Albrighton

[LC/FC]

My last free article. You're welcome. 

 

 

Marc Albrighton has spent every minute of his decade-long career playing for a top-flight club. He has won the Premier League. He scored Leicester City’s first ever Champions League goal and helped them reach the quarter-finals of European football’s elite competition.

The 29-year-old winger has provided 24 assists in the past five seasons. Only two other Englishmen currently playing in the top flight have provided more: James Milner (28) and Dele All (29). He has created 216 goal-scoring chances during that time. Of English players, only Andros Townsend (219) and Milner (248) have created more.

Albrighton even tops the list of Englishmen who have provided the most crosses from open play in the past five years, with 109. The only player who has supplied more is Serbian Dusan Tadic.

You might have expected Albrighton to have earned at least one senior cap for his country. However, there is one statistic that Albrighton may not appreciate: he and his former City team-mate Danny Simpson are the only Englishmen to have played 25 games or more in a Premier League title-winning side in the past ten seasons and not earned an England call up.

Albrighton knows he is now unlikely to ever receive England recognition. The quiet and grounded player knows the one statistic that has probably gone against him over the years has been his lack of goals. He has scored only 17 times in the Premier League but that has been due mainly to his more unselfish play and simple but effective style.

Albrighton is not one to catch the eye with a dazzling step over or moment of individual brilliance. He knows his determination to put the team before his own personal glory has led to fewer goal-scoring opportunities.

“There is a certain profile you have to fit these days,” Albrighton told The Athletic. “I don’t know whether you have to be on social media a lot or be a face of a certain brand or you have to do this and that. iI do my job and do what is asked. I love doing my job and working hard.

“I get a thrill out of being a team player and helping my team-mates out. If I come off the pitch with ten pats on the back from my team-mates I am more than happy. I feel I have done my job. That is all I care about. 

“Yes, 100 percent, my lack of goals is the issue. Now, with age against me, to ever get that call-up I would have to be scoring 15 to 20 goals a season, which I can’t see happening any time soon. I hope it does but I don’t think it will.

“I am private person away from football. I don’t like to flash myself all over newspapers and internet sites. I have my family and close friends and I am happy with what I do. It has always been my dream to play professional football in the Premier League and I have achieved that and more. 

“Everything I do, I do with a smile on my face. I am just still happy to be here and be doing this job. It has never bothered me and I hope to keep doing it until the day I decide to stop.”

It isn’t just England managers who have needed convincing over the years. Several of Albrighton’s club managers have also underrated him initially but he has won nearly all of them over. Paul Lambert at Aston Villa was the exception and Tamworth-born Albrighton was allowed to leave his beloved club on a free transfer after a promised new contract never materialised.

Albrighton admits he felt at the time he would have to drop down to the Championship but Leicester signed him in 2014. He could not break into the side under Nigel Pearson, despite the team’s struggles at the foot of the table during their first season back in the Premier League, which prompted Albrighton to reveal he wanted to move away from the King Power Stadium. But when he did return as a right wing back with nine games of the season remaining, City embarked on a fantastic run of seven wins to secure their top-flight status.

Albrighton started the reign of Claudio Ranieri out of favour too, and was still coming to terms with the loss of his fiancée’s mother Sue Davey and her partner Scott Chalkley in the Tunisia terror attack in June 2015. He spent more time with his future wife Chloe and their family, but has spoken about how football also helped with the healing process.

Albrighton won over Ranieri as City marched to the title. Claude Puel was another who initially believed others could do a better job, only to turn again to the understated Englishman. Albrighton has become accustomed to having a point to prove.

“I wouldn’t say it bothers me but having to prove myself to every manager, that is something a lot of players don’t have to do but I am glad I have to do it because it does push me that extra yard,” he said. “When a new manager comes in they may have fresh ideas of how they want the team to play and people may think ‘Marc Albrighton won’t fit into this style of play. He can’t do that’.

“It makes me adapt. It makes me look to add more to my game and it makes me work harder in training to learn off these new managers. With the amount of managers I have had I have learned off each and every single one of them. I am able to put that all together and I feel I have improved year by year as a player and I hope to continue doing that.”

One manager who didn’t initially freeze Albrighton out was Craig Shakespeare but the former Leicester boss admitted the winger had some tough times at the club.

“He is not only a pleasure to work with but when you look at the rapport he has with team-mates you realise what a down to earth and hard-working player he is,” Shakespeare told The Athletic. “He had some tough times at Leicester and at Villa.

“I remember speaking to him and urging him to keep going but even when you say these things they can go home and say, a few months down the line, ‘You said keep going but nothing has changed’. He could be one of the most underrated outside the club but he certainly isn’t underrated by those who have managed him, coached him or played with him.”

Simpson has also come to terms with his lack of opportunities at international level but he believes his title-winning team-mate should have received a call-up.

“If it was ever going to happen, you would have thought it would have happened during that season we won the title,” said Simpson. “If he had been called up I don’t think many people would have argued against it because of the form he showed. It was a bit different for me as there were so many top right backs around and I was a little older.

“Perhaps he hasn’t got as many assists and goals as he would have liked but he has sacrificed his own stats for the team. Maybe his style of wing play isn’t seen as fashionable now. There aren’t that many wingers who get up and down and do all that work for the team, a bit like Ashley Young.

“He is a top professional. You only see what he does on a match day but we see how hard he works every day in training. He was certainly appreciated by his team-mates.”

Albrighton would love to finish his career where it started, in the Premier League, but he admits there were moments he thought his record would be spoiled.

“There have been times when I have doubted myself whether I should be at the top level,” he said. “When I was leaving Villa, (that) was the first time I probably thought I didn’t know whether I would get a Premier League club. 

“Then the first season at Leicester I was probably looking for a move away and I didn’t think it would be Premier League. But if I can sustain a few more years in the Premier League and then be able to say I played my entire career in the top level, I would be more than happy.”

Despite bringing in Ayoze Perez for £30 million and admitting he is looking for another wide player this summer, manager Brendan Rodgers has continued to turn to Albrighton. The winger has scored twice in pre-season as Rodgers’ intense training methods – with a greater focus on training with the ball at your feet and extra summer fitness work – have paid off. But, with the likes of Harvey Barnes coming through, Albrighton is determined to keep developing so he can be a part of what he believes is a bright future for the club.

“It is important to keep improving,” he added. “I want to go on the same journey that Leicester are going on. Every season they are refreshing, adding something new and fresh. I feel I need to do the same. I have probably done more work this summer, more work than I ever have done before. 

“I feel I am at an age where I need to start impressing more and more. Every year I want to get better, improve and that doesn’t come without hard work.”

[volpeazzurro]

On 31/07/2019 at 07:54, l444ry said:

Thought it was clear. Out and out winger succeeds in adapting to new role?  

An out and out winger who isn't prepared to graft and track back like Marhez wouldn't work. For a start it would nullify Ricardo and his impressive runs. Whilst a midfielder should cover a winger should also expect to assist or we'll need to get Simpson back 😂

[UniFox21]

A major disappointment both him and Simpson never got given opportunities to play, even in friendlies they were ignored. 

It's a shame as they could've brought something different to the set up. 

[UpTheLeagueFox]

5 hours ago, LC/FC said:

Albrighton started the reign of Claudio Ranieri out of favour too

He started the first PL game under Ranieri

In fact he started the first five PL games of that season.

[LC/FC]

3 minutes ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

He started the first PL game under Ranieri

In fact he started the first five PL games of that season.

Someone better have a word with Tanner then. 

 

Or else he thought that the Gray buy was to replace him. 

[UpTheLeagueFox]

1 minute ago, LC/FC said:

Someone better have a word with Tanner then. 

 

Or else he thought that the Gray buy was to replace him. 

Gray didn't arrive until January 2016 though.

[LC/FC]

1 minute ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

Gray didn't arrive until January 2016 though.

Yeah, but the groundwork to buy him would have been in the works right? 

As I've been hearing throughout this window, deals are all being done with well in advance. So it could have been on the grapevine. 

Or just a bit of revisionism to perpetuate the unsung, underrated narrative. 

All guess work though.

 

Or didn't he get subbed out a whole bunch? 

[yorkie1999]

11 minutes ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

He started the first PL game under Ranieri

In fact he started the first five PL games of that season.

And he set 2 goals up and scored another in the first game

[Shane]

Feel like he should be starting. 

 

Our other options on the wing are so inconsistent, but we know what we’re getting with Albrighton. We always play better when he’s on the pitch.

 

We can hype Barnes all we want, argue Perez needs time & give Gray 500 more chances. But reality is, Albrighton is still our best winger! 

 

Gerrimin 

[Nicolo Barella]

20 hours ago, Shane said:

Feel like he should be starting. 

 

Our other options on the wing are so inconsistent, but we know what we’re getting with Albrighton. We always play better when he’s on the pitch.

 

We can hype Barnes all we want, argue Perez needs time & give Gray 500 more chances. But reality is, Albrighton is still our best winger! 

 

Gerrimin 

He's ahead of Gray in my mind for sure. He isn't as flexible as Perez and Barnes however; today when we were chasing the 3 points we switched to a 4-3-1-2 with Barnes as the second striker for example. Albrighton can't do that.

[Leicesterpool]

Albrighton rarely as a bad game for the foxes when he plays of course, Gray has about one good game in ten yet we've probably seen more of him of than Albrighton. For me Gray as exciting as he was when we first signed him... I'm starting to feel he he's probably heading for the flop signing category. 

[Ric Flair]

I must admit I'm surprised by the lack of game time he's had so far, especially given as soon as he was first Rodgers picked him over Gray or Barnes at the back end of last season and in pre-season he looked impressive.

 

However, his style of play might just be a touch too simplistic for Rodgers but he's been written off many times before and come back so I hope he stays positive and takes any chance that comes his way. He will likely get a chance tomorrow night.

[PhillippaT]

11 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I must admit I'm surprised by the lack of game time he's had so far, especially given as soon as he was first Rodgers picked him over Gray or Barnes at the back end of last season and in pre-season he looked impressive.

 

However, his style of play might just be a touch too simplistic for Rodgers but he's been written off many times before and come back so I hope he stays positive and takes any chance that comes his way. He will likely get a chance tomorrow night.

Um. Tomorrow?

[Langston]

7 hours ago, Leicesterpool said:

Albrighton rarely as a bad game for the foxes when he plays of course, Gray has about one good game in ten yet we've probably seen more of him of than Albrighton. For me Gray as exciting as he was when we first signed him... I'm starting to feel he he's probably heading for the flop signing category. 

 

I like Albrighton and he's been absurd for us all told but this notion that he rarely has a bad game and is a consistent 7/10 is lost on me (same as Simpson). He's had some absolute howlers (which of course he shouldn't be chastised for and is par for the course for a side at our level).

[Ric Flair]

Just now, PhillippaT said:

Um. Tomorrow?

Hahaha brain fart, the day after that

[HighPeakFox]

It's all gone wrong since he was outed as Kevin, followed by our buying his evil Belgian doppelganger.

[Charl91]

I feel like when we feel the need to be more defensively solid, rather than playing N'didi and Choudhury together (which seems to disrupt our play entirely), playing Albrighton would give us a bit more defensive solidity, instead of playing Gray, for example.

 

 

[Nicolo Barella]

6 hours ago, Charl91 said:

I feel like when we feel the need to be more defensively solid, rather than playing N'didi and Choudhury together (which seems to disrupt our play entirely), playing Albrighton would give us a bit more defensive solidity, instead of playing Gray, for example.

 

 

I think the theory of playing Gray is he provides an outlet to get the ball forward and away from our half to relieve pressure on the team, even if he loses the ball he buys time. Not sure if it works however.

[Leicester_Loyal]

Unfortunately (for Marc) I think Barnes and Perez will be ahead of him all season. We can take comfort in the fact that if an injury occurs we've got Marc to come in for him who's a very consistant premier league player. He'll start in the cup games though and I think we'll see him tomorrow night.

[ThaiFox]

Albrighton on the left, as he was in our P/L winning season, gives Chilwell far better cover than Barnes does.

 

I think Albrighton starting and Barnes coming on as sub in place of Marc could be a very useful play for us at times. I also think Gray coming on as a sub is far better than starting him, especially if we need to chase a game.

 

Both add pace, directness, freshness and a different dimension.

 

Even when Albrighton plays poorly, his high work rate and team attitude are exemplary. Many players could learn a lot from him (are you listening Iheanacho?)

[Foxxed]

Fantastic article mate. Really enjoyed that.

[Ric Flair]

6 hours ago, ThaiFox said:

Albrighton on the left, as he was in our P/L winning season, gives Chilwell far better cover than Barnes does.

 

I think Albrighton starting and Barnes coming on as sub in place of Marc could be a very useful play for us at times. I also think Gray coming on as a sub is far better than starting him, especially if we need to chase a game.

 

Both add pace, directness, freshness and a different dimension.

 

Even when Albrighton plays poorly, his high work rate and team attitude are exemplary. Many players could learn a lot from him (are you listening Iheanacho?)

He's surely still got a huge role to play for us over the course of the season, as you say there's times when the impact of Barnes off the bench is more powerful than it might be from the off and if that's the case i'd rather it be Albrighton from the start than an equally inconsistent player from the off like Gray, or heaven forbid having to have Maddison out on the left again.

[drofmor55]

Used to think that for for all his hard work and consistency he didnt quite have the quality that was needed at the highest level...until the Champions league matches v Sevilla and Athletico Madrid...he was as good as anyone on the pitch and better than most

[drofmor55]

Also he doesnt get as many assists as he would if we played with a centre forward who was more of an ariel threat.

[PhillippaT]

12 minutes ago, drofmor55 said:

Also he doesnt get as many assists as he would if we played with a centre forward who was more of an ariel threat.

A mermaid up front with clean sheets?