes, but was eventually hauled off on the hour after doing the square root of naff all.
Kelechi Iheanacho (ST) - 5/10 - Took his goal extremely well. Perhaps needed to try and nip in behind the Forest defence more frequently.
Harvey Barnes (LW) - 5/10 - Enjoyed some early joy against Scott McKenna. Leicester should have fed him more. Taken off at the break.
4. Substitutes
Patson Daka (ST) - 4/10 - No service whatsoever.
Ricardo Pereira (RWB) - 4/10 - Meh.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (CM) - 4/10 - Not a lot he could do. Ran around a lot at least.
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