Jamie Vardy felt Leicester City provided the perfect response to the criticism they have faced in the wake of Claudio Ranieri’s sacking in the dominant 3-1 Premier League win over Liverpool.

England striker Vardy scored his first top-flight goals since December 10, either side a spectacular Danny Drinkwater strike, to lift reigning champions Leicester out of the relegation zone four days on from Ranieri leaving the King Power Stadium.

“We’ve come under a lot of unfair stick with the stuff that’s been in the press and online lately,” he told Sky Sports.

“You’ve seen the lads wanted to put in a reaction and now it’s up to us to consistently do that.

“I couldn’t tell you [why Leicester have been so poor], I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“We’ve been working hard and it’s not been happening but, luckily, it’s all clicked

“I wouldn’t say [there was] more effort. Shakes [interim manager Craig Shakespeare] before the game told me to play a lot higher and there were weaknesses where we thought we could hurt them.

“I’ve been very frustrated with the amount of goals I’ve got this season but hopefully those two will push me on and there are lots more to follow.

“We just needed to show that we’ve got that fighting intensity. Win or lose, as long as we got the performance right we could hold our heads high at the end but I think we deserved the three points.”