Iheanacho deserves respect for difficult Leicester City role, says Brendan Rodgers

[LC/FC]

Problem is that our previous 2nd strikers always worked hard when they were given the chance. 

Shinji and Ulloa always gave 100% for the team whenever Vardy wasn't on. 

[Vardinio'sCat]

13 hours ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

I think the weight he's lost alone will be a big help this season, he looks much sharper and leaner than he was last season. 

 

If Brendan turns this guy around.... 

 

I think this is a huge point which many have yet to grasp. I'd say he is probably the best part of 10kg lighter than he has been. I reckon he has been banned from the gym.

 

He is never going to be lightening quick, but the ability to press is essential in BR's forwards. I take great heart from the fact the management have been reading some of my previous posts on this subject. 

Edited 29 July 2019 by Vardinio'sCat

[Ric Flair]

17 hours ago, ThaiFox said:

I really like your posts and what you say is always interesting. 

 

So I'm looking forward to your statistics showing the effort Iheanacho puts in because I do not see the effort. If you take the matches he plays he'll often stand around pointing the finger for others to chase. This was fully highlighted towards the end of last season, both under Puel and Rodgers (both who are brilliant with young players).

 

Not that statistics actually mean much, because they probably wont show where his chasing down and runs actually helped the team. When I have seen him move the runs are usually late and with poor effort and intent, achieving little or nothing. His reading of the game is atrocious. 

 

Against Liverpool we were holding on to a terrific 1-1 draw having played our hearts out, but he came on and stood around on the half way line whilst our knackered players were chasing and harassing their players. He did nothing to help. I was utterly disgusted with his attitude. In so many matches he came on with minutes left and I saw little effort from him, in fact his only contribution was brain fart offsides. 

 

A few goals in pre season friendlies against lower opposition does little to show me he's now a P/L player. He's done this before and he hasn't carried it into the season.

 

At Manchester City he was sold by another manager who is also brilliant developing new players. So if you add Pep to Puel and Rodgers, plus his national manager lambasting his attitude, there is no question of a pattern building.

 

As for Vardy in his first season, whatever him failings I saw a player who tried his heart out. I've never seen that with Iheanacho.

 

And when you factor in that Vardy cost £1M and was always a risk buy from the non league and Iheanacho cost £25M and was heralded as a finished, classy, P/L striker you cannot compare the two players.

 

Like you I want EVERY Leicester City player to succeed, but I can't support ones who don't try.

 

In my view, Iheanacho will have to completely change his attitude if he is to succeed as a P/L player. Otherwise he'll end up at Bury with another lazy expensive player we were glad to get shot of, namely a J. Beckford.

I'd baulk at Vardy trying his heart out in that first season, the lad has gone on record saying he turned up to training pissed up loads and wanted to fcuk it off.

 

 

[davieG]

I think with the more attacking approach that we've now adopted and as part of that we're playing both Maddison and Tielemans with Albrighton given a more free role then we're going to create more chances something that was missing early last season and affected Vardy's scoring rate as much as anyone.

[Foxxed]

21 hours ago, Shane said:

At Man City, he was scoring goals for fun coming off the bench due to the supply he was getting from great players like De Bruyne, Silva & Sterling.

 

Not saying our attack is on the level of Man City’s, but surely it’s good enough to create some clear cut chances for Iheanacho which is what he thrives on.

 

Maybe Iheanacho can play a similar role for us, coming off the bench to poach some goals with the likes of Maddison, Tielemans, Perez and hopefully a new winger supplying him. 

This point bears repeating. His finishing was excellent at Man City and he had world class players supplying him, something he didn't really have last season with two defensive midfielders, Gray and a sometimes absent Maddison. This season he'll have Tielemans, Maddison, Barnes who's supplied plenty of assists already and Perez who has a fairly good reputation for assists. On top of the fact he's already shown he's a lot sharper compared with last season I think we may find ourselves with a better player.

[SheppyFox]

He’s lighter, faster and fitter than we’ve seen him in an LCFC shirt. He’s also our top scorer so far this pre season I believe.

 

You never know, we’ve created a team that will create more chances, not as good creatively as the MC team he was in granted, but if he plays he’ll have plenty of good chances crafted for him nowadays.

[Analysethis]

The problem Kelechi will always have is being a bit part player aka bench warmer. We constantly talk about all these young players we have and seem to sidestep the fact that he is just 22 himself. Im not really sure how any manager can deal with this problem as if he starts wit Vardy, we have to change the system, if not I cant see how he gets a run long enough to build his confidence and sharpness. Good luck on that one Brendan!!

[Dan LCFC]

The only hope with him I think is that his international manager has been critical of him too and he's been quite humbled. He missed out on their squad at the expense of a Midtjylland striker. You've got to hope he realises he's in danger of fading into total obscurity.

 

I'm still on the side of not being a fan of his, but the Perez signing should at least put us into a position where we aren't relying on Iheanacho to deliver the goods because that frankly terrifies me. This season's probably his last chance here but he's going to have to really step it up.

[Chrysalis]

I think he will improve, if anything because there will now be less pressure on him with perez here, but I dont think he will ever be good enough for us as a first choice striker in this division.

[ronnup]

Big season ahead. He's got a chance. Can he take it. 

[Ric Flair]

Kelechi appeared to find a bit of confidence and form in pre-season and then got zero minutes in the last friendly vs Atalanta and was left on the bench vs Wolves when we were devoid of anything going forward. I know it's not easy for Rodgers but if he is going to get anything out of Iheanacho he's got to harness any modicum of confidence the player has and try and kick start him. The longer he isn't used at all and that will evaporate once again to the point where we have a defunct player again and theoretically no out and out striker as backup to Vardy.

[wardyfox86]

18 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Kelechi appeared to find a bit of confidence and form in pre-season and then got zero minutes in the last friendly vs Atalanta and was left on the bench vs Wolves when we were devoid of anything going forward. I know it's not easy for Rodgers but if he is going to get anything out of Iheanacho he's got to harness any modicum of confidence the player has and try and kick start him. The longer he isn't used at all and that will evaporate once again to the point where we have a defunct player again and theoretically no out and out striker as backup to Vardy.

Correct. He could have come on with 20 minutes left, done nothing, and still be as affective as Vardy was against Wolves. 

 

Still would have gotten pelters though. 

[sacreblueits442]

....is it possible that Brendan will have to show an enormous amount of bottle to drop or remove Vardy for another option up front!!!!

 This is early days and there is time to build the team, but playing people out of position does not help the cause and maybe bringing Nacho on might have given us another dimension and perhaps Wolves might not have then sat so deep. We struggle to get behind teams as the Vardy threat leads them to sit deep to nullify him, Nacho does not carry that reputation and could be employed against teams coming here to sit and hit us on the break.

  Either that ,or we find a way, to break teams down, with the appropriate support for Vardy.

[Ric Flair]

3 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

....is it possible that Brendan will have to show an enormous amount of bottle to drop or remove Vardy for another option up front!!!!

 This is early days and there is time to build the team, but playing people out of position does not help the cause and maybe bringing Nacho on might have given us another dimension and perhaps Wolves might not have then sat so deep. We struggle to get behind teams as the Vardy threat leads them to sit deep to nullify him, Nacho does not carry that reputation and could be employed against teams coming here to sit and hit us on the break.

  Either that ,or we find a way, to break teams down, with the appropriate support for Vardy.

There would have been no harm in going 2 up top for the final 20 mins on Sunday. A lot of Iheanacho's best bits for us (there's not been many admittedly) have been playing alongside Vardy, or just off him anyway.

[foxinsocks]

4 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

There would have been no harm in going 2 up top for the final 20 mins on Sunday. A lot of Iheanacho's best bits for us (there's not been many admittedly) have been playing alongside Vardy, or just off him anyway.

Leave it Ric.... he ain't worth it.

[TamworthFoxes]

19 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

There would have been no harm in going 2 up top for the final 20 mins on Sunday. A lot of Iheanacho's best bits for us (there's not been many admittedly) have been playing alongside Vardy, or just off him anyway.

I imagine the main harm would have been conceding and losing the game. Imagine the boost for Wolves players and supporters to see Ihenacho coming on. 

He didn’t bring him on because he’s not good enough and doesn’t work hard enough, as the three previous managers have felt.

[Ric Flair]

2 minutes ago, TamworthFoxes said:

I imagine the main harm would have been conceding and losing the game. Imagine the boost for Wolves players and supporters to see Ihenacho coming on. 

He didn’t bring him on because he’s not good enough and doesn’t work hard enough, as the three previous managers have felt.

Really? Are we that fearful at home of conceding a goal in the pursuit of perhaps winning the game ourselves? No wonder we haven't scored in the league for 270 minutes, nor looked like doing so.

[TamworthFoxes]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Really? Are we that fearful at home of conceding a goal in the pursuit of perhaps winning the game ourselves? No wonder we haven't scored in the league for 270 minutes, nor looked like doing so.

In the circumstances of the weekend just gone I think it was more important not to lose. First day home defeat with Chelsea to come is a bad start the manager didn’t need. Instead a draw with a good Wolves side and the pre season optimism rolls on for another week.

[HighPeakFox]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Really? Are we that fearful at home of conceding a goal in the pursuit of perhaps winning the game ourselves? No wonder we haven't scored in the league for 270 minutes, nor looked like doing so.

Slight hyperbole here - Vardy looked likely to score until totally missing the ball in the 6 yard box...

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, HighPeakFox said:

Slight hyperbole here - Vardy looked likely to score until totally missing the ball in the 6 yard box...

I think it's fair to say we were severely limited on chances created on Sunday. He should have scored it but he didn't and we didn't create a single other serious chance for the whole of the 2nd half. Would that one chance we got be enough for a manager to not consider bringing on another striker to try and evoke more opportunities to win the match?

[smr]

Firstly, I like Nacho. Looks like a quiet, humble kind of guy and I like what I read about him a year or two ago from his humble beginnings to watching Premier League games with his mates, I think one bar or social club had a TV with sky sports on in their town/village or whatever. He used to dream of playing in the PL one day (like a lot of us I imagine)... but he got here so well done to him.

 

It's clear that he has talent, I've seen him score great goals and has a quick brain when he wants. The problem seems to be his confidence, it's all well and good having all the talent and natural ability in the world but confidence can shred that to bits and make it look like you have 25 percent of your talent at best.

 

If he sorts his head out and rejuvenates some self-belief I think he's be a cracking player.

 

I also disagree with players getting booed like he was last season when Puel brought him on. How people think that helps a player's confidence I'll never know. It doesn't help the team either. If the other players hear booing they'll just pick that up as a negative thing and psychologically it's more likely to make them think they're going to be handicapped with the substitution. 

 

Obviously you can't hang onto players forever, he's got to start showing this confidence soon or he'll be off and we'll never see his talent. Hopefully he comes good.

[OntarioFox]

It's a new season, and every one of those scapegoat players - whether that be Kelechi, Rachid or Demarai - deserve a clean slate as and when they make an appearance.

 

The signs in pre-season suggest Kelechi is sharper and more hungry to be involved in play - and, for what it's worth, we saw that at the tail end of last season during his brief cameos too.

 

I can actually understand some of the ire Gray receives, purely because he has now been here for 4 seasons and played consistent minutes in every season since we won the league without ever coming close to living up to the hype, save for a 1 in 100 peach for the highlights reel. That doesn't mean I can't treat the new season as a new leaf - even if it's the last leaf before we cut our losses and make some timber, maybe as soon as January.

 

Kelechi is kind of different - he's never been a regular starter and that has got to be a dog for his self-belief, even if the guy he's behind in the form of Vardy is practically irreplacable for the time being. With that in mind, I can honestly forgive him for being rusty or seeming ineffective when we bring him on for 10-20 minutes, usually when chasing games, and watch him fail to single-handedly turn games in our favour against packed opposition defenses. In that context, he simply can't win.

And, to be frank... we have no other options up front without resorting to hauling Slimani back into the fold, which would be a terrible idea given the multiple rumours and reports we've had of his garbage attitude - something I've never heard levelled at Kelechi. With all that in mind, we should place a little trust in him to try to regain some sort of form. 

[HighPeakFox]

9 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

I think it's fair to say we were severely limited on chances created on Sunday. He should have scored it but he didn't and we didn't create a single other serious chance for the whole of the 2nd half. Would that one chance we got be enough for a manager to not consider bringing on another striker to try and evoke more opportunities to win the match?

Not the point. I was gently pointing that what you said wasn't entirely true. 

[Ric Flair]

42 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

Not the point. I was gently pointing that what you said wasn't entirely true. 

I'll have to disagree with you. My original post that we never looked like scoring stands true. An air shot from 6 yards out isn't a player or team looking solid in front of goal especially given that was the only chance we had all game.

[HighPeakFox]

24 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I'll have to disagree with you. My original post that we never looked like scoring stands true. An air shot from 6 yards out isn't a player or team looking solid in front of goal especially given that was the only chance we had all game.

Methinks the lady doth protest too much...