Settled Leicester looking more exciting going forward – Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers believes his Leicester side are feeling the benefits of becoming a settled unit.
The Foxes head to Southampton on Wednesday after victories over Legia Warsaw and Watford.
Those wins in the Europa League and Premier League followed a period of inconsistency when Leicester went four games without a victory in all competitions.
But having scored seven goals in the space of three days against Legia and Watford, boss Rodgers said: “I just feel the team has probably settled a little bit now.
“The beginning of the season we had players missing, so (we) were having to adapt the shape of the team to fit in with that and with a different structure.
“The balance in the team has been good in these last couple of games.
“We’ve made some mistakes and given away a couple of penalties.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
“But in the main it looks a lot more solid and, on top of that, we’re scoring goals and looking exciting going forward.”
Jamie Vardy scored for the first time in six games as his double helped Leicester beat Watford 4-2.
James Maddison followed up his strike against Legia by scoring one and creating both Vardy goals on Sunday.
Rodgers hailed Maddison as a “real inspiration” after Leicester’s first Premier League win for over a month and urged the 25-year-old playmaker to maintain his form.
He said: “When you see him at that level and that quality then he’s one of the top talents in the country.
“It’s about consistently doing it between now and the end of the season.
“He’s keen after this little spell where it hasn’t quite gone for him to show that consistency, mentality and workrate. When you get that you get a top player.”
Leicester’s weekend win on former boss Claudio Ranieri’s return to the King Power Stadium moved them into 10th place in a congested Premier League table.
They entered the midweek round of fixtures just five points adrift of fourth-placed West Ham.
“We’re within touching distance of where we want to be,” Rodgers said. “That’s a big credit to the players.
“As the season goes on and we get some players back we will hopefully look to continue that progress.
“The inconsistency at the start of the season has given us some disappointing results.
“But we’ve also had some very good performances and results.”