Rodgers rues costly mistakes; reacts to Perez red in Leicester loss

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers during the 2021 Community Shield

Brendan Rodgers during the 2021 Community Shield as Leicester defeated Man City 1-0

Brendan Rodgers admitted his side made ‘too many mistakes’ as 10-man Leicester were thumped 4-1 by West Ham at the London Stadium on Monday night.

Michail Antonio’s two late goals fired the striker into the Hammers’ record books. His first saw him overtake Paolo Di Canio as West Ham’s top Premier League goalscorer, and he celebrated in hilarious fashion by kissing a life-size cardboard cut-out of himself.

Moments later he was one short of a half-century of top-flight goals as West Ham maintained their flying start to the season.

The Hammers led through goals from Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma, either side of a red card for Leicester’s Ayoze Perez.

Youri Tielemans hauled one back for the 10 men but Antonio stole the show with his late heroics.

Speaking after the match, Rodgers told Sky Sports: “We started the game OK and we looked like we could hurt them. We made too many mistakes. Credit to the players, they kept going. There’s no doubting the mentality or the spirit.

“We got to 2-1 and were ready to make subs and attack the game – but then they scored the third goal [before they came on]. We were looking to go to 4-3-2 and get the extra player up there.

“By the end, Michail scores a couple of great goals and finishes the game.

“We weren’t at our top level tonight, we needed to move it quicker, taking too many touches.

“We kept fighting. At half-time we said it was a chance to show our spirit.”


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Perez unlucky to see red

On Ayoze Perez’s red card: “If you look in isolation at the contact it doesn’t look good. But if you look back there’s a foul on him, he gets clipped.

“If he goes down he gets a free-kick. Because he’s clipped he’s stretching and makes the tackle. It doesn’t look great slowed down.

“When Michael [Oliver] goes to the screen in front of 60,000 people it’s going to be given.”

READ MORE: Rodgers names ‘only thing’ that can stop Leicester star becoming one of best