LEICESTER City manager Brendan Rodgers has asked for more fight from his players following Sunday’s Premier League defeat to Arsenal.
The Foxes were beaten 2-0 by the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium through goals from Thomas Partey and Alexandre Lacazette as Mikel Arteta’s side continued their push for a fourth place finish.
Ghana midfielder Partey got the better of Nigeria stars Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho ahead of their World Cup playoffs, and Rodgers was left disappointed by the Super Eagles players and their Leicester City teammates.
“We’re a little bit disappointed in the end,” 49-year-old Rodgers told LCFC TV. “We started okay. We maybe rushed our passes a little bit in the early part of the game. We conceded a disappointing goal, from a corner yet again, but then we worked ourselves into the game.
“We had some really good moments and their ‘keeper made a great save (from Harvey Barnes’ header) to stop it becoming 1-1. We know their threats, we know their qualities, but we played some good football in the first half. We got into some good areas.
“At half-time, we were starting to look a real threat in the game. The penalty in the second half killed us really and it was a disappointment.”
Rodgers added that his side must be more physical in games like Sunday’s.
“You never like to lose a game, but there’s elements of the performance which I was really pleased with,” he explained. “We could be more physical, even though that’s difficult when you’ve played on a Thursday night, while they’ve had a full week to prepare.
“We needed a fraction more physicality in our game and to press them a little bit more. If we can continue to work on that and do that, then we’ll get the ball more. We’ll recover and get our preparation right for the game on Thursday (against Rennes) and look to go and be aggressive there and play our football.”
