Kelechi Iheanacho

[StriderHiryu]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/04/27/turbo-charged-teen-senior-man-kelechi-iheanacho-realised-potential/

 

Football analysts always knew he'd come good

 

By Daniel Zeqiri

 

To those who keep an eye on underlying statistics, Leicester signing Kelechi Iheanacho was another indication of what a smart operation they are and his current form vindicates the use of data in football. 

Until this season, Iheanacho had not played enough Premier League minutes to amass significant goals and assists but the signs were there that the Nigerian was a young goalscorer of immense promise. 

One way in which analytics has changed our thinking is the realisation that the great goalscorers are not always the best finishers. It is not necessarily true that the best strikers in the world are the 'most clinical' as was once asserted. In simple terms, better a striker who scores one in three high-quality chances but gets three of them per game, than one who scores each of those chances but only gets one every two games. Volume is key. 

Since his debut season at Manchester City as a teenager, Iheanacho has had an impressive number of shots. In all but one Premier League campaign he has managed more than three shots per game which is a strong return. For context, Harry Kane leads this field this season with 3.9 shots per 90 minutes. In his two seasons at City, Iheanacho averaged 3.36 and 3.76 shots per game, scoring eight in his first season and four in his second. 

The second of those seasons came under Pep Guardiola and some questioned whether playing in such a dominant, attacking team puffed up Iheanacho's output. He also played relatively few minutes, and there were doubts about whether his form would extrapolate over a full campaign. 

 

Kelechi Iheanacho: Shots, expected goals and goals per game

 

 

Leicester striker is finally running ahead of his expected goals

 

That question is still being answered, this is the first season in which Iheanacho has played more than 1,000 league minutes, but the signs are good. Not only does Iheanacho take plenty of shots but they also tend to be of good quality. In all but one Premier League season he has averaged more than a shot on target per 90 minutes. In five of six Premier League seasons, Iheanacho has averaged more than 0.5 expected goals per 90, a threshold he clears in four of six seasons even if you remove penalties. 

Last season, when he scored an unremarkable five league goals, Iheanacho was averaging 1.87 shots on target per game and an impressive xG per 90 figure of 0.56, identical to this season. There is no doubt Iheanacho is enjoying a hot streak, a shot conversion rate of 23.26 per cent is unlikely to last, but there are enough shots and chances to suggest he is a player of real substance. 

 

 

 

[LC/FC]

3 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Wtf??

A Neogaf classic used on Foxestalk??

 

You're a gaffer too?

 

 

[StriderHiryu]

4 minutes ago, LC/FC said:

Wtf??

A Neogaf classic used on Foxestalk??

 

You're a gaffer too?

 

 

Before it was revealed that place was run by a massive piece of sh*t yes. Even went to a real life meet-up with some foks a few times. I am on ResetEra sometimes.

 

FYI, I work in the games industry and started my own video games company with my friends. So my love for games runs deep! And football is one of the best games out there both to watch, but especially to play. Funnily enough I don't like football games like FIFA though, just because I'd rather play real football instead  ! 

[LC/FC]

3 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Before it was revealed that place was run by a massive piece of sh*t yes. Even went to a real life meet-up with some foks a few times. I am on ResetEra sometimes.

 

FYI, I work in the games industry and started my own video games company with my friends. So my love for games runs deep! And football is one of the best games out there both to watch, but especially to play. Funnily enough I don't like football games like FIFA though, just because I'd rather play real football instead  ! 

Tbh I've given both Gaf and Reset a miss for a few years now. Gaming forums are more toxic than football ones. It was just weird seeing that specific gif being used in anywhere but Gaf.

 

I know that the whole Evilore fallout created separation forum... but I've always found Resetera to be utterly full of themselves. But at least I know if I say to you "Happy Easter you C word" you'd get the joke. 

 

[mohammedsaqib]

Do we see Kel and Vards still playing up as a two next year when everyone’s fit/when we inevitably bring in a third striker? 

[majaco]

From sell for what we can get to £100,000,000 + in 3 months.

 

Keep, keep, keep

 

 

[HankMarvin]

16 minutes ago, majaco said:

From sell for what we can get to £100,000,000 + in 3 months.

 

Keep, keep, keep

 

 

You know the saying 

"what goes up"

Edited 27 April 2021 by HankMarvin

[enmac]

He will get even better! 

 

 

[fuchsntf]

13 hours ago, SO1 said:

Beware those who think goals are easy to replace. Especially in the premier league. The list is long of those who everyone thought would be stars and are forgotten. Just look at the endless list of names from our transfer thread over the past couple of years. Goals are the Holy Grail.

 

50 to 80 mil. is peanuts for what this guy is capable of producing for this club. Not selling unless Rodgers wants to risk his repetition and job. Because if we sell and and can't get enough goals that's what it will cost him.

A Proven goalscorer... I Couldnt Care if we were offered 100mil....There aint any other lowoption goalscorers out there, we could afford....

He stays...!!!   Or we have no right to expect & Aspire to regular Top 6 placings....!!!

We have had Great Fortune in him Finding  his form & others in the squad.....you simply Dont throw that away.....

After Next season...That will Depend alot on his own career ambitions...!

 

[Ryy]

On 01/12/2019 at 18:32, Aus Fox said:

I don’t want to get carried away in the moment or anything, but it’s about time he had a statue on Filbert Way isn’t it?

Agree

[Scotch]

11 hours ago, enmac said:

He will get even better! 

 

 

It's absolutely insane to think that this video is about 2 months worth....

[StriderHiryu]

Vardy helping Iheanacho?

“I would say so. The two together, their strengths complement each other. Both can threaten in behind. They have a synchronised way of playing. Jamie hasn’t scored the goals but his movement has created space and that’s helped Kels. My only worry with him is that he is running out of celebrations. Hopefully he can keep scoring and keep celebrating.”

 

 

 

[glenny_fox]

13 hours ago, enmac said:

He will get even better! 

 

 

Just going off that video alone, he is so unlucky not to be top of the assists chart. 

[Gazi Giray]

Did you know  Thank God is the meaning of his name Kelechi. ? It was..

[Silver surfer 1]

If you look at the way he moves and his abilities , there is truth to what Pep originally primed him to be , the new Samuel Eto.  He was a awsome player, our Kels can do it .  He ain’t going nowhere long as Ndidi is here.  

[Bazly]

A video from a Nigerian optimist.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8SDH48vfI&ab_channel=HaveHope'sFootballHut

[enmac]

47 minutes ago, Bazly said:

A video from a Nigerian optimist.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8SDH48vfI&ab_channel=HaveHope'sFootballHut

"Kelechi! Stay where you are!" 

[sacreblueits442]

On 27/04/2021 at 11:25, Gerard said:

 

Define "silly £££ bid".

 

Personally I would be open to it. There is a lot to be said for clubs like ours to sell players at their peak values. 

 

Like everyone else I think he has been amazing these last three months but he has been poor most of his time here so to sell him for "silly £££" is still optimal especially when it causes a few problems.

 

Do we keep him in the side?

Do we drop Vardy?

Do we play two up top?

If we play two up top then Barnes is less effective and do we need Trinicao or whoever?

 

Nice problems to have but BR has got to decide the path he intends to go down before we buy again in the summer. For £50m+ I would sell still.

 

....why should Barnes be less effective with two upfront!!!

4-4-2 would work quite well, it is just not right to say that we diminish his role by playing with two forwards. Trincao will be the player we have been waiting for, a competent winger on the right, a balance to Barnes and will allow us to play any formation that is required at the time.

[Bourbon Fox]

Can any of our Nigerian linguists give me an accurate translation of this?

 

I think I get the gist but I'd love to know exactly

 

https://youtu.be/L4dpRlQoeEI

 

 

Edited 29 April 2021 by Bourbon Fox

[Dahnsouff]

13 hours ago, sacreblueits442 said:

....why should Barnes be less effective with two upfront!!!

4-4-2 would work quite well, it is just not right to say that we diminish his role by playing with two forwards. Trincao will be the player we have been waiting for, a competent winger on the right, a balance to Barnes and will allow us to play any formation that is required at the time.

Two up front is great if you are prepared to run with 352/532, but a more traditional 442 (2xFB, 2xWings) is a no no for me, at least if we planned to play with Barnes on the left and (lets say for example) Trincao on the right.

 

This leaves you with 2 midfielders, presumably Youri and Wilf, and that is not enough in the current climate preference for midfield overloads, as 352/532 lets us have the midfield presence of Maddison/Perez/etc to bolster midfield.

 

So if we did run with Barnes/Trincao on the wings, they would (and probably should) be drawn inside to compensate for the lack of numbers in midfield, maybe not all the time, but frequently.

[murphy]

13 hours ago, sacreblueits442 said:

....why should Barnes be less effective with two upfront!!!

4-4-2 would work quite well, it is just not right to say that we diminish his role by playing with two forwards. Trincao will be the player we have been waiting for, a competent winger on the right, a balance to Barnes and will allow us to play any formation that is required at the time.

We haven't played 4-4-2 since Shakespeare's time and even then it was 4-4-1-1. 

 

Rodgers is very unlikely to play that system with two wingers and two up front, leaving centre mid potentially exposed.  It also leaves another problem of what to do with Maddison.

 

Two up front appears to mean wingbacks not wingers so including Barnes becomes a headache.

[Stadt]

1 hour ago, murphy said:

We haven't played 4-4-2 since Shakespeare's time and even then it was 4-4-1-1. 

 

Rodgers is very unlikely to play that system with two wingers and two up front, leaving centre mid potentially exposed.  It also leaves another problem of what to do with Maddison.

 

Two up front appears to mean wingbacks not wingers so including Barnes becomes a headache.

We play 5212 which puts more stress on Tielemans and Ndidi than what playing 442 would.

 

Off the top of my head we played a conventional 442 last season at home to Brighton, obviously it didn’t work very well but that was down to Rodgers inexplicably playing Mendy and Ndidi together.

 

Of course this doesn’t mean much in isolation but we’d be silly to not even explore it.

[murphy]

38 minutes ago, Stadt said:

We play 5212 which puts more stress on Tielemans and Ndidi than what playing 442 would.

 

Off the top of my head we played a conventional 442 last season at home to Brighton, obviously it didn’t work very well but that was down to Rodgers inexplicably playing Mendy and Ndidi together.

 

Of course this doesn’t mean much in isolation but we’d be silly to not even explore it.

I would argue that wing backs make it more of a 3-4-1-2, it's not a flat back five unless we're playing Man City, so the middle two are not isolated.  I just don't think that Rodgers likes a conventional 4-4-2

[Stadt]

5 minutes ago, murphy said:

I would argue that wing backs make it more of a 3-4-1-2, it's not a flat back five unless we're playing Man City, so the middle two are not isolated.  I just don't think that Rodgers likes a conventional 4-4-2

It’s semantics really, but out of possession it is a 5 otherwise it’d be too easy to get in behind.

 

I don’t think he does either, agreed on that. However, on paper

                   Vardy   Iheanacho 

Barnes       Tielemans    Ndidi     New RW

LB               Soyuncu    Evans      RB

 

 

Looks a strong side, functionally though I guess it’d probably just revert to a 4231 whilst playing 

[turlo]

We played with a 4 4 2 against Arsenal home with Nacho playing in a front 2 with Vardy (he wasn't really dropping deep to act as the link between midfield and attack to be a 10). Pretty sure Rodgers said in the post match presser that it didn't suit the players available or it wasn't a system they were used to at the time.