AdminGary Rowett is prepared to think outside the box in Leicester City’s fight for survival, even if it means deploying Jannik Vestergaard as an emergency striker in the closing stages of matches.
The Danish defender returned to action on Friday after more than two months out following hernia surgery, but rather than slot back into his usual role at centre-half, he was pushed up front as City chased a winner against Preston. It was an eye-catching move, yet one born out of necessity.
Rowett has long highlighted the absence of a traditional target man in his squad, someone capable of attacking crosses and unsettling deep-lying defences. In Vestergaard, he believes he may have stumbled upon a short-term solution.
“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 an intelligent footballer, he’s an intelligent guy. He’s very good technically if he does get a chance on goal.
“Ideally, he’d be easy to slot into the defence to use his qualities there, but at the moment, 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.
“Certainly, it’s easy to look at other players when you’re not scoring lots of goals, and say why don’t we play him up front, but I’ve looked at that in training. 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.
But he certainly came on today with a real determination to score a goal and that’s what you want to see. You want to see players being unselfish and trying to play their part.”
Vestergaard has three goals this season, including a late equaliser at Wrexham in January, underlining his usefulness as an unlikely attacking outlet.
Admin
