Brendan Rodgers launches staunch defence of Jamie Vardy

Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers has launched an interesting defence of the currently out-of-form Jamie Vardy.

Having started off the season rather sensationally, Vardy had been unstoppable before the turn of the year, so much so that his 17-goal tally still has him at the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

However, since opening the scoring in a 3-1 defeat to Manchester City in December, he has gone on a nine-game drought in all competitions.

While the fans are very worried, Rodgers isn’t. The Foxes gaffer has used the example of Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino to explain how not scoring isn’t necessarily a problem for all strikers.

"“I have no doubt he’ll get the goals and it’s a matter of time before he gets back to scoring again,” Rodgers said. “Sometimes you get a run like it. You don’t force it, you don’t put pressure on, he knows that’s his job.“If you’re needing 65 goals to get where you want to be, then it’s no good having a striker with 40 when the others can’t contribute – it’s a team responsibility.“Look at Roberto Firmino at Liverpool – he’s scored 10, but look at his influence and what he gives and allows the other players [to do].“With Jamie, when he’s not scoring he’s creating space for others. It’s the responsibility of everyone – full-backs, centre-halves, midfielders, front players, and the guys coming off the bench, too, to contribute.”"

That last point is particularly important. It is others’ responsibility to contribute, too. Vardy cannot keep on banging in goals week in and week out. He is human, after all.

Yes, it will be good if he can be back to his goalscoring form, because when he plays well, the team plays well – they all look up to him. But that does not mean that Leicester can afford to be overly reliant on him.

There will come a day when they will have to inevitably do without him, so others have got to learn to step up when their main man isn’t firing.

Vardy’s lack of form and Leicester’s lack of form have both coincided in recent times and that’s one pattern they have got to get rid of.

This is exactly why Rodgers has indirectly asked his players to come up big.