Vardy: Leicester players took ‘a lot of unfair stick’

Ian Watson

Jamie Vardy believes the criticism levelled at Leicester’s stars has been unfair since Claudio Ranieri’s sacking.

The England striker scored twice in the Foxes’ 3-1 victory over Liverpool on Monday, four days after Ranieri was axed, to lift them out of the Premier League relegation zone.

The Italian left on Thursday, just nine months after guiding the Foxes to a shock top-flight title, and the team responded instantly.

Senior Leicester players, including Vardy, Marc Albrighton and Kasper Schmeichel, have refuted suggestions they plotted the Italian’s downfall.

Vardy scored the hosts’ first league goal of 2017, ending a 637-minute drought, and believes the victory proved a point for the players.

“We’ve come under a lot of unfair stick with the stuff that’s been in the press lately and the lads wanted to put a reaction in,” Vardy told Sky Sports.

“The performance showed we wanted to do that but it’s up to us to consistently do that.”

Asked what had gone wrong this season, he added: “I can’t put my finger on it. We’ve been working hard and it’s not been happening but tonight it has all clicked.”