Rowett: We Know What We’ve Got To Do

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Rowett: We Know What We’ve Got To Do

Gary Rowett was frustrated that we could not capitalise on an encouraging start – and our reaction to going behind – during Saturday’s 1-0 reverse to Swansea City.

2026-04-12T08:00+01:00

by Sam Stevens

Published

12 Apr, 2026

Rowett: We Know What We’ve Got To Do

Gary Rowett was frustrated that we could not capitalise on an encouraging start – and our reaction to going behind – during Saturday’s 1-0 reverse to Swansea City.

Sam Stevens

2026-04-12T08:00+01:00

Rowett: We Know What We’ve Got To Do

Gary Rowett was frustrated that we could not capitalise on an encouraging start – and our reaction to going behind – during Saturday’s 1-0 reverse to Swansea City.

Sam Stevens

2026-04-12T08:00+01:00

Rowett: We Know What We’ve Got To Do

Gary Rowett was frustrated that we could not capitalise on an encouraging start – and our reaction to going behind – during Saturday’s 1-0 reverse to Swansea City.

Sam Stevens

2026-04-12T08:00+01:00

Rowett: We Know What We’ve Got To Do

Gary Rowett was frustrated that we could not capitalise on an encouraging start – and our reaction to going behind – during Saturday’s 1-0 reverse to Swansea City.

Sam Stevens

2026-04-12T08:00+01:00

Gary Rowett provides his assessment of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Swansea City
It leaves us four points from safety in the Sky Bet Championship with four games to play
The Manager was disappointed we couldn’t take our early opportunities and our reaction to going behind
We face Portsmouth next at Fratton Park – the side who currently sit above the bottom three

A 53rd-minute winner from Žan Vipotnik settled the contest at King Power Stadium, to leave Leicester City 23rd in the Sky Bet Championship, four points adrift of safety.

We have just four games left of the season, with a trip to Portsmouth – the side currently just above the bottom three – next up on the agenda for Rowett’s men on Saturday.

“If I look at the game I think, in the first half, we were probably just slightly the better side,” the Manager said after the loss to Swansea.

“We created slightly the better chances. We do get some moments in there. Like sometimes in the Championship, you do have to make sure you come out in the second half with a little bit more energy again.

“I spoke to them about that at half-time, just saying: ‘It feels like a game where, if we can just step up 10 per cent, with a little more energy, a little more quality, a bit more drive about our performance, then we potentially give ourselves a good chance to win the game’.

“[For the Swansea goal], I don’t know why we decide to go short. It’s clearly not on and then they break, run a long way, to score. The disappointment is, up until that moment, I don’t think there’s much in the game.

“We created better chances than they did and then, after the goal, is where I’m a little bit angry really. Because I felt our reaction was really poor and just our drive, our desire to go and chase the game again just felt like it didn’t get going.

“Whether that’s nerves, pressure, whatever that is, they also can come down to just a little bit of desire and drive and determination.

“I felt as though we didn’t manage the last half-an-hour after the goal very well at all. We still had some moments in there, but not enough moments, and the performance really fizzled out from their goal.

“Whether that deflates a team or what, we have to have a better mentality than that. We’re fighting for our lives. I’ve just reminded the players in there: whether it affects some of you, it might not affect all of you, but it affects an awful lot of people at this Football Club.

“When you’re in this position, I think you have to show more desire than that to try and get back into the game.”

The stakes of next weekend’s trip to Portsmouth are there for all to see. Pompey in fact play a game in hand at home to Ipswich Town on Tuesday, before hosting us at Fratton Park on Saturday – with the Manager pointing to that clash’s importance.

He also revealed that injuries to Ben Nelson (thigh) and Caleb Okoli (hamstring) – who are expected to be out for the rest of the season – affected our preparation for the Swans game.

“At this point, preparation is one thing, but we know what we’ve got to do,” he added.

“We know how we’ve got to do it. I don’t think preparation was helped by losing Ben Nelson and Caleb Okoli in the build-up to it.

“Stephy [Mavididi] was ill this morning, but felt as though he could play. Maybe that was the wrong decision. We are where we are. We’ve got the players that we’ve got.

“I still believe that we’ve got enough quality in there. But we’ve got to start to show a little bit more of the basics.

“I think fight’s an easy word. The basics of the game are the ones that are lacking. We conceded a poor goal last week against Sheffield Wednesday after a minute-and-a-half.

“It’s just a ball in the box. That’s meat and drink for most Championship sides.

“Today, I don’t think they cut us open very often, [but] we concede a goal when we’ve got control of it, we can put it in the box. We try a clever short one and then we’re 1-0 down and that’s been the story of the last 10 games and the story of the season.”

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