Steve Cooper’s search for a first Premier League win as Leicester City manager continues after a disappointing home draw against Everton.
The draw in awful conditions took Leicester City to three points from a possible 15 but Steve Cooper will have seen this match against bottom of the table Everton as must-win for his side.
Leicester fell behind after 12 minutes as Iliman Ndiaye worked some space on the edge of the box before firing past Mads Hermansen to silence the King Power crowd.
Despite having 59% possession, Leicester struggled to create in front of an increasingly frustrated home crowd before eventually Stephy Mavididi scored his second goal in as many games after Everton failed to clear a Harry Winks corner.
This strike was one of just two shots on target for the Foxes in a poor display in such a crucial game and the performance of one starter in particular will be a concern for Cooper.
Bilal El Khannouss fails to impress on full Leicester City debut
After criticism of his perceived negative approach so far this season, Cooper handed a first Preneir League start to £21 million summer signing Bilal El Khannouss.
This saw another big money signing drop to the bench in Oliver Skipp, as Wilfred Ndidi moved deeper alongside Winks to accommodate El Khannouss.
The Moroccan has been signed to help take on the creative burden for Leicester but struggled on his full debut before being replaced by Facundo Buonanotte on 56 minutes.
Leicestershire Live were certainly left unimpressed by what they saw from the 20-year-old, scoring his display a five out of ten before commenting: “Perhaps not helped by the excitement around him, it was an underwhelming full debut for the £20m man.
“He was always looking for a forward pass, and there were a few nice threaded balls, but there were too many occasions where he tried an audacious pass too quickly, and nobody in blue was ready.
“He looked a little lightweight at times too.”
Statistics behind El Khannouss’ disappointing display vs Everton
It is a big adaptation for a young player to make the switch from the Belgian top flight to the Premier League and from Saturday’s showing it may take some time for El Khannouss to get up to speed.
According to Sofascore, the youngster made just 23 passes in his 56 minutes, completing 83% of the 35 he attempted, whilst managing 43 touches.
The attacking midfielder did make two key passes but lost possession ten times.
The ‘lightweight’ verdict is supported by the fact El Khannouss won just 50% of his duels against Everton and made just one tackle.
After a disappointing first Premier League start, it would now be a surprise to see El Khannouss start against Arsenal in the next league fixture, but Cooper could hand the new-boy another chance to get up to speed against Walsall in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup match.