Where to start with this one?! Rowett is a pretty likeable guy so having to criticise him for ploys like whacking Jannik Vestergaard up front when desperately needing a goal isn’t an ideal standpoint.
Appraising the disappointing eight points in as many games isn’t where fan writers want to be either. But now that Rowett has admitted the Vestergaard gambit is here to stay – deconstructing the mildly absurd stratagem is mandatory!
Deconstructing Leicester City boss Gary Rowett’s illusory masterclass
The Vestergaard scheme is pedestrian, obvious – and not foolproof whatsoever. If someone pretentious like Brendan Rodgers, or recent head coach Marti Cifuentes, tried this move – they’d be rightly chastised and ridiculed!
It appears to be a cop-out idea from a manager clearly devoid of true innovation. A desperate reach into the archives of primitive, long-ball dogma that feels jarringly out of place considering the modern tactical approach – even in the EFL Championship!
“Clearly we’re lacking that type of striker where teams drop in and you need that extra aerial presence in there,” Rowett said.
“He’s [Vestergaard] an intelligent footballer, he’s an intelligent guy. He’s very good technically if he does get a chance on goal.”
Gary Rowett – Leicester Mercury
While the towering Dane certainly offers a towering presence that can unnerve even the most stoic backline, consistently deploying a specialist centre back as a makeshift centre forward suggests a profound intellectual bankruptcy in the dugout.
“we’ve got to look at different ways of winning games.
“If we had to do it in a slightly unconventional way, then I’m going to look at every single angle.”
LE2 witnessed the ultimate footballing contradiction: a search for finesse through the application of blunt force. Although Vestergaard did win a decent header and certainly displayed a palpable hunger to find the net, it is fundamentally not his game in spite of being a threat from set-pieces and dead-ball situations.
“There aren’t any obvious options in those areas.
“He’s certainly one who can give us something different just for 10 or 15 minutes at the end of a game. In an ideal world, we don’t have to do that.”
The defender, now a veteran at 33, is a surveyor of space from deep, not a predator within the penalty area’s claustrophobic confines. Yet such is the fickle, results-driven nature of this unforgiving industry that if the Dane’s hypothetical goals keep LCFC up – labelling Rowett a genius is equally (hypocritically) obligatory!
Madness amidst alternatives?
For now, however, bewildered scepticism is the suspended state. Watching a grand experiment that teeters precariously between inspired madness and total despair. An attempt at scoring more that smacks of desperation or innovation.
Of course, height in an attacker is immaterial unless they perfectly time runs and jumps for equally quality deliveries. Many supporters would rather see Lorenz Hutchinson or Kirsten Otchere involved as respective substitutes. Leicester Mercury should be similarly embarrassed for encouraging the mistaken gaffer.
“using Vestergaard off the bench is an optio…”
Jordan Blackwell – Leicester Mercury
