Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for the attacking duo of James Maddison and Harvey Barnes as they both got on the scoresheet in a 2-1 Premier League win over Aston Villa on Sunday.
Winger Barnes set up Maddison to score before netting the second goal himself midway through the first half and though Villa pulled a goal back Leicester never really looked like conceding another, which pleased their manager.
“I was absolutely delighted. I thought some of our football and the speed of our game was really, really good. We didn’t have too many concerns defensively,” Rodgers told Sky Sports.
“They (Maddison and Barnes) are getting better all the time. Maddison occupied the spaces really well. He’s so creative. Harvey I thought was incredible. His finish looked easy but it wasn’t. Both those boys are improving constantly,” he added.
Villa boss Dean Smith was left to rue the absence of midfielder Jack Grealish, who has provided much of the creative spark for his team this season but who missed out on Sunday’s game due to a leg injury.
“Jack Grealish has had discomfort in training, we’ll assess it as we go. It’s not a recurrence of an old injury and it’s not long-term. I hope he’ll be back for Leeds next week,” Smith told the BBC before providing an honest assessment of his team’s efforts.
“The slow start certainly cost us the game – we weren’t good enough. We started very slowly, played everything in front of them and let them play in our half,” he said.
“It became a game of two halves but if you give a team like Leicester a two-goal head start it’s tough to come back.”