Brendan Rodgers says Leicester showed 'good signs' despite defeat at Watford

Brendan Rodgers says there were "good signs" from his new Leicester side despite their late 2-1 Premier League defeat at Watford in his first game on Sunday.

Jamie Vardy cancelled out Troy Deeney's early opener at Vicarage Road, but in the third minute of second-half injury-time, Andre Gray slotted home to see Rodgers begin his Leicester tenure with a defeat.

• Match report
• As it happened

However, the Northern Irishman - who began his managerial career at Watford - saw positives in the performance and believes they deserved at least a point.

Rodgers told Sky Sports: "I was so pleased with some of the quality in the game today from the players.

"It's a tough place to come here and we're obviously disappointed to lose the game late on, but there are good signs from today. We'll keep getting better and do some more hard work next week.

"I said to the players today that I didn't have any expectations from them, and I didn't want them to feel the pressure. I just wanted them to go and play because when there is change, sometimes it can be difficult.

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"But we've had a great week of work and there's a really strong spirit in the team. I'm disappointed for them that they never got the reward because, at least, we should have had a point, but that will come. There will be many more good days for us and we'll build on that today."

While Vardy did score the first goal under Rodgers' management, he hobbled off late in the game after feeling the effects of a first-half collision with Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster.

However, Rodgers gave assurances on the striker, adding: "He's OK, it was more from the impact of the collision. He felt a little bit weary but other than that, he should be OK.

"He didn't feel quite right and he maybe could've stayed on, but there was no point in risking it so we decided to take him off.

"It's going to take time, but you can see the attacking threat in the team. It's the first time they've played the system but it's important for him [Vardy] that we can connect the game higher up the pitch for him in order to give him more opportunities because you see with the goal, if he's high enough and you make those passes, he doesn't need many chances to score."

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