Brendan Rodgers takes surprise stance after Leicester defeat; doubles down on Foxes ‘mantra’
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers was surprisingly upbeat after his team lost 2-1 to Wolves at Molineux.
The Foxes were looking to arrest a four-match winless run in the Premier League. And they went into the game with improved confidence following the Europa Conference League victory over Randers on Thursday.
But Rodgers’ men went behind in the ninth minute due to a goal from Ruben Neves. After being set up by Raul Jimenez, he guided an accurate effort into the bottom corner.
Leicester dragged themselves level before half time. Youri Tielemans played in Marc Albrighton with an incisive pass into the box, and he cut it back for Ademola Lookman. The winger could not miss and slid in from close range.
Wolves took the lead in the 66th minute when Daniel Podence finished off a flowing move with a low drive.
Leicester had no answer, despite Rodgers bringing on James Maddison and Kelechi Iheanacho.
The defeat is Leicester’s 10th in the league this term and leaves them in 11th place. Wolves, meanwhile, are now in seventh and only two points off West Ham in fifth – the sort of position Leicester would be expecting to fight for.
Brendan Rodgers ‘very enthused’
During a post-match interview with BBC Sport, Rodgers was surprisingly positive. “Sometimes after you lose there is disappointment or frustration but I am very enthused,” he said. “I have seen us starting to see us return to our levels of play and creativity. It is just disappointing, they had two shots from outside the box and it’s two goals.
“It is never ideal [to go behind early] but it shows you the courage and spirit of the players that we played our way into the game again, looked dangerous and got the equaliser.
“Our mantra is about having the ball and being progressive. The triangles down the side of the pitch worked really well for us.
“Our movement and brightness in the final third was good, we just lacked that position for our final effort on goal. I was really pleased with the quality at times, the spirit and work rate.
“If you look at the winless run it should already be over. Today it was just keeping the performance level up.”
Wide man reacts to latest defeat
Albrighton told Sky Sports: “We are massively frustrated. We dominated the game from the first whistle to the last. Two shots from outside the box cost us.
“We’ve not played well in parts this season but I think we can hold ouir heads high after that and think our performances are coming back. It is something to build on, certainly.
“For large parts, we defended well. We had a lot of corners and set pieces to defend, especially in the first half with the wind and the conditions and I thought we dealt really well with them.
“In attack, you just need that break. We were doing everything right with the triangles that we work on, they were causing problems. If we play like that between now and the end of the season, we’ll win more than we lose.”
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