The Players Gave Everything, Says Rodgers
- Leicester City were focused on the task at hand on Sunday, says manager Brendan Rodgers
- The Foxes were held to a goalless draw at King Power Stadium
- Extra-Time, live on LCFC.com, Twitter and Facebook, will review the fixture from 5:45pm BST on Monday night
The Foxes’ 2019/20 curtain-raiser resulted in a goalless draw, with Leander Dendoncker seeing a goal ruled out by VAR in the second period.
Rodgers felt that City successfully coped with Wolves’ front line, and says his side will be more effective going forward in their upcoming fixtures as they continue to build their match fitness.
“For 0-0, it was a good game,” Rodgers reflected to LCFC Radio. “It was always tense and it’s just nice to get competitive football again. Wolves, you can see that they’ve had a few games in competition phases already, but I thought it was a good game.
“They’re a good side, you can see they’ve been together for a period of time. They’re very good on the counter-attack. They’ve had some big results away from home in particular, so I thought we controlled that element reasonably well.
VAR Rules Out Wolves Goal In Goalless Stalemate
Watch as the video assistant referee (VAR) system disallowed Leander Dendoncker's goal for Wolverhampton Wanderers at King Power Stadium.
“For us, once we get fitter it’s about being that bit more incisive and more dynamic around the box because we didn’t quite break down their defence enough times in behind.
“The players gave everything. They were very focused in the game and tactically, we dealt with their shape well. It was always going to be a tight game.”
Rodgers says City operated in a 4-3-3 stratagem in an attempt to take control of the midfield, while nullifying the forward play of Raúl Jiménez and Diogo Jota.
“We played what would be 4-3-3 and that would put our front three up against their central defenders,” said the manager. “Then, obviously, we looked to control that midfield area.
“The threat that they have is that when they win it, they get two strikers through the middle and they spin out off that. [Diogo] Jota is an outstanding young talent and he’s very quick and fast with the ball.
“I thought, in all fairness, that the players coped with it well. Cags (Çağlar Söyüncü), who came in, I was really pleased for him.
“A young player coming in and replacing Harry [Maguire] is never going to be easy, but he coped very well with it and I thought he was excellent in the game.
“It was always going to be tight and always going to be a tough game. Probably the Leicester supporters maybe over the years have seen the team maybe lose that 1-0. If you can’t win it, then make sure you don’t lose it, and we take our point and move on.”
Join Matt Elliott, Arlo White, Rob Tanner and Dan Bates in the LCFC Radio studio on Monday night at 5:45pm BST for this season's first episode of Extra-Time.