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RODGERS’ HALF-TIME TEAM TALK SEES ‘EXPLOSIVE’ PERFORMANCE TO MOVE CITY INTO THE TOP THREE
LEICESTER City gave an “explosive” second half performance to blast their way past Newcastle and into the Premier League’s top three.
City needed sparking into action after a dull first half at St James’ Park and Brendan Rodgers, while not quite giving his team a rocket, reminded them of the need to show some urgency during his half-time team talk.
That prompted a faster second period, with James Maddison and Youri Tielemans pulling the trigger to earn a seventh away Premier League win, the best in the division. “We started the game really well but that final pass lacked precision,” said Rodgers.
“Youri just overhit his pass to Tim (Castange) and there was where Tim tried to cut it back.
“There wasn’t too much to say at half-time, but we needed to be more explosive. It’s in the turnovers when they are a little disorganised. The second half, we did that.
“They’re so important, to get the first goal against a back line of five opens up the game. But both goals were very good in their own way – in reactivity, speed, movement and clinical finishes.
“For the second goal, we defended really well on halfway, we won the two duels and then we exploded towards their goal.
“You saw Newcastle during the week (against Liverpool), they were very organised.
“We knew we would have to be good.
“We had to show our speed and precision in our game.”
But those two goals didn’t see the game off, with Newcastle pushing late on and Andy Carroll getting one back.
City then had to show different attributes.
“It became a war and the players coped with that manfully,” said Rodgers.
“Seeing the game through won’t always be about perfect football.
“You’ve got to dig in for the last 10 or 15 minutes.
“It’s finding that mindset to win games and we saw it out really well.
“That’s equally as pleasing as the good football.”