Brendan Rodgers relieved to see Leicester bring losing run to an end

Posted Sunday, March 19, 2023 by PA

Brendan Rodgers was relieved to see Leicester halt their rotten run of defeats after Harvey Barnes snatched a point in a 1-1 Premier League draw at Brentford.

The Foxes were staring at a sixth straight loss in all competitions, a run which has seen them slide towards the relegation zone, when Mathias Jensen fired Brentford ahead.

But Barnes showed the Bees’ defence a clean pair of heels as he raced on to James Maddison’s through-ball to score a fine second-half equaliser.

“It breaks the cycle of results we were on and I think we thoroughly deserved it,” said Rodgers.

“In the second half we looked like the team who would go on and win it. I’m very pleased with the spirit.

“We had to defend a lot of set pieces and we did very well. Harry Souttar got his head to everything. We got a very good goal and looked like we could go on to win the game.”

Rodgers made a bold call by dropping goalkeeper Danny Ward in favour of Daniel Iversen, but his wait for a first clean sheet since the World Cup break goes on.

“It’s important to give a goalkeeper a good run of games and Danny Ward deserved that,” added Rodgers.

“But I had a long conversation with him before the Chelsea game in terms of what I expect, the standard I expect, and what I want from a goalkeeper, and I just felt after the Chelsea game I wanted to make the change,” added Rodgers.

“Daniel is a good shot stopper, good on crosses and has a calmness to him. Wardy took it great, we had an honest conversation, he’s disappointed at how he’s done.

“He can reflect on it now. Daniel will come in and get a run of games. I thought he did really well.”

Barnes’ strike denied Brentford boss Thomas Frank a 100th win in charge, but they at least stretched their unbeaten run at home to 10 matches.

“It was a fairly fair result for both sides,” said Frank. “I felt we came out with good energy and got a well deserved lead but in the second half unfortunately we couldn’t keep it up.

“We were very aware we had to close down Maddison and Barnes and they produced a brilliant goal, top quality from both of them. After that we lost the final quality. That happens sometimes.”

Ivan Toney was unable to celebrate his England call-up with a goal on a frustrating afternoon for the striker.

“It’s not just Ivan, I think the whole team is annoyed we didn’t win. They are determined and want to win so much,” added Frank.

“You always want to come in with the national team with a goal or a top performance but it’s not just about this game, more about a longer run of games and Ivan has been fantastic.”