Luke Thomas & Brendan Rodgers

A Very Important Victory, Says Rodgers

An improved second-half performance drove Leicester City to their first win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in 23 years on Tuesday evening, says manager Brendan Rodgers.
More on this story...

- A delighted Brendan Rodgers reflects on Leicester City's 2-1 win at Manchester United
- Goals from Luke Thomas and Çağlar Söyüncü secured the three points either side of half-time
- Rodgers praised his side's second-half improvement at Old Trafford
- The Northern Irishman also looked ahead to Saturday's Emirates FA Cup Final

The Foxes were ahead after just 10 minutes at the Theatre of Dreams as Luke Thomas crashed a superb volley into the top corner. United, though, were swiftly back on level terms when Mason Greenwood dashed in the penalty area to send a low effort into the net.

However, after a brief bright spell for the Red Devils, Leicester emerged after the interval intent on securing the Club's 20th Premier League win of the season. An emphatic Çağlar Söyüncü header, on 66 minutes in the North West, enabled them to do just that, nudging City up to third in the table.

"It’s a very important victory for us," Rodgers told LCFC TV. "I’m so happy for the players. It was a great response from our disappointing performance on Friday. We started the game really well, scored a very good first goal, and then we went loose in our game.

"We were too slow on the ball, the passing wasn’t precise enough, and then we put pressure onto ourselves. We conceded a disappointing goal, but we regrouped, we got together at half-time. We just reinforced our pressing lines at half-time, tried to be more compact when we can’t press it.

It’s the stage of the season where every win, every point is so important. To be able to come to Old Trafford, it’s another victory for us against a top six club and, as you can see, it’ll be very, very important for us and where we finish this season.

Brendan Rodgers LCFC TV

"We continued with our game, but playing faster. The pitch was perfect, nice and slick, and at times, it was too slow, we invited pressure in the first half. The second half was much better. We could then sustain the attacks better and we looked a threat.

"It’s the stage of the season where every win, every point is so important. To be able to come to Old Trafford, it’s another victory for us against a top six club and, as you can see, it’ll be very, very important for us and where we finish this season."

With just two league fixtures remaining, Rodgers believes the Foxes are well placed to achieve their objectives, but called on his players to continue to focus ahead of what promises to be a decisive 12 days for the Club on two fronts.

On Leicester's second-half improvement, he added: "We could sustain the attacks better because the passing was quicker. We didn’t get stuck on areas of the pitch. We were able to come out, recycle the ball, and looked a threat. With better decision making, we could have got other players in.

Video

Goals: Manchester United 1 Leicester City 2

Luke Thomas' stunner and an emphatic header from Çağlar Söyüncü secured a big win for Leicester City at Old Trafford.

"Sometimes we were shooting when we could make the pass, so the decision making I didn’t think was quite there at times, but overall, to come to Old Trafford and get a victory, you have to show a strong mentality. You have to be tough and you have to be resilient and we were that.

"We’re in a great position. There’s still work for us to do. All you can do is keep winning games and keep putting pressure on the other teams."

On Saturday, meanwhile, City head to Wembley Stadium to compete in their first Emirates FA Cup Final in 52 years against Chelsea. The Foxes have never lifted the famous trophy, but Rodgers says his squad will give their all to bring it back to the East Midlands at the weekend.

"We’ll get back in tomorrow, recover the players, and playing on the Tuesday gives us the chance to have that extra day," the Northern Irishman added. "We’ve got a huge game against a top team. Tonight, we’ve played the Europa League finalists, on Saturday it’s the Champions League finalists.

"You can see the quality of their team, but we’ll be ready. We’ll look forward to it and we’ll fight to be the first team in Leicester City’s history to win the FA Cup."

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