{"id":5986,"date":"2019-03-03T10:55:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T15:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=5986"},"modified":"2019-03-04T09:41:37","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T14:41:37","slug":"watford-spoil-rogers-debut-as-foxes-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=5986","title":{"rendered":"Watford Spoil Rogers&#8217; Debut as Foxes Boss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/2.41550749.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5987\" srcset=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/2.41550749.jpg 600w, https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/2.41550749-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>Brendan Rodgers saw enough from his Leicester side to be positive about the future, despite his first game in charge ending in a 2-1 defeat to Watford.<\/p>\n<p>Rodgers, back in the Premier League for the first time since losing his job at Liverpool in October 2015, looked to be opening his Foxes tenure with a point after Jamie Vardy cancelled out Troy Deeney\u2019s fifth-minute opener.<\/p>\n<p>But Andre Gray ruined his day when he struck an injury-time winner at Vicarage Road.<\/p>\n<p>The match got off to a poor start but after Vardy\u2019s 76th-minute leveler, Leicester looked the more likely side until Gray\u2019s intervention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have got a good idea from watching the team in terms of that the needs are for the summer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a case of coming in and working with the players we have.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are a fantastic group of players, who have a great spirit and are very keen to learn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said to them despite the result we have had a really good week\u2019s training, they have taken on board the areas we spoke about.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know we can improve, there are things we need to get better at, but there is a lot of potential in there. I am looking forward to another week\u2019s training before my first home game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vardy\u2019s leveler was a classic goal for the former England striker as he found space in between the two center-halves before racing on to Youri Tielemans\u2019 throughball and finishing coolly.<\/p>\n<p>He later had to go off feeling the effects of a first-half collision with Ben Foster, but Rodgers believes the 32-year-old is someone he can build his team around.<\/p>\n<p>Rodgers added: \u201cHe\u2019s a player I\u2019ve always loved, we\u2019ve seen in the last number of years, he\u2019s a born goalscorer, but he is perfect for us in the intensity in which he presses and his running ability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe showed what he is great at, the pass by Youri, great speed and a wonderful finish, so it is just about getting players in and around him, so he is not on on his own and we did that in the second half.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a shame he went off, he just felt the effects of the first half when he had the collision but we are hoping he will be OK in the next couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rodgers was returning to Vicarage Road, the place where he began his managerial career, and he was not handed the warmest of receptions, as he was resoundingly booed by the Hornets fans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t hear so much, to be honest,\u201d the former Celtic manager added. \u201cI will always be grateful for Watford, I have said many times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey had the tradition of giving young managers a chance, they gave me mine. I loved my time here, the start was a little difficult because we were at the bottom, but we grew and developed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI made a mistake when I left here. It is a wonderful club, the supporters are great here. I know how difficult it is to get a result here. It\u2019s a wonderful club, Watford.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Watford it was a perfect response to their 5-0 defeat at Liverpool in midweek, winning a fourth game in five.<\/p>\n<p>They are firmly in the race to finish seventh, are still in the FA Cup, and Spanish boss Javi Gracia is optimistic for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cToday was a good performance because we remembered what happened against Leicester in the first game (a 2-0 loss).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a good balance in the team, the perfect atmosphere to play the rest of the season, there are nine games left, five of them are a home and we have the quarter-final of the FA Cup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can see that the players want the feelings more and more and they are ambitious.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-5986\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=5986&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-5986\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=5986&amp;share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-google-plus-1\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-google-5986\" class=\"share-google-plus-1 sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=5986&amp;share=google-plus-1\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Google+\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=5986\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brendan Rodgers saw enough from his Leicester side to be positive about the future, despite his first game in charge ending in a 2-1 defeat to Watford. Rodgers, back in the Premier League for the first time since losing his&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-5986\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=5986&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-5986\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=5986&amp;share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-google-plus-1\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-google-5986\" class=\"share-google-plus-1 sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=5986&amp;share=google-plus-1\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Google+\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=5986\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5986"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5988,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5986\/revisions\/5988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}