Leicester City’s 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough last Saturday was only the second time this season that manager Enzo Maresca has had all four of his strikers fit and available at the same time — but it was clear by his selection that four into three just doesn’t go.
With Maresca’s playing system requiring just one main striker and the Leicester head coach reserving only two spaces on his nine-man bench for forward replacements, one would have to miss out.
Against Middlesbrough, it was Patson Daka who started, with Jamie Vardy and Tom Cannon on the bench. Kelechi Iheanacho, fresh from playing in the Africa Cup of Nations final just a few days before, didn’t make it into the matchday squad.
Ironically, the one exception was the reverse fixture when Leicester travelled to Middlesbrough in November, which also ended in defeat (1-0) for the Foxes. Iheanacho started at the Riverside Stadium, with Vardy, Daka and Cannon all on the bench.
Back then, Cannon had just returned to training after a back injury that was only detected during his medical when he was completing his £7million ($8.9m) move from Everton in September. The young striker was making up the numbers on the bench due to other injuries on that occasion.
In the early part of the season, it was Vardy and Iheanacho who were rotated to keep them fresh, with Daka unable to get a look in, but injuries to both Vardy and Iheanacho then presented Daka with his chance. That lasted until the new year when Daka departed for AFCON — along with Iheanacho — leaving Cannon as the only fit striker, with Vardy out with a knee injury.
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Now they are all available, and it has presented Maresca with a welcome conundrum.
“The good thing is you can choose but the difficult thing is that one of them won’t be in the first 11 or even the squad,” Maresca says. “It is difficult for them to accept.
“Kele had just arrived back from international duty and only worked with us for some days, but while he was there, Tom, Jamie and Pat did well. We will make the right decision for the next game.”
Tom Cannon has made 10 Championship appearances this season, with three of them starts (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
But what would be the right decision for Friday night’s showdown with fellow Championship title-chasers Leeds? Maresca certainly has options and variety; each of his four strikers brings different qualities to the table.
In terms of goalscoring form, Vardy has scored five in his last five games in all competitions, while Daka has three goals in his last three games — he drew a blank against Middlesbrough, however, missing a free header with the game goalless.
Iheanacho has also shown he can go on a run of goals by scoring four in four consecutive appearances in October, while Cannon netted three in his first two starts at the turn of the year.
All four have proven capable of getting on the scoresheet, but Maresca will want to choose the right profile for the game he wants to play at Elland Road on Friday.
To better understand how each player differs in their approach to playing up front, the heatmaps below — which show the areas of the pitch where the individual player has their touches of the ball — are useful.
The graphic demonstrates that Vardy and Daka have both been active in the centre circle, closer to Leicester’s goal, but also in opposition penalty boxes, while Iheanacho is more involved in general build-up around the pitch. (Cannon has only started three games, so a heat map of his touches this season would be skewed by such a small sample size.)
However, looking at Cannon’s touchmap from the 4-1 win over Huddersfield Town on New Year’s Day, in which he scored twice, the majority of his moments on the ball came close to the opposition’s penalty box.
Tom Cannon’s touches against Huddersfield
By comparison, Iheanacho’s touches in the 2-0 home win over Stoke City in October come mainly around the midfield area, with only two touches in the penalty box.
Kelechi Iheanacho’s touches against Stoke
In the Championship, this is backed up by the number of touches per 90 minutes each striker has. Cannon and Vardy average around 30 touches while Daka is slightly higher at 36, but Iheanacho is much more involved with 52.6 touches each game.
However, when it comes to touches inside the penalty area per 90 minutes, there is more parity across Leicester’s four frontmen: Cannon has 5.4 (18 per cent of his total touches), Daka 5.3 (15 per cent), Vardy 5.3 (18 per cent) and Iheanacho 5.5 (10 per cent).
In terms of getting shots on goal off, Cannon is the most prolific, averaging 3.75 shots per 90 minutes, with Daka just behind him on 3.07, Iheanacho on 2.94 and Vardy on 2.42.
All of Vardy’s efforts on goal come from inside the penalty box and Daka is not far behind, while Iheanacho averages just over one shot on goal from outside the box.
Leicester strikers in the Championship
| Leicester strikers | Games started | Minutes | Total Shots (inc Blocks) per 90 | Total Shots inside the box | Total shots outside the box | Touches per 90 | Touches inside the box | Big Chance Total per 90 | Big Chance Scored | Goals per 90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tom Cannon |
3 |
384 |
3.75 |
2.34 |
1.41 |
30 |
5.39 |
0.47 |
0.23 |
0.47 |
|
Patson Daka |
10 |
733 |
3.07 |
2.82 |
0.25 |
35.98 |
5.28 |
1.47 |
0.86 |
0.86 |
|
Kelechi Iheanacho |
10 |
858 |
2.94 |
1.89 |
1.05 |
52.55 |
5.45 |
1.05 |
0.42 |
0.52 |
|
Jamie Vardy |
10 |
1043 |
2.42 |
2.42 |
0 |
29.25 |
5.26 |
1.21 |
0.78 |
0.86 |
*all stats per 90 minutes
Cannon is by far the player who takes the opportunity to shoot from outside the box the most, with an average of 1.4 per 90 minutes.
When it comes to shooting accuracy, Vardy has the highest percentage, with 56 per cent of his shots on target. Cannon is on 55 per cent, Iheanacho 50 per cent and Daka 46 per cent.
In terms of taking their opportunities, Vardy is the most ruthless. He takes over 64 per cent of the big chances he gets per 90 minutes — Opta defines “big chances” as situations where a player would reasonably be expected to score. Daka takes 58 per cent, Cannon converts 50 per cent and Iheanacho just 40 per cent.
Vardy and Daka are the most similar in terms of their style of play, coming deep to link play but then utilising their pace to break into the penalty box to be on the end of the attacks. Cannon is more of a presence around and inside the box, looking to shoot whenever he gets an opportunity, and Iheanacho has been operating more as an attacking midfielder, getting involved in the build-up to attacks and allowing midfielders and wide players to break beyond him.
Nonetheless, Cannon’s productivity is boosted by the fact that he has featured for just 384 minutes in the league so far this season.
Looking ahead to Friday, Leeds have kept eight clean sheets in their last 11 games and will be a tough unit to break down on home soil, making Maresca’s selection of the right attacking combination crucial, with missed opportunities a big factor in Leicester’s recent defeat to Middlesbrough.
Who Maresca introduces off the bench to make an impact — whether Leicester are chasing the game or trying to hold onto an advantage — will also be crucial, especially if he continues to leave one striker out of his matchday squads.
But unlike previous stretches of the season, at least Maresca now has all options available to him.
(Other contributor: Thom Harris)
(Top photos: Patson Daka, Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho; Getty Images)
