Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers regrets that it has been “near impossible” to give Youri Tielemans a rest this season. While Rodgers has praised the Belgian’s influence and mentality, he does admit he would be fresher if he had been able to give him a couple of games rest.
Brendan Rodgers said: “Youri Tielemans is our only offensive midfield player who is available and as much as I have wanted to, it’s been near impossible to rest him because we just don’t have the depth in our squad. We don’t have another player within our squad who is an attacking-based midfield player, somebody who can serve the ball with quality. A lot of our players are defensive types, especially when you take away James (Maddison) and Dennis (Praet) from the squad. He’s a fabulous player. My only feeling with Youri is I’d love to have taken him out. You see some of the other teams around us, they can take players out, recover them for a couple of games, then put them back in, even with the best players. That freshness is vital when you play so often. Unfortunately with Youri we’ve been unable to do that. He’s a player of big quality and he’s got a great mentality. He goes into every game and gives his all. It’s just unfortunate that I can’t recover him as much as I would like to. But also I think it’s a testament to how well he looks after himself. He’s a great professional and so reliable. It’s a testament to how motivated he is for every single game he plays.”
Rodgers would also have liked to have given Vardy a break too. The striker has only just returned from a hernia operation, but has made six straight starts, including in City’s last three midweek games. He only started three of 10 midweek fixtures between September and January.
Brendan Rodgers said: “He’s come in off the back of a hernia operation, he’s come in quicker than normal and because of our situation, he’s played a lot of games and I wouldn’t really want him to. He’s 34, he’s fit and he’s strong, but you still want to be able to take some loading off him, and we haven’t been able to do that. Jamie is a fighter. He’s still such an important player for us. When he’s on the pitch, even though he may be quiet sometimes, he’s always in the game, because if a chance comes, he can take it. We know what he is, he’s a natural goalscorer and is one of the best strikers in the league. We don’t have to play him, but in some of our recent circumstances, that’s what we’ve done. You have to remember he is 34, and even though he still has his speed and these great qualities, ideally you wouldn’t want to put that on him at this stage of his career. His mentality is very strong. He’s done amazing for us because he’s come back from this hernia operation. We’ll have to manage that, and if we do feel he has to come out, and then come into a game, it’s definitely something we’ll look at. After this next week, we’ll have some recovery time in between games for the players to recover and get ready. At the moment, it’s been playing, recovering, and playing again, without much training.”
