Brendan Rodgers joked he does not get the credit he deserves because he is not a glamorous foreign manager after outwitting Marcelo Bielsa to take his Leicester side second in the Premier League. Leicester are a point behind Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool after their 4-1 win against Bielsa’s Leeds at Elland Road on Monday night.
Rodgers, 47, has also masterminded victories this season against other vaunted tacticians, Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola. Leicester have made their joint best-ever start to a top-flight campaign, even better than when they won the title in the 2015/16 campaign.
“Because I’m a British manager, I got lucky, that’s the way it works in these games,” said Rodgers, who comes from Northern Ireland. “But the players were brilliant and got their rewards.”
Jamie Vardy is leading Leicester’s charge, with seven goals so far this season. Rodgers called the 33-year-old “world class” on the eve of the game and the former England man ran Germany international Robin Koch ragged throughout. At the back, the former Liverpool and Celtic boss had to re-jig his defence due to a series of injuries, with Caglar Soyuncu, Jonny Evans and Daniel Amartey out of action. “They were outstanding,” said Rodgers, who came agonisingly close to winning the title with Liverpool in 2014. “We’re missing top international players.”
Rodgers, whose team missed out on a Champions League place after a late collapse last season, is not entertaining title thoughts despite Leicester’s outstanding form. “It’s so early that it’s not really worth talking about,” he said.
Harvey Barnes and Youri Tielemans put Leicester two up before half-time at Elland Road. Stuart Dallas got one back for Leeds but Vardy’s eighth goal of the season and a late Tielemans penalty wrapped up Leicester’s fourth successive away league win. Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa said: “In the first 30 minutes we defended poorly and after we didn’t create enough danger. That is one of the main responsibilities of the manager.”
Leicester made the perfect start in the third minute. A poor back-pass from Robin Koch was intercepted by Vardy and he rounded keeper Illan Meslier before squaring for Barnes to tap into the empty net.
Leicester didn’t have to wait long to double their lead in the 21st minute. Marc Albrighton’s cross picked out Vardy at the near post and his diving header was unconvincingly pushed out by Meslier to Tielemans, who slotted home from close range.
Dallas gave Leeds a lifeline in the 47th minute when his cross evaded everyone and looped past the flat-footed Schmeichel. Leeds had the momentum and Pablo Hernandez almost equalised with a curling strike from the edge of the area.
But Leicester weathered the storm and Vardy struck in the 76th minute with a close-range finish after Cengiz Under flicked James Maddison’s pass over Meslier. Belgian midfielder Tielemans got the fourth with a stoppage-time spot-kick after Mateusz Klich’s foul on Maddison.