Rodgers reminds Iheanacho of golden rule tells Daka where to improve after Lookman decision

The Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has reminded Super Eagles forward Kelechi Iheanacho of the “golden rule” of being a striker after his three dinked finishes missed the target.

Rodgers has watched from the touchline as his frontman, playing in place of the injured Jamie Vardy, has tried a cute chip when through one-on-one in the last three outings, but failed to find the net each time.

In the win over Brentford, Iheanacho created the chance himself, surging between two centre-backs before dinking wide. 

At Manchester United, he latched onto Jadon Sancho’s misplaced back-pass but scooped the ball over the bar from a tight angle. And then, in Thursday’s draw with PSV, he missed the biggest chance of the match when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s interception sent him clear, his lob bouncing past the post.

Rather than rue his striker’s misses, he praised Iheanacho for having the confidence to take on the dink, but reminded him of the importance of working the goalkeeper.

The manager said: “You need to have variety in your finishes, of course. I saw him this afternoon with the chiropodist, getting his feet done, and I asked her to shave a bit off his toe, just so he could bring it down a little bit.

“He’s shown that he can score goals. I love that confidence. I love that ability to be able to do that. But of course, you want them to hit the target. That’s the golden rule as a striker, to hit the target.

Ademola Lookman was chosen to replace Iheanacho up front in the goalless draw against PSV Eindhoven on Thursday, rather than a more natural striker in Patson Daka.

The Zambian striker has only started one of City’s last seven matches, despite Vardy’s injury absence, and even Lookman came on before him in the goalless draw with PSV Eindhoven.

Rodgers said Lookman offered similar attributes to Iheanacho, and so he was brought on in the striker role instead of Daka when City needed revitalising in the Europa Conference League quarter-final first leg.

Rodgers has said it is an area that Daka is developing in. However his best qualities are still clear, and in the current formation, without a number 10 to take the ball and slip passes in behind, he may have to play back-up to others.

Rodgers said: “If you watch the game, it was really the idea to get the spare man in the middle, and when it opened, you saw how often Kelechi got the ball in between to either set it or get a turn. So a central striker coming underneath to be able to get on the turn was important in the game for us.

“When we decided to make the change, you know Patson by now, his strength is running in behind, it’s not coming to feet, even though that’s a part of his game he’s improving and developing at. The idea was to put Ademola in there, who’s played as a winger or a number 10, just as a loose forward who can be the extra man for us. Of course then we wanted to change it to put him on and Ade wide. That was the reason why.”

Despite his lack of recent game-time, and despite one goal in his last 11 outings, it has still been a promising maiden campaign at City for Daka. He has 10 goals and four assists to his name at a rate of one goal involvement every 111 minutes.