Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers highlighted his team’s first-class tactical performance after Sunday’s 2-0 league win over Tottenham. The coach of the Prague Slavia opponent in the February opening round of the elimination phase of the European League also praised the gunner Jamie Vardy for the changed penalty under pressure.
“I’m very happy. We took the initiative right from the opening whistle. We wanted to play our game and show confidence.” Rodgers told the club website. “From a strategic point of view, it was a match in which the players filled the space with first-class space. We didn’t allow Tottenham many counterattacks and showed a really good balance in our game,” added a Northern Irish pilot.
According to him, Leicester used the experience from the last league duel at Tottenham Stadium. “We lost 0: 3 here and the home team played breaks. It’s gratifying how we learned from this match,” Rodgers stated.
He praised the coolness of Vardy, who sent “Lišky” to the lead in the fourth minute setting of the first half from the penalty kick. The 33-year-old striker scored the eleventh league goal of the season. “He always does that. He did it against Lloris, who is a very agile goalkeeper and can catch penalties. He trains.” said Rodgers.
“It’s always hard when you’re under pressure, but Jamie didn’t hesitate. It was, of course, an important goal for us.” added the former manager of Liverpool or Celtic Glasgow, whose charges moved to second place in the table by four points behind the championship Liverpool.
Tottenham, on the other hand, fell from first to fifth place after the second defeat in a row. “Our performance was not good, but they did not deserve to win, just as we did not deserve to lose. It was a bad match.” said London team manager José Mourinho.
“Schmeichel (Leicester’s goalkeeper) did some good interventions, but in the end we lost due to a penalty and our own goal. The result looks like the opponent had a match under control or was better than us, but the reality looked different.” added the Portuguese strategist.
