Rodgers: Our Game's Returning
- Brendan Rodgers reacts to Leicester City's 2-1 reverse at Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Ademola Lookman struck either side of Wolves goals from Rúben Neves and Daniel Podence
- The Foxes manager pointed to the improved nature of City's attacking display
- He also provided an update on Harvey Barnes' fitness after Leicester's No.7 missed out
A ninth-minute opener from Rúben Neves was deservingly equalised by Ademola Lookman before the interval at Molineux. As City pushed for a second after the restart, it was Bruno Lage's hosts who scored the game's third goal, with Daniel Podence settling the clash in Wolverhampton.
Rodgers admitted that Leicester will return home frustrated not to take anything from the Premier League encounter, but pointed to areas of his side's performance which provide optimism for the weeks to come. The Foxes remain 11th in the top-flight standings after 23 fixtures.
"We didn’t deserve that," the Northern Irishman told LCFC TV. "I thought, with our play, we carried on from the midweek with our football. We got through the pitch quickly. We created opportunities and got into good areas, but just didn’t quite make it count. With their two shots on goal, they scored.
"You’re coming away against a team that have had all week to prepare. We had a game on Thursday. The players dominated the game. In terms of set pieces and stuff like that, they coped with that well, considering that physically, we were a smaller profile than them. We dealt with that well.
"Then, our football, we played through them really, really well. No complaints. The goals, we’re disappointed with. We could put more pressure on outside the box to stop the shot, especially the second one, but the players gave everything. The spirit was there. Some of the football was terrific.
"We just didn’t quite make the result."
Confidence is gradually returning to Leicester's football, Rodgers believes, and the 49-year-old is hopeful that results will follow. Sunday's narrow reverse followed a 2-2 draw with European football-chasing West Ham United and a 4-1 triumph over Randers FC in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
"I said to the players afterwards, for me, we’ve won games this year and I haven’t enjoyed watching us play," Rodgers added.
"The game is about winning but it’s also about performing and I think when we can perform consistently, play with that confidence that we did today – against a team that have done really well this year who are defensively hard to break down – we got into some really dangerous areas continuously.
"As the confidence returns, our game’s returning. Eventually, in time, we’ll get back to our top level."
Harvey Barnes was absent for the Foxes on Sunday and Rodgers revealed: "He woke up this morning and felt the top of his hamstring. He felt a bit stiff after the game the other day and he’s had a couple of days but he didn’t quite recover. He thought he was going to be okay to play but he wasn’t quite right."