Kelechi Iheanacho - 2016/17 Performances

[Sunny Coast Blue]

What hope do youngsters have, if someone with his record is being shipped out at his age? I mean seriously, what are we saying here, if you're not Messi standard you're not good enough? I could have understood it somewhat, if we blessed with a similar strike-force to what we had 5 years ago but we aren't even close to that. As 01cravend rightly pointed out, if he had cost £40m he would have been given far more chances.

The whole club is now being run by a single man, there's probably been nothing similar since Taggart was in power across the road. With some of the decisions he has made and is making, I pray that we haven't backed the wrong horse.

Becoming the PEP and not MCFC show, if Mancini put a few noses out this bloke is going to upset the whole bloody trough. Who has a kid anywhere with the instincts of this lad.
People moan about his first touch, he already has the touch of Aguero & Dzeko haha!
Pep FC aye, who'd a thunk it.

 

[domalino]

He could play for Pep, he just needs a season of constant play time to really find his feet and grow into himself. He still plays like a kid looking to get his chance, desperate to effect play in some way and obviously disheartened when he makes a mistake. He needs a solid amount of games in a row where he can start to feel at home on the pitch and show off some of his other skills too, because his passing, proper, attacking through balls and creating chances has just vanished, and when he was in the EDS and when he first got starts for the first team it was a prominent feature of his play.

I just wish Pellegrini had given him the 20 starts he gave to Bony last season and things might be different, he might have been able to establish himself more and shake off the up and coming kid tag, but going on loan, or a buy-back would be a great move for his career.

Hoffenheim are a very good club, with a brilliant, and very tactically advanced manager who is the kind of person the club would dream about loanees learning from. If Iheanacho goes there he will come back with a much better understanding of the kind of positional play and complex tactical systems that would let him slot straight back in here.

If anyone's interested in a break down of Nagelsmann's tactics there's a great one here - http://spielverlagerung.com/2017/01/20/team-analysis-julian-nagelsmanns-hoffenheim/

Really, there couldn't be a better loan destination for him from our point of view:

- Brilliant manager with a lot in common with Guardiola.
- Champions League football.
- High quality domestic league.
- They currently have strikers who are good, but he could get past to start every week.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

Bundesliga side Hoffenheim have been granted permission to speak with Manchester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho (20). [OwnGoal Nigeria]

City have made it clear that Iheanacho will only leave on loan or a sale with a buy-back clause included in any deal. [OwnGoal Nigeria]

It seems like someone at the club is fairly convinced Kelechi is the real deal and is shit scared that we are going to do what united did with pogba. I think it is very sad that we are supposedly so fixated on such a specific way of playing that players at the club, no matter what their potential, can easily be in the position of getting no chance to play whatsoever. Talk about all our eggs in one basket. If this way of playing doesn't work for us then we are stuffed and potentially we could be left with a squad that no other manager can work with because it will be so one dimensional. Good luck to the lad wherever he goes..

 

[Blue Hefner]

The latter, although injury has now changed the situation.

While not expecting Ian to be a regular starter, I would certainly like to see him being nurtured a little more. We seem to have an old pro getting into the side despite a string of poor performances, and a kid sat on the bench getting very few minutes and possibly becoming dispirited.

I agree

 

[domalino]

It seems like someone at the club is fairly convinced Kelechi is the real deal and is shit scared that we are going to do what united did with pogba. I think it is very sad that we are supposedly so fixated on such a specific way of playing that players at the club, no matter what their potential, can easily be in the position of getting no chance to play whatsoever. Talk about all our eggs in one basket. If this way of playing doesn't work for us then we are stuffed and potentially we could be left with a squad that no other manager can work with because it will be so one dimensional. Good luck to the lad wherever he goes..

So your alternative is the manager doesn't pick the players who will do the best at the style of football he's set the team up to play?

Hoffenheim play as similar a style of football to Guardiola as anyone in Europe. If the club is setting up a loan deal with them, it's because they think Kelechi has got the potential to do well in that style of play, but needs a season with a lower level of competition to get more game time to come to terms with it and get up to speed.

 

[MarsLlama]

Thing is though, that Iheanacho's record is literally as good as it gets with U20 Players. What more can we ask from him?

So if City isn't for him, then he deserves to go somewhere he'll be able to thrive. I honestly believe he'll reach Lukaku levels.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

So your alternative is the manager doesn't pick the players who will do the best at the style of football he's set the team up to play?

Hoffenheim play as similar a style of football to Guardiola as anyone in Europe. If the club is setting up a loan deal with them, it's because they think Kelechi has got the potential to do well in that style of play, but needs a season with a lower level of competition to get more game time to come to terms with it and get up to speed.

I think building absolutely everything around one very specific way of playing with absolutely no alternatives is not ideal on various levels.

 

[domalino]

I think building absolutely everything around one very specific way of playing with absolutely no alternatives is not ideal on various levels.

It's what every successful team in the world does, so the evidence overwhelmingly disagrees with you.

Also I'd love to hear you define that single very specific way of playing, see if you can actually nail it down instead of just parroting the media drive BS that Gaurdiola is some sort of dogmatic idealist who doesn't compromise on his principles.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

It's what every successful team in the world does, so the evidence overwhelmingly disagrees with you.

That is your truth and I respect it.

 

[domalino]

That is your truth and I respect it.

Yes that is *the* truth.

I'd love to hear you define that "single very specific" way of playing, see if you can actually nail it down instead of just parroting the media drive BS that Guardiola is some sort of dogmatic idealist who doesn't compromise.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

So your alternative is the manager doesn't pick the players who will do the best at the style of football he's set the team up to play?

Hoffenheim play as similar a style of football to Guardiola as anyone in Europe. If the club is setting up a loan deal with them, it's because they think Kelechi has got the potential to do well in that style of play, but needs a season with a lower level of competition to get more game time to come to terms with it and get up to speed.

This lower level of competition bit baffles me when everyone knows one of our problems is that we havent been taking our chances this year. What competition hs he been up against these past five months exactly? aside from peps blatant refusal to give the lad a chance.

 

[domalino]

This lower level of competition bit baffles me when everyone knows one of our problems is that we havent been taking our chances this year. What competition hs he been up against these past five months exactly? aside from peps blatant refusal to give the lad a chance.

Sergio Aguero? The most deadly striker in premier league history and a guy who's got 31 goals this season despite being out for 10 games of it? You may have heard of him.

Gabriel Jesus, Brazil's number 9, most hyped up young player we've ever signed coming in and being polished and brilliant added another level of competition he just can't cope with at the moment too.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

Sergio Aguero? The most deadly striker in premier league history and a guy who's got 31 goals this season despite being out for 10 games of it? You may have heard of him.

Gabriel Jesus, Brazil's number 9, most hyped up young player we've ever signed coming in and being polished and brilliant added another level of competition he just can't cope with at the moment too.

You clearly havent noticed that Aguero despite being the best striker in the PL hasnt been able to carry MCFC all on his own.

And fyi Jesus has been out for four months.

You seem to be sugesting that we have been taking all our chances up front this year? Is that what you are telling me?

 

[domalino]

You clearly havent noticed that Aguero despite being the best striker in the PL hasnt been able to carry MCFC all on his own.

And fyi Jesus has been out for four months.

You seem to be sugesting that we have been taking all our chances up front this year? Is that what you are telling me?

So you would have dropped Aguero, with 12 goals in his last 12 games, for Iheanacho?

You seem to be sugesting that we have been taking all our chances up front this year? Is that what you are telling me?

No, despite your rather desperate attempts to put those words in my mouth, I have in fact not said them.

 

[Txiki Txiki Bang Bang]

So you would have dropped Aguero, with 12 goals in his last 12 games, for Iheanacho?



No, despite your rather desperate attempts to put those words in my mouth, I have in fact not said them.

No one is talking about dropping aguero, give Nacho some reasonable game time, at least 15 - 20 minutes in every game. Nacho is a game changer

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

So you would have dropped Aguero, with 12 goals in his last 12 games, for Iheanacho?



No, despite your rather desperate attempts to put those words in my mouth, I have in fact not said them.

Thw point i was making and which you have avoided answering is that nearly everybody knows we have not been taking our chances this year. Aguero despite being fantastic hasnt been able to do it all and the goals from midfield have dried up. Our new lad Jesus gets injured and Kelechi still gets fuck all game time despite being a finisher. I could have played Aguero and Kelechi together more. Kelechi is also nearly 6.2 so he does offer another option as oposed to our small attack. Basically i think its piss poor from Pep.

 

[domalino]

No one is talking about dropping aguero, give Nacho some reasonable game time, at least 15 - 20 minutes in every game. Nacho is a game changer

Except when he's not. Like against bucharest, Everton, Spurs, Leicester, Burnley or United.

Fact is, in pretty much every scenario, keeping Aguero on is more likely to result in a goal than takign him off for Iheanacho, and beleive it or not, just throwing on all your strikers isn't the best way to get a goal either.

When he's played this season, he's looked uncomfortable with the system and not in touch with the rest of the team. He needs to go somewhere, like Hoffenheim, where he can get a whole season of playing that style of football, loads of time on the pitch to get comfortable with it and succeed, and then when he comes back he could be a genuine option.

 

[domalino]

I could have played Aguero and Kelechi together more.

Just throwing on more strikers doesn't mean better finishing or more goals FFS. If that's really what you believe than I give up. Perhaps we should have kept Bony too and played 3, as that would have gotten us more goals.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Haha,this thread is comical.

Kelechi is a young lad with potential but also an awful lot to learn.He isnt currently good enough to be a starting player,as the opportunities he has been given have seen him largely anonymous.We have superior players who are keeping him out of the team,thats not Pep's fault.....its just the way it is......and no manager is going to change that just to appease a few unrealistic and hyperbolic supporters.

Those suggesting he is better than Rashford or Mbappe need to wake up,he really doesnt have their qualities at this moment in time and he certainly wouldnt be keeping them out of their respective sides.Hopefully we can find a suitable club willing to take him on loan where he can blossom into the kind of forward many predicted.

PeP FC....?? lol,do fuck off.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

Yes that is *the* truth.

I'd love to hear you define that "single very specific" way of playing, see if you can actually nail it down instead of just parroting the media drive BS that Guardiola is some sort of dogmatic idealist who doesn't compromise.

Well there you go, maybe I'm just parroting media driven bullshit, maybe you are a member of the Cult of Pep FC and are deluded. Maybe it's neither, maybe we just have different opinions. I watch us every week and I know what I see, I don't expect you to agree with me on anything and that's fine, after all we all perceive the game differently. I realise that all successful clubs have a preferred way of playing but I also think plenty of them are able to win matches in different ways if need be. If you don't think Pep is absolutely devoted to certain principles of playing football then I'm surprised. The club itself (Soriano was it?) has stated certain principles in terms of way of playing football that we must stick to and presumably brought Pep in because he buys fully into those principles. What is that if it isn't dogmatic, idealisitic and without compromise? Only my opinion though, it's nice that you have *the* truth though.