Sticky for Dicky

Although it is only 5 games into the season there has been one constant through each of the games. Richard Stearman has played far below his normal standard and has looked like a lamb to the slaughter.

Within the first 20 minutes of the new season, Stearman had been beaten by his player twice and left on the ground looking up. In the next game against Burnley he again struggled to pick up the pace of the game and looked out of his depth in the first 20 minutes. Although he slowly got better throughout the game, it was no where near the standard he had shown last season.

Since that game he has played in a second string team against Macclesfield in the League cup, but apart from that he has only made brief substitute appearances.

Although Stearman did seem to play better when he came on against Southend, he was still well below expectations. He may still be a young player, but he has played in enough games now to consider himself to be a first team regular and with that comes the expectation that you perform week in week out.

Darren Kenton has so far been performing well at right back and it looks like Stearman has lost his place in the starting eleven. This means that all the hard work Stearman put in last year to cement his place has gone to waste.

With rumours during the summer of possible bids from Premiership sides, Stearman may have took his eye of the ball and started to wonder about a big move. However, with only a couple of days left before the transfer deadline and no offers for the young right back it seems like he won`t be going anywhere.

If a bid was to come in for Stearman before the transfer deadline it would be interesting to see if it were accepted or not? The player is currently struggling to get into the team and the money could possibly being used to provide back up for other areas of the team.

Although he maybe a local lad, poor performances will not be tolerated by the City faithful, whether he moves on before the end of the transfer window or stays a Leicester player, Stearman needs to look at what has changed from last season and quickly change it back. Otherwise he could find himself warming the bench for the foreseeable future.