BRENDAN Rodgers was pleased with the performance of Ademola Lookman against Arsenal although the Leicester City manager was not happy with his team’s overall output.
Gabriel and Emile Smith-Rowe struck in the opening 20 minutes at the King Power Stadium as Arsenal handed Leicester City their first defeat in six games across all competitions.
Lookman, who could play international football for Nigeria soon, replaced Super Eagles forward Kelechi Iheanacho at the beginning of the second half and impressed Rodgers.
“We had to make changes to shift the dynamic of the game, but we got punished for that opening 20 minutes,” Rodgers explained in his post-match interview.
“Both Harvey Barnes and Ademola Lookman were excellent. They gave us that pressure higher up the pitch. We could condense the game up there and we were much better.”
The Leicester City boss was disappointed by his side’s sleepy start to the game and blamed the team for repeating the same mistakes.
The side had come back from 2-0 down to beat Spartak Moscow 4-3 in a UEFA Europa League clash in the penultimate midweek but Arsenal shut them out on Saturday, with goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in excellent form.
“A poor start cost us,” Rodgers told LCFC TV. “It’s a lack of concentration and then you’re chasing the game against a good side. “We’ve been able to do it in a few games recently where we’ve not bad a great start and come back, but you can’t give teams a 2-0 start, especially a good team like Arsenal.”
