Brendan Rodgers and Danny Ings lock horns tonight having been at Liverpool together.
Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers has told The Telegraph that he thought striker Danny Ings had a ‘difficult’ time at Liverpool – but must be aware of his former signing tonight.
The Foxes head to the South Coast tonight, taking on Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium in what could be a tricky game for Rodgers and co.
Rodgers can at least call upon the likes of James Maddison and Jamie Vardy, alongside a whole host of other quality players, but one Southampton player may concern Rodgers.
Striker Ings is in fine form at the moment, having scored three goals in his last three games, including the opener away at Wolves last weekend.
The 27-year-old will be the main threat to Rodgers’ Leicester side tonight, and the Leicester boss is certainly familiar with Ings from their time together at Liverpool.
Rodgers signed Ings for Liverpool from Burnley in 2015, but Rodgers was sacked just months later, and the striker suffered major injury problems before heading to Southampton in 2018.
Now, Rodgers has admitted that he thought Ings had a difficult time at Liverpool, but he’ll actually be a better player for having gone through those tough experiences during his stint at Anfield.
Rodgers thinks Ings knew he wouldn’t play much at Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp and ultimately made the right decision to move on, urging his players to be wary of the striker tonight.
“Danny had a bad injury as a young player at Bournemouth, he came through that to Burnley before coming to Liverpool,” said Rodgers. “It’s just great that he is back playing, and playing consistently, he’ll be a better player for it as well, for his experiences at Liverpool and what he gained there. He was a very popular boy amongst the squad, supporters will like him because he gives everything. It was difficult for him at Liverpool to come back once he’d been injured, especially with the guys in the form they were in.”
“He also knew at that stage that he didn’t have as many miles on the clock as a player in terms of games. So he needed to get out and play, he’s gone to Southampton and done very well for them. He’s a really good guy, He plays with a smile and wants to score goals. He runs, he gets into the box and when he does he normally finishes. He scored in my last game at Liverpool, in the derby. He’s one we have to be wary of,” he added.
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