Rodgers declares key trait Leicester lacked that aided Leeds victory

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Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers picked out one crucial trait his side couldn’t compete with Leeds at amid the absences of Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi.

Leicester suffered a costly defeat in their race for Champions League qualification.

The afternoon began well for the Foxes, going in front after the in-form duo of Harvey Barnes and James Maddison combined to carve Leeds open.

From that point on, however, the visitors proved too hot to handle in the final third, notching a trio of unanswered goals to emerge with a 3-1 victory.

Speaking in his post-match press conference (via LeedsLive), Rodgers said: “We’ve been on a fantastic run. It was always going to end. They deserved to win.

“We started well, but gave away a cheap goal. Had opportunities, but they were giving us problems with their running against the backline.

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“We started the second-half well before conceding a great finish by Bamford, but we gave the ball away and got punished us in transition. Weren’t quite at our level today. Have to give them credit.”

When asked if the absences of Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi were particularly debilitating, Rodgers responded: “Everyone can see in certain moments where those two have real quality for us.

“Missed the physicality in the game. Physical players were good today, but needed more of that in moments. Won games without them in the past.

“We didn’t close space enough for their goal. Not good from us but credit to them. All four goals were on transition. We controlled the game, we should have held onto 1-0 for longer.”

 

‘Playing Leeds like basketball’ – Barnes

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Leicester goalscorer Barnes also spoke to the press, telling Sky Sports: “It’s a tough one to take, we know how Leeds play and it can end up as a basketball game.

“We played some good football and we created good chances. The goals we are very disappointed with.”

Regarding his goal, Barnes added: “I was really happy with it, we said the first goal would be important. We know we all need to be contributing and we have all done really well. But the goals conceded cost us.

“The games are coming so quick at the minute, we can’t dwell on it.”