Rodgers: We Managed The Game Really Well
- Leicester City successfully halted Fulham’s attacking moves in the second period, says manager Brendan Rodgers
- The Northern Irishman eulogised over his side’s two first-half goals at Craven Cottage
- City won 2-0 in London thanks to goals from Kelechi Iheanacho and James Justin
- Rodgers is hopeful Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi will be available for selection at the weekend
The Foxes manager saw his side return to winning ways in west London as Kelechi Iheanacho headed home James Maddison’s fine delivery before James Justin added an excellent second shortly before the break.
In the second 45 minutes, City successfully thwarted their opponents, preventing them from mustering up any significant goalscoring opportunities to claim a much-deserved three points on the road.
“I thought that the two goals were real goals of quality,” Rodgers told LCFC TV. “We knew this was going to be a real test for us coming to here.
“I think if you look at Fulham’s results over the last 10 games or so, they’ve been really strong, in particular [against] the big teams, and did very well against them.
“We knew we had to play well, and I thought in the first half, we scored two brilliant goals – different types of goals.
“In the second half, we could close the lines and control the game more without the ball, and not give away so much.
“We managed the game really well over the course of 90-odd minutes, and a clean sheet and three points is nice.”
Rodgers was particularly pleased with the way City dictated play after the break, shutting down Fulham’s offensive movements to keep their clean sheet intact in the capital.
he said: “We want to score goals and create opportunities, but we didn’t have to. We had control of the game. They’re a dangerous team if you give them space.
“We always want to deny the opposition space, but we felt we could just drop it back in onto the half-pitch and close the gaps, and then make it difficult for them to play through.
“Then, we know we could then play through that pressure if we had to. We were two goals up, we didn’t need to chase it and what was important was responding from the weekend. The players did that magnificently.”
With Wolverhampton Wanderers next up in the Premier League on Sunday, Rodgers is hopeful he will be able to include Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi in his matchday squad.
“They should be available for the weekend, so it’s great news for us,” the manager added. “They’ve responded really well.
“We’ll see how they are over the next couple of days and they’ll hopefully be back in the squad and available for the weekend.”