Rodgers: We Simply Weren’t Good Enough
- Leicester City are knocked out by Blackburn Rovers in the Emirates FA Cup
- Brendan Rodgers gave LCFC TV his verdict on the fifth-round exit
- Tyrhys Dolan and Sammie Szmodics were the goalscorers for Rovers
- Kelechi Iheanacho’s goal proved to be a consolation for the Foxes
Tuesday evening's fifth-round tie at King Power Stadium represented an opportunity to reach the last-eight of a competition the Foxes won in 2021, but goals from Tyrhys Dolan and Sammie Szmodics put pay to those hopes. Kelechi Iheanacho struck for City.
“It’s a very disappointing night,” Rodgers told LCFC TV. “You’re playing at home, with a chance to get to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, and we didn’t take it. I think it says everything that Daniel Iversen was the Man of the Match.
“We couldn’t keep the ball for one and then we didn’t defend well enough. For the first goal, we gave it away so cheaply. It’s just decision making and then they end up going one up. For the second goal also, we gave the ball away and then we failed to defend it.
“When you do that consistently in the game and you keep giving the ball to the opposition, then they can punish you and that’s what happened. We weren’t good enough on the evening but congratulations to Blackburn.”
Despite Iheanacho's goal shortly after the forward was introduced as a second-half substitute, providing a spell of pressure and hope of a comeback, there was no way through the Sky Bet Championship side’s rear-guard for a second time.
City must now move on and focus on the Premier League, with Southampton up next at St. Mary’s Stadium on Saturday (5:30pm GMT kick-off). The fixture provides a chance to bounce back following three defeats across all competitions.
The 50-year-old continued: “At 2-1, we get back into it, but I always think 2-0 is an easy scoreline to play in. We showed spirit, but you have to have more quality than that.
“It’s just not good enough, we have to accept that. It’s been very inconsistent over the course of the season. We’ve had some great performances here but the best team one.
“We always analyse the games and see where we went wrong but I think after that we’ve got to draw a line under it. There’s massive games left in the league, starting on Saturday.”
There was some injury news to report after the game, with Belgium midfielder Youri Tielemans ruled out for an extended period after picking up an ankle injury during Saturday's defeat to Arsenal.
“Youri [Tielemans] will be out for six weeks,” the Northern Irishman explained. “He’s done the ligaments in his ankle and so it’ll not be before the international break that he’s back