90min

Brendan Rodgers praises Leicester's mentality in draw against Man Utd

By Joshua Wroath

Rodgers had high praise for his players after the game
Rodgers had high praise for his players after the game / MICHAEL REGAN/Getty Images
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Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers was delighted by his team's mentality following the 2-2 with Manchester United on Boxing Day.

After going behind in the 23rd minute to Marcus Rashford's slotted finish, his side pulled back to make it 1-1 at the break courtesy of a smashing Harvey Barnes finish from outside the box.

The Foxes went behind again as the talismanic Bruno Fernandes netted in the second half, but earned a deserved point when Axel Tuanzebe turned into his own net from James Maddison's cross with five minutes to go.

Rodgers was clearly proud of his team's battling performance, telling BT Sport he believed his team were the better in the opening stages.

He said: "I thought over the course of the first half we were the better team in all fairness. We got a wee bit of luck against us, the deflection takes it into his [Rashford's] path. He does what he does, he's a top-class player.

"We showed that mentality to come back again and Harvey [Barnes] scores a fantastic strike but I thought it was the least we deserved in the first half."

Rodgers also explained that his team's mentality to fight back was something him and his players had previously spoken about.

"We go 2-1 behind and it's the thing that we've been talking about, cause we've either won or lost games," he continued.

"We've always had our enthusiasm, we've had our confidence but these are games where you go behind 2-1, against a team that had been playing so well, and it really shows the mentality in the team."

Leicester have no time to rest though, with an away trip to Crystal Palace on 28 December awaiting them.

On the quick turnaround, Rodgers added: "Tomorrow, recover, go away and just see where we are at.

"I think we just need to look at our freshness. Lots of players have played a lot of games, so just see where we are at and pick a team that we think can get a result."

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