Rodgers: We Won The Battle

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Rodgers: We Won The Battle

Leicester City had to show many different qualities to come away with all three points against Leeds United, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

2022-03-07T12:17:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

07 Mar, 2022

Rodgers: We Won The Battle

Leicester City had to show many different qualities to come away with all three points against Leeds United, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

Sam Jones

2022-03-07T12:17:00.000Z

Rodgers: We Won The Battle

Leicester City had to show many different qualities to come away with all three points against Leeds United, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

Sam Jones

2022-03-07T12:17:00.000Z

Rodgers: We Won The Battle

Leicester City had to show many different qualities to come away with all three points against Leeds United, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

Sam Jones

2022-03-07T12:17:00.000Z

Rodgers: We Won The Battle

Leicester City had to show many different qualities to come away with all three points against Leeds United, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

Sam Jones

2022-03-07T12:17:00.000Z

- Brendan Rodgers reviews Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Leeds United- Harvey Barnes scored Leicester City’s goal at King Power Stadium- The Foxes defended well to keep out Jesse Marsch’s side- City have now recorded consecutive Premier League triumphs

Harvey Barnes’ 67th-minute strike proved to be the only goal of the game at King Power Stadium, marking a third consecutive victory in all competitions and back-to-back Premier League wins following the 2-0 success over Burnley at Turf Moor four days earlier.

Recording successive clean sheets was another important factor for Rodgers, who mentioned displays from Kasper Schmeichel, as well as centre-backs Daniel Amartey and Çağlar Söyüncü as key to picking up the Foxes’ ninth top-flight triumph of 2021/22.

“It was a great win for us off the back of a tough game physically earlier in the week against Burnley,” he commented following full-time on Filbert Way. “We’re playing against a Leeds team that have that physicality and obviously had a full week to prepare.

“So, we knew we were going to have to be at it again, and Kasper [Schmeichel] has had three saves - in the first half with his feet, one in his near post from a corner and then one virtually a couple of yards out from Raphinha.

“I thought when we worked the ball into the areas, we looked a real threat. It’s always a chaotic game against Leeds in my experiences because of the energy and there’s not so much control in it, but very much goes end-to-end.

“Thankfully we showed the moment of quality in the game and Barnesy (Harvey Barnes) scored a brilliant goal and then we’re showing a lot more of that resilience now and the mentality not to concede so it’s a very good victory for us. It’s just a collective mentality, reinforcing the importance that our defending starts from the front.

“Especially if you think of the players we’ve got out defensively, that focus around getting back to our pressing and being more aggressive and from the top end of the field. Çağs (Çağlar Söyüncü) and Dan [Amartey], they have really stood up during these last few weeks. To keep two clean sheets was really important.”

Analysing the tactical battle that ensued throughout the 90 minutes between the Northern Irishman and his counterpart, Leeds’ new head coach Jesse Marsch, the 48-year-old pointed to a tweak in formation that was deployed by the visitors, which caused problems during the opening half.

City's manager explained: “Jesse had set up more 4-2-2-2 with the wingers more inside, which meant when we were pressing the game, once the ball went over our press, especially in the first half in particular, then they had more bodies on the backline playing against us, so we had to adjust that towards the end of the first half.

“Then we didn’t have so many of them in the second half against us. That was the only change from Marcelo [Bielsa], whose wingers really stretched the game and were right on the outside. You’re always trying to assess when a manager comes in and try to have a guess because like most managers, he’s quite flexible and plays out of different systems.”

Rodgers also reserved praise for Hamza Choudhury, who came into the side in place of the injured Ricardo Pereira and was deployed in a more unfamiliar right-back position, up against the Yorkshire outfit’s dangerous Brazilian winger Raphinha.

“It’s really important that you have players who are flexible like that," the ex-Celtic manager enthused. "Hamza [Choudhury] is a great player for our squad. It was a challenge for him today because he’s up against a really good winger who is good in the one vs. one, but he coped really well with it.

“He obviously hasn’t played a great deal in this period, so we gave him an hour and took him off, but he’s always filled the gap when we’ve struggled. He’s had some really good performances this season and he fought and gave us everything in the game playing out of position.”

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