Rodgers Seeks Smoother Attacking Play

- Leicester City must be smoother in their passing in their coming games, says Brendan Rodgers
- The 10-man Foxes were beaten 4-1 in the Premier League at London Stadium by West Ham United on Monday
- Rodgers provided an update on the fitness of Jannik Vestergaard, who missed out due to a knee injury

The Foxes had several periods on the ball, most notably in the first half, however they were unable to capitalise and it was West Ham United who proved to be clinical on the evening.

The Hammers first took the lead through Pablo Fornals, whose goal was followed by a red card for Ayoze Pérez for a late challenge on West Ham’s goalscorer before the break.

Then, Saïd Benrahma made it 2-0, and while Youri Tielemans halved the deficit, Michail Antonio’s brace secured a 4-1 win for the hosts.

Speaking to LCFC TV at full-time, Rodgers said: “We’re obviously disappointed with the result. The spirit of the team was really good. We kept fighting.

“The mentality of the team was really good. With 20 to 25 minutes to go, we were 2-1 [down], and then just as we were about to make the changes to try and make a go for it in the last 20 minutes, we obviously conceded the third.

“We had good possession [early on]. We worked the ball, I just felt that technically, we were too slow on it. We needed to be cleaner in our possession but smoother in our passing, and that would have got us through quicker. It’s something to take forward into the next game.

“The first two goals [we conceded] were mistakes. We were in good possession of the ball, but we gave it away. That’s obviously not so good.

“Then, the other goals, of course, we didn’t defend so well, but it’s also really good play by Michail Antonio. He finishes them really well.”

City were without Jannik Vestergaard for the clash after the Denmark international picked up a knee injury in training ahead of Monday’s match.

Assessing the defender’s fitness, Rodgers said: “Hopefully, he can get back onto the field this week. He was playing in a game in training and just hurt his knee and felt some pain in it.

“He’s had a couple of scans and it doesn’t show anything too serious. We’re hoping we can get him onto the pitch in the midweek.”

When asked about the string of injuries City have suffered in the past few seasons to their key players, Rodgers added: “That’s obviously frustrating because we feel we can compete.

“We’ve always been unfortunate in terms of injuries, but listen, we can only concentrate on the players that we have.

“I never intend to cry too much about the players that we don’t have. We just have to keep working and get back on the training field.”