Leicester City: Jamie Carragher’s high praise for Brendan Rodgers

After a determined comeback against Crystal Palace, Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers was lavished with praise from ex-Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

In previous Foxes seasons, going a goal down to teams like Palace usually led to dominating possession, and getting torn to pieces on the counter-attack. However, this time we turned the game around thanks to goals from Castagne and Iheanacho. Therefore it is refreshing when watching Leicester now, that going a goal down does not signal near-certain defeat.

Rodgers has always been a tactically astute manager, yet his ability to evolve and adapt is something that has been crucial in this strange season. Whilst the players do the job on the pitch, Rodgers‘ man-management skills have been showcased on several occasions. Notably, his handling of the COVID-19 house party showed his willingness to assert his authority, yet also providing protection for his players from the media.

Over the last few seasons, the Northern Irishman has rebuilt his reputation from his past disappointments and has clearly learnt important lessons from these experiences. It is unsurprising therefore, that he emphasises the importance of failure in his press conferences and his tactics. Evidently, the use of disappointment as a lesson for future success is something we can all learn from, and is a key reason for Carragher’s praise for Rodgers.

Unsurprisingly, with Leicester in third position with five games to go, Carragher labelled Rodgers achievements as “phenomenal”, along with giving him the title of the “best British manager”, as shown by the below tweet. The fact that Carragher was initially a skeptic of Rodgers, having been witness to his tenure at Liverpool further underlines the gaffer’s success.

A top-four finish and a potential FA Cup win would certainly mark an incredible year for Leicester City after a difficult year for all. Certainly, this would do no harm to Rodgers’ reputation, and could help to dispel his largely undeserved title of being a ‘serial bottler’.