Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers says Kelechi Iheanacho deserves respect for the difficult role he plays at the club, Completesports.com reports.
Iheanacho ended his 10-month drought on Tuesday when he headed in the second goal of Leicester City’s 3-0 pre-season win over Cambridge.
The Nigeria international had not scored since last September’s 3-1 home victory over Huddersfield and appeared to be suffering from a lack of confidence in front of goal.
With Jamie Vardy in form, Iheanacho was limited in his opportunities to end his dry patch and Rodgers has said that being a back-up striker is far from easy.
“What (Kelechi) has to do, and I’m sure he will, is take his training form into the games,” Rodgers told LeicestershireLive.
“He’s been absolutely top class in training over pre-season, he’s been amazing. When we were away in Evian and he played in the practice game, he scored four goals out of five. He was sensational.
“He needs to take that into games. That’s key for him and I’m sure he’ll do that.
“It’s difficult. You have to respect his position. He’s a support striker for one of the best strikers in the Premier League. It’s not easy.
“All he can do is continue to work and work well and when the opportunities come, he’s got to take them.
“Once they start to go in, he’ll gain more confidence from that.”
By Adeboye Amosu
9 Comments
He should leave to a place where he will blossom, kelechi is not a training material or back up to a 32years old plus striker and on the other side why not play kele to support vardy because Kele is a good supporting striker when the pressure is off him he can be deadly as messi, for those of us who know the real Kele you concur.
He should stay put in the team. vardys time is coming to an end And he should be the direct replacement.. Going somewhere else would require another period of adaptation.
kele is a key player to super eagle.
kele need to understand that real top9 is made up of these 3 qualities
1)fast to shoot..
2)use both legs..
3)control ball with head.. i want kele to learn it faster to displace vardy. though vardy has blistering pace..
any way kele will wear super eagle no9.
I hope he has improved his touch
_ Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, Coach! _
Brendan Rodgers has been talking the talk, I think it is time he walks the walk by giving Iheanacho meaningful game time this season to prove himself.
“He’s been absolutely top class in training over pre-season,” said the former Liverpool coach.
“He’s been amazing. When we were away in Evian and he played in the practice game, he scored four goals out of five. He was sensational.
He needs to take that into games. That’s key for him and I’m sure he’ll do that.”
What is key for Rodgers is to be prepared to ‘gamble’ with Iheanacho this coming season.
The Under 17 World Cup winner, who missed out on a place in Nigeria’s Afcon squad, is already showing the predatory instincts of a top quality striker with the way he positioned himself to meet a cross and then blast the back of the net in an unconventional manner last week against Cambridge United in another pre-season friendly.
But, like his coach said, he needs to take that sort of performance into competitive games; he would only be able to do that if Rodgers gives him substantial game-time.
Iheanacho’s header against Cambridge United
https://youtu.be/RjxRfWjqHZw
@ deo, I sincerely wanted to say that, but just decided to let it be. But now that you have said it, I just can’t resist commenting.
These coaches tend to say these words to keep our players content and hopeful on the bench. After all, someone has to be on the bench, and they hope the person will be good enough to fill in the boots of their star man when called upon.
Iheanacho should stop listening to these sweet words and move on! He still has some market value and I believe some other Premiership clubs would be interested. By the way, there is nothing wrong in going to France or Belgium to play for a mid table team there.
From what d coach just said in my own humble opinion means ihenacho is good but base on British politics nacho needs to give him reasons y he should bench vardy,to kele if u r reading this bro if I de close to u u deserve 3hot slaps to comot jonezin for your head see u na who b vardy kwanu to keep u for bench?no matter what guy u don 4get who u be yesteryears wey we de come uzii primary school come watch u particularly for any dying situation for match if worse come to worse u go perform ur magic una go win match or have you suddenly list your magic wand godforbid common bro sit-up d enough is enough prove to them that a golden fish has no hiding place,lemme ask how of your present team mates don play for man city?though it might not sound easy d way am seeing it but u got to fight bro fight fir shirt believe it or not vardy is not better than you u na 9ja boy nwafor ushii na aboshii bone flexing drinking n women Dem no de run fight bro fight
I think Iheanacho is more of a No10 or a supporting striker and not a full striker. He thrives better in any of those role.
His stunted transition to a full striker role can be partly explained for his struggles recently. I’m a staunch stickler for playing players in their natural positions.
You’re spots on. Though I think the ideal place for a trucker like him is La liga, Sevilla,villareal or Valencia wouldn’t be bad option for a big lad with pace like him