Wes Morgan thinks Brendan Rodgers can make Leicester “a force to be reckoned with”.
The former Liverpool boss has made a good start to life with the Foxes, overseeing two wins from three matches, most recently a 2-1 victory at Burnley on Saturday that came despite Harry Maguire’s fourth-minute red card.
Morgan has every reason to like Rodgers given he appeared headed for the exit door at the King Power Stadium this summer until the Northern Irishman replaced Claude Puel and said he wanted the veteran defender to stay.
“The gaffer’s been brilliant,” said Morgan. “He’s spoken to me. He likes experienced players. I’ve been at the club a long time and he made it clear he wants me around – I’m on the gaffer’s side!
“He’s been a real breath of fresh air. He’s got a style and identity of how he wants things to work. It will take time, but we’ll get there in the end and be a force to be reckoned with.”
Burnley dominated the second half and were desperately searching for a winner when Leicester mounted a rare attack and Morgan headed in Youri Tielemans’ cross.
Morgan, who was the man brought on following Maguire’s dismissal, said: “I’ve scored a few goals and that’s definitely in the top three I think.
“It was a fantastic feeling to score at the end but a strange start. I’d settled down on the bench, looking forward to watching the game, and then I was straight on after four or five minutes.
“I didn’t expect it to turn out like that but you have to always be ready and I was ready to go on and play my part.
“We battled well. It’s not easy with 10 men but we battled through to the end, stuck at it, were fortunate to have a chance. Every single one of us was awesome.”
James Maddison had earlier given Leicester the lead with a superb free-kick into the top corner in the week he was left out of Gareth Southgate’s England squad.
Rodgers, who revealed Maddison suffered with illness on Friday night, said: “He’s a good boy and knows where he’s at in his first year in the Premier League.
“He knows there are a lot of quality players about but he’s a wonderful talent and will get better and better – and he’s going in the right direction.
“Top-level players can do that, find the top corner. That’s his strength, his technique, whether it’s a through pass to Jamie Vardy or a free-kick. It’s not by accident.”
The result was a hammer blow to Burnley, who have been dragged right back into the relegation battle after following a run of eight games without defeat by losing four in a row.
Full-back Charlie Taylor said: “It’s a bit of a sickener, really. It was massively frustrating. With how the game started and them going down to 10 men so early, it’s definitely a missed opportunity to get three points.
“Before these four games, we were on a really good run. I don’t know what’s happened. I wouldn’t say we’ve been playing badly.
“We’ve got two weeks now until the next game, so we’ve got a lot of work to do and we know that, and we’ve got seven games to stay in this league for next season.”
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