Rodgers: Missed Opportunities Cost Us
- Brendan Rodgers reacts to Leicester City’s 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford
- The Foxes lost for the first time in five games across all competitions
- Marcus Rashford (2) and Jadon Sancho netted for the home side
- Rodgers felt United showed their quality in the second half
The Foxes suffered a 3-0 defeat by Manchester United as Marcus Rashford scored twice to put the home side in a commanding position, before Jadon Sancho added a third for the Red Devils.
Had the visitors taken opportunities which fell their way earlier in the contest, City’s manager believes it could have been a different story. In the end, though, Man Utd were deserved winners, he told LCFC TV.
“We’d started the game very well, we’d looked bright,” the Northern Irishman began. “We had chances before they scored and we looked a real threat, but they showed their quality. They had one chance - Marcus Rashford after we gave the ball away cheaply - and they finished it.
“But at half-time we felt good in the game. The first half was good, and we showed the form that we’d been in. If we could just cut out the errors and progress up the pitch a bit cleaner, we showed that we could give them a problem.
“But we never really got going in the second half. Once the second goal went in, we just couldn’t take the ball. We tried to change it up to try and bring a new dynamic to the game, but it was fairly comfortable for them in the end.”
A run of four games unbeaten in all competitions came to an abrupt end in Manchester, and while there were positives to take from the display from Rodgers’ point of view, he also identified several aspects to work on ahead of welcoming Arsenal to Filbert Way on Saturday.
City’s manager added: “They were a bit more aggressive in their pressure and you can mix that in with us giving the ball away as well, which was disappointing. We conceded possession too easily and if you do that against good players, then they are going to punish you.
“There’s always disappointment at the elite level of the game when you’ve been competitive and you lose. We’ve shown we can hurt teams in these last few games. We had the opportunities today, but we didn’t quite take them.
“But we’ll go again, have a good week’s training, we’ll analyse the areas that could have been better because we gifted them goals really. All three goals were preventable. We give the ball away in the first one and, the third one, we could be better positioned.”