Çağlar Söyüncü

City On The Sofa Talking Points: An Evenly-Matched Game & Leicester’s First Half Performance

Steve Walsh, Gerry Taggart and Iwan Roberts provided their post-match thoughts following Leicester City’s 1-0 defeat by Chelsea at King Power Stadium on Sunday.
More on this story...

- City On The Sofa guests Gerry Taggart, Steve Walsh and Iwan Roberts reflect on Leicester City’s clash with Chelsea
- City’s Emirates FA Cup campaign came to an end at the quarter-final stage
- The Foxes were edged 1-0 by Frank Lampard’s side, with Ross Barkley scoring the decisive goal at King Power Stadium

City were narrowly beaten in the quarter-finals of the Emirates FA Cup after Ross Barkley came off the bench to net the winning goal on Filbert Way.

The Foxes went close through Wilfred Ndidi, Jonny Evans, Youri Tielemans and Çağlar Söyüncü, but couldn’t breach Chelsea’s back line and bowed out of the competition.

Speaking on City On The Sofa after the full-time whistle, Walsh, Taggart and Roberts were on hand to analyse City’s loss to the London outfit.

An evenly-matched game

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Çağlar Söyüncü
Çağlar Söyüncü

Çağlar Söyüncü is pictured after the defeat by Chelsea.

Gerry Taggart said: “The difference was one bit of Chelsea quality, that ball from Willian and the finish from Barkley. Leicester just couldn’t finish their chances. Chelsea are always going to get into the game, they’re a quality side and it’s hard to keep them out. It was an evenly-matched game, and in the end it boiled down to one finish.”

Willian’s pin-point delivery

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Willian
Willian

Chelsea's Willian provided the assist for Ross Barkley's winning strike.

Steve Walsh said: “At the end of the day, Willian is a terrific player and as soon as you give him that space, he’ll put a good ball in. It’s crucial to not allow him to get in that situation, and unfortunately, he put a good ball in and found Ross Barkley. Chelsea forced errors out of Leicester City, and they came away with the win.”

Lampard’s changes paid off

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Frank Lampard
Frank Lampard

The Chelsea manager's triple substitution at half-time made the difference at King Power Stadium.

Iwan Roberts said: “You have to take your hat off to Frank Lampard because the hardest thing to do, especially as a new coach, is to get your substitutes right. You could see they were being overrun in midfield, and he changed things. If he didn’t there would have been only one result, but the changes that he made at half-time won Chelsea the game.”

A positive first half

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Kasper Schmeichel
Kasper Schmeichel

The Denmark international did well to deny Christian Pulisic in the first half.

Gerry Taggart said: “That’s what we have come to expect from Leicester – a high press and putting teams on the back foot. It’s important that Brendan stresses that to the players in the build-up to the game, and that first-half performance was probably the best we’ve seen so far since the restart.”

One game at a time

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Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers

The Foxes next face Everton at Goodison Park on Wednesday in the Premier League.

Steve Walsh said: “Leicester got a second wind and when you analyse that, they’ll be gutted because they deserved something out of the game. They played well enough to at least draw that match. We’re out of the FA Cup, but a few more wins in the league and it’ll be a very good season. Let’s take one game at time and see where we get to.”

Finish the season well

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Ben Chilwell
Ben Chilwell

Iwan Roberts urged the Foxes to finish their 2019/20 season strongly.

Iwan Roberts said: "It'll be a tough game at Everton on Wednesday, but there are seven games to go and they're still in a good position in the Premier League table. It's been a great season, and they just need to go and finish the season off now."

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