Marti Cifuentes emphasised that long-distance shooting was part of Leicester’s identity after Jordan James and Abdul Fatawu unleashed stunning efforts to secure a 3-1 victory over Swansea in South Wales.
On-loan Wales midfielder James netted for the second game in a row after opening his Leicester tally against Wrexham on Tuesday, putting the Foxes in front inside 13 minutes with a 20-yard angled strike from the left.
After Adam Idah levelled from the penalty spot with his first Swansea goal, Fatawu mirrored James’ effort from the right before Jannik Vestergaard’s close-range header six minutes from time sealed the win.
“It would look like an amazing coach if I would say we have been practising long range and then we score because of that,” boss Cifuentes said after Leicester ended a streak of four consecutive draws to rise to third in the Sky Bet Championship.
“This is part (of) our philosophy since day one, when we arrived. We said it’s very important to finish actions and I’m a big believer about long range (goals).
“I know about the stats, about the rate (of scoring), but I do believe that it’s a way as well to put a lot of pressure (on teams). The set-pieces that you can provoke and so on.
“Credit to the guys that they scored two fantastic goals from two fantastic strikes – and we’re going to try to keep finding ways to score goals.”
James impressed in front of Wales manager Craig Bellamy and ahead of the Dragons’ friendly against England at Wembley on Thursday.
The 21-year-old, on a season-long loan from Rennes, also struck the post from the edge of the area in the second half after carving out some room for himself.
Cifuentes said: “I knew him from the time he played with Birmingham before he moved to France and my time at QPR.
“I was impressed because he was a very young player performing really well in a difficult season for Birmingham.
“We felt definitely he was a very interesting profile and we’re happy that he he’s giving us some of the strength we were looking for.”
Swansea’s first home loss of the season pushed them down to 11th, three points shy of the play-off spots.
Head coach Alan Sheehan said: “I am disappointed. For 75, 80 minutes of the game we were well in it.
“Two worldie goals and then a ricochet set-piece at the end and after that we lose a small piece of discipline. That can change the perception.
“It’s a 90-minute game and I don’t want to be a nearly team, so we have to go for the whole period.
“The next thing is can we have a bit more quality in the final third and be more of a killer team?”