Rodgers praises Leicester’s brilliant supporters

After Monday night’s massive triumph against local rivals, Nottingham Forest, Brendan Rodgers spoke to the media and expressed his praise for Leicester City supporters.

The Premier League fixture was a must-win for City, who were starting to fall away from the rest of the league, bottom on one point. The pressure was on, but the Foxes faithful were incredible and set an extraordinary atmosphere.

This started before the match with the amazing Union FS Wes Morgan tifo, then singing their hearts out right through until the final whistle. Rodgers lauded the fanbase after the final whistle:

"“Yep. Everything from before the game, the supporters were brilliant and set a great atmosphere, and that lifted the players. Right from the first whistle, you saw the desire and quality in the game. I’m very pleased, it was an excellent performance”.– Brendan Rodgers speaking to Leicester Mercury"

With Rodgers’ job on the line, this was an all-important game for LCFC. Not only was it pivotal to the rest of Leicester’s season but also to the Northern Irishman’s future at City.

The passion was always going to be there from both sets of fans and players for the East Midlands derby, purely because of how much it means, especially to the fans. Yet the real test for Leicester now is how we handle the next couple of games.

Starting with a trip to AFC Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon, the real test starts there. Then subsequently on to Crystal Palace at King Power Stadium. Can we keep up the passion and integrity that we showed against Forest?

The manager has expressed how important it is for the fans to support the players on the pitch, however it can be difficult when there isn’t anything inspiring in front of you. So really it works both ways: the players put in the effort and passion and they’ll receive the same attitude back from the fans.

Looking forward to Saturday’s game at the Vitality Stadium, the Foxes were handed an injury blow with Papy Mendy and Wilfred Ndidi both unavailable for the fixture on the south coast. Leaving a gap in the defence for Boubakary Soumare to start in the defensive midfield position.

On the other hand the Cherries’ caretaker manager Gary O’Neil has revealed he could welcome back three players into the squad against Leicester City on Saturday. Midfielders Ben Pearson and Joe Rothwell, and full-back Ryan Fredericks all look to be back in time for the fixture, however Junior Stanislas and club captain Lloyd Kelly will miss out.

Whatever happens on Saturday afternoon, the Leicester City players and manager can count on the fans to back them from minute one to 90 – ‘through the good times and the bad, we always back the lads’.