We Needed To Play Forward More, Says Rodgers
- Leicester City were beaten 2-1 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening
- Kelechi Iheanacho's late strike wasn't enough to overturn efforts from Antonio Rüdiger and Jorginho
- Brendan Rodgers was frustrated to see his young squad concede 'two soft goals' in the capital
- The Northern Irishman is now looking to City's next outing as a chance to hit back
Goals from Antonio Rüdiger and Jorginho put the Blues ahead at Stamford Bridge after a dominant first-half from the hosts, but City rallied in the latter moments, with Kelechi Iheanacho halving the arrears.
Despite an improved showing late on in west London, after battling so valiantly to edge Thomas Tuchel's men in the final of the Emirates FA Cup just four days earlier, Leicester were denied a precious point in the penultimate fixture of the 2020/21 season.
"We gave away two soft goals," Rodgers said in his post-match assessment with LCFC TV. "Two of our young players, who have been absolutely brilliant, they will learn. We gave away a needless corner and then we didn’t defend that well enough.
"It was too easy. We needed to be stronger in that moment, not concede it in the first place and the second one’s a very, very, very, very soft penalty.
"I think it was barely a touch, if it was a touch. That put us back in the game, but we showed great fight with the reaction and maybe could have nicked something at the end."
While Rodgers lamented City's lack of precision in the final third, the Northern Irishman pointed to the quality at Chelsea's disposal: "They’re finalists in the Champions League, so that tells you they’re a squad that’s arguably up there with the best in Europe, so we expected the reaction.
"We had to deal with that pressure at the beginning of the game, but I thought the players did that. We weathered the storm and had a bit of luck along the way. We couldn’t quite find the pass, we were too slow in our passing. We needed to play forward more.
"In the last 20-25 minutes, we started to be much more progressive."
Leicester welcome Tottenham Hotspur to King Power Stadium on Sunday - the final game of 2020/21 - when members of the Blue Army will return to Filbert Way for the first time since March 2020. Looking ahead, Rodgers says there is much to fight for and hopes the fans' backing can help his side.
"Let’s get the victory there," he continued. "Let’s recover over these next few days, get a plan together again and see if we can finish with three points. The fans really pushed us over the line at the weekend with an amazing effort between them and ourselves.
"Hopefully they can do that at the weekend and we’ll see where we're at."