Iheanacho

[urban.spaceman]

Drawn out summer signing

Very little pre-season

Injured just before the season started

 

28 games

14 starts

Completed 90 ONCE

827 minutes played

(that's 30 mins per match on average)

 

8 goals in all competitions

4 assists in all competitions

 

Injuries throughout the season

 

Plenty of pros and cons for his performance this season; however, we as Leicester fans should have learnt by now to be patient with our players. Vardy's first season in the Championship brought him 5 goals and 4 assists.

 

Vardy was 25 then and look what happened. Iheanacho is 21, and has SO much to offer still.

 

Them two together could be fantastic next season.

[Guest Col city fan]

On 02/12/2017 at 17:22, AKCJ said:

Have a day off.

 

Iheanacho was, and is, widely regarded as one of the finest young strikers in the Premier League. There's a reason that Man City, a side that can afford whoever they want, were desperate to include a buy-back clause.

 

He'd scored loads of goals from such a short amount of playing time last season and everyone on here (probably yourself included) was absolutely thrilled we'd signed him.

 

Iheanacho will have his time.

 

[Guest Col city fan]

On 28/01/2018 at 00:59, Dan LCFC said:

Today was the first time I really thought Iheanacho looked at home in our side. Thought he offered a lot more throughout the game, work rate improved tenfold, and his finishing was absolute quality. First time in a while I've had quite high hopes for him.

 

[Tom12345]

7 hours ago, Beechey said:

Last few games he's been very good. Think he's a confidence player. Gotta keep him scoring for sure.

He was just not really given a chance before.

[Babylon]

10 hours ago, Ashley said:

Amazing what happens when a player finally gets match fitness. Seasons ending at the wrong time 

Exactly what I thought about him, fingers crossed the world cup keeps him sharp.

[foxfanazer]

Considering we bought him thinking he was a 6 yard box poacher he played that deeper role impressively yesterday. Found the space and drove forward positively. Unlike Shinji he can actually stay on his feet too. Think he’s found his role

[TheHitman™]

8 hours ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

Half decent end to a pretty poor and underwhelming season.

Still young but needs to work harder on the pitch.

He has been half fit for most of the season because coaches wanted to run him out and not take the time to fully implement him.

 

He is working harder on the pitch.

[TheHitman™]

7 minutes ago, foxfanazer said:

Considering we bought him thinking he was a 6 yard box poacher he played that deeper role impressively yesterday. Found the space and drove forward positively. Unlike Shinji he can actually stay on his feet too. Think he’s found his role

His role for the Nigerian national team and in the U17 World Cup was playing as a second striker. He never really was a striker to begin with. Man City built him to play as a poacher, especially when they have plenty of great midfielders.

 

A full season in that role and he will score more goals and get more assists than Okazaki would in the position.

[Ric Flair]

I think he may well have just bought himself his prolonged future with us as the withdrawn striker behind Vardy. Let's hope Vardy stays and that our manager if it isn't Puel is of the belief that we can play both together. 

 

It's been a frustrating season for him but he's the future of this team. Love him.

[FrankieADZ]

have been impressed with him the last few games and in spell this season, think hes growing into the team and the role being asked and imo it suits him, since hes got a good eye for a pass(ala the pass for Riyad's goal at WBA)

fingers crossed he can push on next season

[Clever Fox]

He is growing in confidence with each game. He has a real strikers instincts in front of goal.

Another reason for his improvement is Puel has been working with him to expand his understanding of the game. He's certainly only going to get better.

[Ricey]

Another reason to be baffled by Puel's chopping and changing.

 

If he thought that Iheanacho has potential playing behind Vardy then play him there for a prolonged period of time. Instead he was in and out of the team and as a result looked below par.

 

Same goes for Silva. We knew his pedigree, so let him have 6 or 7 matches on the trot to get up to speed. Total waste of time for everyone to keep dropping him every couple of matches.

[kingfox]

I've seen enough in the last few games where I believe he could be a real force next season, when he creates pockets of space and is able to get on the ball we look more dangerous.

 

Teams nullifying him though will be the only problem, we saw against Southampton at home, first 10 minutes we were decent and everything good came through Iheanacho, as soon as their defence nullified him we turned to shit.

[ZeGuy]

I knew that he was quality, even if not consistently, as a 9 but firmly believed that he wouldn't thrive if played behind the striker. He proved me wrong the last two games.

 

 

 

[Babylon]

6 minutes ago, Ricey said:

Another reason to be baffled by Puel's chopping and changing.

 

If he thought that Iheanacho has potential playing behind Vardy then play him there for a prolonged period of time. Instead he was in and out of the team and as a result looked below par.

 

Same goes for Silva. We knew his pedigree, so let him have 6 or 7 matches on the trot to get up to speed. Total waste of time for everyone to keep dropping him every couple of matches.

Which is fine, except when he actually does that and gets called a c*** for doing so.

[StriderHiryu]

9 minutes ago, Ricey said:

Another reason to be baffled by Puel's chopping and changing.

 

If he thought that Iheanacho has potential playing behind Vardy then play him there for a prolonged period of time. Instead he was in and out of the team and as a result looked below par.

 

Same goes for Silva. We knew his pedigree, so let him have 6 or 7 matches on the trot to get up to speed. Total waste of time for everyone to keep dropping him every couple of matches.

This has been frustrating, but it's also hard as a manager to get this right. Nacho and Silva have been poor in a number of games this season, but in the last two games looked quite good. No doubt it's because they have been given a run in the team and been able to find a level of consistency to their game. Nacho especially looked fantastic in his last two games. But as the coach if players aren't performing and you have options on the bench, you'll naturally want to give them a chance to maintain happiness in the squad.

 

I do think Puel rotated the squad too much and would have been better to keep the same lineup and formation more often, but if we get back into Europe, then the evolution of the team will be to rotate the team and tactics more often. So I can see why he did it, even though it did more harm than good.

 

I think that ironically the number of injuries we got at the end of the season might have been beneficial. It's given Choudhury, Silva, Diabate and Nacho good game time and even allowed Barnes to come off the bench a few times. I think all of them have given us some good problems to think about.

[Beechey]

17 minutes ago, Babylon said:

Which is fine, except when he actually does that and gets called a c*** for doing so.

I don't get it. People were frothing at the mouth for Puel to get rid of Silva after a few poor performances, now he's catching up it's somehow terrible management that he was dropped and  we all knew he was quality.

Edited 14 May 2018 by Beechey

[SheppyFox]

He’s class, laughable he was written off  

[Dan LCFC]

I'm warming to him. It's taken time but I am.

[Babylon]

21 minutes ago, Beechey said:

I don't get it. People were frothing at the mouth for Puel to get rid of Silva after a few poor performances, now he's catching up it's somehow terrible management that he was dropped and  we all knew he was quality.

 

I look at James, he came into the team after a few terrible team performances, including Watford and Palace. He and the team had a very solid 3-0 win against Hudderfield and then a fantastic performance against Chelsea away, for me THE best performance of the season considering the opposition and how we played away from home. And then a nice 2-0 home win to Watford.

 

Yet people now act like Puel is some sort of ****ing idiot for playing him in 4 of the next 5 league games. He probably should have dropped out a game earlier than he did, but it was well worth a look at the fella considering what had happend in his first three games back in the team.

[Babylon]

2 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

I'm warming to him. It's taken time but I am.

Told you Col weren't that bad.

[StriderHiryu]

57 minutes ago, SheppyFox said:

He’s class, laughable he was written off  

It has to be said that he looked awful in the first half of the campaign. That match versus West Brom which got Shakespeare the sack could be blamed on him. He ran around aimlessly for 60 minutes and his one contribution was committing a foul from which they scored from! Early in the season it was Okazaki who enjoyed a renaissance and a lot of us felt that Nacho was yet another failure to find a striking partner for Vardy and yet more money wasted.

 

His stats are disappointing if you consider the price paid and his impact over the season, however the great news is that finally he has clicked into gear. He really did look fantastic in both his last games with both his finishing and linking up play. I think he should have scored more goals in those two games, but think that he will do so next year. Usually when Leicester score it's from goals from Vardy and Mahrez, but in the last two games it's been Vardy, Nacho and Mahrez. Too bad we will probably lose Riyad, but it bodes well if Nacho is stepping up.

 

It's taken some time, but in the end our signings this year have been OK. Maguire has been great, Iborra good, Diabate promising and Silva and Nacho slow-burners that eventually seem to have come good. Even Jakupovic looked decent in his last two games. 

[KingsX]

9 hours ago, TheHitman™ said:

A full season in that role and he will score more goals and get more assists than Okazaki would in the position

 

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

That goal says it all. No wonder Man. City have a buy back clause. He has lacked confidence, and not a consistent run this season, for various reasons. I expect to see him do very well next season. 

[Koke]

I like him because he's not a pace abuser. He's actually got technical ability and game intelligence. His link up play is good and he has a good first touch. 

 

Both him and Silva have ended the season well and it gives me hope for next season. The defence needs sorting, mind you.