“I love that ability” – Rodgers praises, knocks Iheanacho’s finishing

The Nigerian striker has been offered more playing time in recent weeks to mix results

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has urged forward Kelechi Iheanacho to be more ruthless in front of the goal to improve his goalscoring stats for the club.

Iheanacho was the club’s highest goalscorer last season with 19 goals across all competitions, but he has once again played second fiddle behind Englishman Jamie Vardy this term.

But Iheanacho has gained more prominence, becoming Rodgers’ first-choice striker since Vardy suffered a knee injury a few weeks ago.

The Super Eagles striker has performed decently, scoring once in his last five starts – in the 1-1 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

He could have had more goals during that period, though, having gone one-on-one with the goalkeeper in each of Leicester City’s last three games against Brentford, Man United, and PSV Eindhoven.

But the 25-year-old’s dink over the goalkeeper on each occasion failed to hit the target.

Brendan has praised Iheanacho for having variety in his finish and the confidence to attempt the ball over the goalkeepers. But the former Liverpool boss reminds the Nigerian to remember the golden rule of strikers, which is to put the goalkeeper to work.

“You need to have variety in your finishes, of course,” Rodgers said, as per Leicester Mercury.

“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.

“He’s been in a couple of those positions, and it just went wide on the Brentford one, the one at Man United nearly went out of the stadium, and the one last night (against PSV) just went wide. He knows that himself. It’s great that they have the variation now. You have to have that variation as a striker.”

Iheanacho has scored seven goals and added nine assists in all competition for the Foxes this campaign.