- Leicester City showed their intent during the second half of Saturday’s win against Burnley
- The Foxes came from behind to win 2-1 in the Premier League at King Power Stadium
- Jamie Vardy and Youri Tielemans were both on target on Filbert Way
City fell behind just after the first half’s midway point, as former Fox Chris Wood nodded in Dwight McNeil’s cross to give Sean Dyche’s men a 1-0 lead, which looked to be intact heading into the break.
However, a fine piece of play from Harvey Barnes resulted in his delivery finding Jamie Vardy, whose header – his sixth goal in nine Premier League outings – levelled matters on the stroke of half-time.
“It’s a very good three points without us being anywhere near our best,” Rodgers told LCFC TV. “I thought that we started slowly and we weren’t aggressive enough. Too many players probably felt that we could just play with the ball and not without the ball.
“At this level, you can’t do that against a good team like Burnley who haven’t been beaten away from home since the beginning of the season. You have to earn the right, and we didn’t do that.
“Thankfully, we got a goal just before half-time. It was a great cross and wonderful leap by Jamie [Vardy] and finish. But we had to be more aggressive in the game, it was too timid. Like I say, we didn’t want to do the other side of the game.”
With a foundation to build upon, City then set about finding the winner, which came with 16 minutes to play as Belgium international Youri Tielemans brought Barnes’ flick under control before firing into the back of the net.
“In the second half, we were much better in our intent and, of course, we started to threaten them much more,” he said. “We had a plan for the game that if we needed to chase it, how we could go after the game because we want to win every game.
“It was a wonderful piece of play by Demarai [Gray] on the side – a nice combination and cross – and Youri [Tielemans] finished it really well. We were about to make a sub to try and make an impact in the game, but we got the goal and then the plan changes because we feel then that Burnley will go a bit more direct with two strikers.
“We end up putting Wes [Morgan] in, looking to see the game through. It’s not one of our most fluent performances, but Burnley are a difficult team to play against. When I came into here, everyone talked about these being the types of games that the team might have drawn and even lost a number of them, so to win it, it’s a big psychological boost as well.
“Also, pay tribute to the players, and the supporters, because today, the emotion of the game – I’ve been involved in games like this as well, where the emotion of the game can always be a flat performance, a 0-0.
“We end up getting the three points, which is great for the supporters, because they were amazing for us today. Hopefully they can go away and be proud of seeing their team not making the best performance, but in terms of fight, they did us very proud.”
On Saturday, the Football Club marked the passing of the Club’s late Chairman, Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, and four others, and Rodgers believes the spirit the Blue Army and City’s players showed can be applauded.
“I think there was the march (Walk For Vichai) before the game, which showed great spirit, and then the reaction inside the ground,” he added. “I know Khun Top would be very proud of that.
“Like I say, it’s very difficult because the players will feel that. What we wanted to do today, we said that we wanted to fight for the result. Khun Vichai left an incredible legacy here and what I’ve tried to do since I’ve come in is tap into that and one of the key words was ‘fight’, that I’ve always heard from Khun Top and the guys.
“We’ve tried to do that in every game, and today, like we say, we fought, we went behind in the game and showed a great mentality. Our aim is to make this place a really, really difficult place to come and get a result. Another win helps you on the way to achieving that.”