Brendan Rodgers, the manager of Leicester City, has revealed why Kelechi Iheanacho has struggled for playing time this season.
Iheanacho, Leicester’s top scorer last season, has only played 54 minutes of football in his team’s last six games across all competitions, with three of those spent on the bench.
Prior to that, he appeared in every match except the away game against Legia Warsaw, as he was stopped at the Polish border due to mismatched documents.
His limited time on the pitch has been a result of the team’s switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Rodgers claiming he is best as part of a strike partnership.
Rodgers has stated that he prefers Leicester to play with four at the back, so he would have to choose between a flat 4-4-2 or a midfield diamond if he wanted to play two frontmen.
The former was last used in October at Crystal Palace and hasn’t been used since.
“I think we’ve said it before: he’s best in a two, that’s clear, that’s when he’s been really good,” he explained.
Rodgers has stated that Iheanacho will get his fair share of playing time, but the manager has also noted that finding a space for him is not a major worry at the moment, as Leicester City’s attack is constantly finding the net.
“He’s training well, he’s a great professional, Kels, and he knows he’s going to feature over the course of this period at some point,” Rodgers said.
Iheanacho was the club’s best scorer last season, scoring 16 goals between February and May while generally playing alongside Jamie Vardy.
He has three goals and five assists this season, averaging one goal per 104 minutes, which is better than Vardy’s (one goal every 133 minutes) but not as good as Daka’s (one every 91 minutes).