Matchday Live Talking Points: Slick Leicester, Rodgers’ Tactics & Fresh Players
- Gerry Taggart, Matt Elliott and Steve Walsh provide their post-match thoughts on Leicester City’s 3-0 win at Newcastle United
- The former Foxes trio were speaking on LCFC Radio’s Matchday Live broadcast
- Free coverage of City’s Emirates FA Cup tie versus Wigan Athletic (5:31pm kick-off) will be available on LCFC Radio from 2:31pm
City cruised to a 3-0 Premier League triumph at St. James’ Park thanks to former Magpies striker Ayoze Pérez’s opener and two superb efforts from James Maddison and Hamza Choudhury.
Rodgers, who made six changes to his starting XI and deployed a back five during the fixture, earned plenty of plaudits for the Foxes’ performance on Tyneside, while City’s stars, as a collective, were also praised for their professional attitude.
A great start to 2020
Steve Walsh said: “What a great start to the New Year. They did the job professionally and the damage was done in the first half. Steve Bruce’s thoughts were obviously just to contain Leicester, to keep it down to 2-0 if they could because they were unlucky to go down to 10 men. In the end, it was a keep-ball session for Leicester. It’s a great three points when you look at it in the context of the results today. It was another masterclass.”
Confident despite Vardy absence
Matt Elliott said: “I remember in the title-winning season when Jamie Vardy was missing for a game or two. Leicester played Swansea and they got the result then. It’s happened numerous times since. Yes, he’s a massive part, but what a confidence-builder it is when they go two league games, scoring goals at the same time, picking up points without their main marksman.”
Slick Leicester
Gerry Taggart said: “It was easy for Leicester from the beginning. They just had to make sure they did things correctly as a defensive unit in the first half, because Joelinton had a chance. Other than that, they were in complete control of the game. Newcastle played right into Leicester’s hands. They were a lot slicker than I’ve seen them today, Leicester.”
Rodgers’ tactical nous
Steve Walsh said: “Brendan is certainly playing his cards right at the moment. He’s a clever guy and he knows what he’s doing. He puts in a lot of time and effort in processing everything he does. You just can’t fault him at the moment, you really can’t. The performance, that team selection and the way the substitutes came on and changed the game, he knew he’d got the game wrapped up.”
Superior Foxes
Matt Elliott said: “The only scare Leicester had was when Joelinton was played through by Jonjo Shelvey. It was a bit of a lapse of concentration, but Kasper Schmeichel did enough with a decent block. That aside, Newcastle didn’t really feature in an attacking sense, and certainly not in the second half. In terms of superiority, Leicester were streets ahead.”
A fresh squad
Steve Walsh said: “It’s great to see that we’ve got a fresh squad for the next couple of cup games that we’ve got coming up. We’ve got an interesting six games coming up which you can accumulate quite a few Premier League points from. There’s a really high expectation level now.”
All times GMT.