Rodgers lauds Leicester City star who is ‘getting better all the time’

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has praised Harvey Barnes following his side’s win over Leeds United.

The Foxes headed into this weekend’s meeting with Leeds after beating Burnley 2-0 in midweek.

Jesse Marsch has replaced Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds and their game versus Leicester was his first in charge.

Marsch’s first game tells us nothing and everything about Leeds

The West Yorkshire outfit were the better side for large portions against Leicester. They were unable to take their chances though as Rodgers’ side triumphed.

Barnes scored the winning goal for the hosts in the 67th minute. It finished 1-0 and this result moves Leicester up to tenth in the Premier League.

The Englishman has been a key player for the Foxes this term and he has been in great form. He has been involved in 15 goals from his 30 appearances across all competitions.

Speaking post-match, Rodgers acknowledged that Barnes is “a threat with his speed”:

“They are a good side with really good players and I am very proud of my players. They showed a lot of courage to dig in. We got the winner and Kasper Schmeichel made some good saves and we got the win,” Rodgers said (via BBC Sport).

“We expected Leeds to play 4-2-3-1 but it was very much 4-2-2-2, which meant there was an overload against our back line so we pressed it differently in the second half and closed down those spaces.”

On Barnes: “Harvey is getting better all the time and has that appetite to score goals. He finishes it really well. It was a good goal and he is such a threat with his speed.”

On Kasper Schmeichel: “Kasper has made a lot of great saves. He had one save virtually two yards out, he is a very good shot stopper and a good keeper.”

On Leicester’s struggles for form: “It has been a challenging season, but you see the mentality in the team and we just want to finish the season as strongly as we can.

“These boys won’t finish on par with where we should finish, but that magnifies how far we have come over the last few years. We will get back to hopefully disrupting teams at the top of this league.”

Barnes added that the Foxes had a “tough afternoon” against Leeds United:

“It’s always a tough game against Leeds. They had a new manager as well so we didn’t know how they were going to set up, but they still have the same intensity, it’s still end to and. A tough afternoon but delighted with the three points.

“The goal came at a good time for us. The first goal was always crucial.

“You don’t want to make it end-to-end against Leeds. You want to keep the ball and we didn’t do that for a lot of the afternoon, we made it that basketball game.

“But we still created chances and defended well when we needed.

“It’s been an up and down season so far but the last few results and performances have been positive. We are showing signs of last season and results come from that.”