Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has expressed his delight at the resurgent form displayed by Nigeria international Kelechi Iheanacho in his team’s 2-1 home win against Everton on Sunday, Completesports.com reports.
Iheanacho seized the opportunity of his first Premier League game of the season and delivered a heroic performance at the King Power Stadium after replacing Ayoze Perez in the 62nd minute.
He provided a perfect assist for Jamie Vardy to put Leicester on level terms after Everton shot into the lead through Richarlison’s goal. Then he netted a dramatic winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
The Super Eagles forward was massively voted the man-of-the-match by Leicester City fans after the game. He claimed 72 per cent of the fans’ votes, to beat Vardy (16%) and Wilfred Ndidi (7 %). Five per cent of the fans’ votes went to ‘others’.
Also Read: Iheanacho Bags Assist And Late Winner As Leicester Pip Everton 2-1 At Home
“I was so pleased for him because there’s him and a number of other guys that don’t feature so much and sometimes [they’re] not even on the bench,” Rodgers told LCFC TV.
“But that’s a result of how hard he works and he stays focused. He’s very much there for the team and I think he showed his quality today.
Rodgers added: “His [Iheanacho] set-up play was very good when came into the game, he was aggressive, he was strong, and he had an assist and then he scored a wonderful goal, so it was a brilliant performance by him.”
“I think all the players were so happy for him in there afterwards, as we all are, because there’s a lot of guys that are playing regularly, but he’s the guy that came into the game today and was the hero for us.
“You’ve seen the reaction through the whole stadium, so it was fantastic.”
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COMMENTS
All credit to Brendan Rodgers (and his assistants) for putting Leicester where they are, and for bringing out the best in Iheanacho. He would have fluffed that opportunity previously. Great goal, great assist, great team
Are we really talking about a resurgent form here or a bundle of potential bottled up by Rogers? Agreed that the likes of Vardy are ahead of him in the team but for him to be playing the first EPL game this season is very unfair. He could have been used as a substitute all the while because he never disappointed Leicester right from the pre season and all the games he has played so far this season.
@Kelechi, as long as you are not guaranteed regular playing time in that club, get out before they destroy your career. If after this man sang your praise to the highest heavens he decides to sideline you again, going elsewhere might just be the doctor’s prescription for your career. pls don’t get carried away.
On this form, Kelechi should have started today. Without Kelechi, Leicester might very well have lost this game. Kelechi was the difference maker. The X-factor. Football no be rocket science. We all knew that a Vardy-Iheanacho combo would make Leicester FC a title contender. That has been confirmed today. Iheanacho is a natural goal scorer. And when he is not scoring, he is so good at setting up his team mates. This is what he does. A well deserved man-of-the-match award. Surely, Rodgers now sees that he has been keeping a WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION idle on the bench. Hopefully, we will begin to see a lot more of the lad.
P for Pompei….:-) 🙂 🙂
U got a point @Debo. He kelechi shows a class in that game as soon as he came in..he was everywhere in the front..Assisting a goal and scoring powerful goal is something to write home abt.Am really happy for K.I bcos if he stay’s focus he won’t loose form
Kelechi should find his way out of Leicester City, the truth of the matter is Roger has not be fare to him, and I know after this sterling performance, Rogers will still be keeping him on the bench. The best thing for Iheanacho now is to move out in January, with this performance more clubs will be looking from him.
NO CLUB WILL SIGN KELE JUST BCOS HE HAD ONE GOOD GAME. HE NEEDS TO BUILD ON THIS PERFORMANCE AND MAKE HIMSELF INDISPENSIBLE TO THE TEAM. JAIME VARDY AND PEREZ ARE THE COACHES FIRST CHOICE BUT KELE CAN STILL BE A SUPER SUB AND AT THE SAME TIME BE AN OPTION INCASE ANY OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED PLAYERS ARE NOT AVAILABLE. I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH HIS PERFORMANCE LAST NIGHT BUT HE NEEDS TO BE CONSISTENT AND COME UP WITH GREAT PERFORMANCES WHENEVER HE IS GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY. ALL THE BEST KELE, THE SUPER EAGLES STILL NEEDS U. YOU LOST THE NUMBER 9 SHIRT TO YOUR YOUNGER COLLEAGUE (WHO REALLY DESERVED THE SHIRT) BUT YOUR COMING BACK GRADUALLY, AND YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE TO RETURN TO THE SUPER EAGLES STRONGER AND BETTER. AINA, SEMI AND SIMON DID IT, SO CAN U.