Brendan Rodgers
Wilfred Ndidi could miss the rest of the season with the knee injury he suffered in Rennes, Brendan Rodgers has revealed. It will come as a blow to the player as well, as the midfielder was due to go away this week with Kelechi Iheanacho and Ademola Lookman as part of the Nigeria squad that is taking on Daniel Amartey’s Ghana for a place at the World Cup. Asked about the injury situation in the squad,
Brendan Rodgers said: “Marc (Albrighton) hopefully should be back just after the international break if he’s not back by then. It’s just a tweak in his groin. Wilf is not so good. We’re just waiting for a second opinion on that but whether he’ll play for the rest of the season I’m not sure. It’s a real shame for us. The likes of Jamie (Vardy), it’s a week to a couple of weeks, so that’s looking much healthier for us.”
City were able to pick up three points without Ndidi on Sunday as two stunning first-half strikes from Timothy Castagne and James Maddison clinched victory over Brentford, who came close to a comeback late on when Yoane Wissa found the net. After a testing game in Rennes in midweek that will have pushed his players to their limits, Rodgers still wanted to see more from his side against the Bees at the King Power Stadium.
Brendan Rodgers said: “I thought it was an excellent win for us. I thought in spells we played some great football. I demand more from us in the second half in terms of the care with the ball, we presented it to them too many times. And they are high on confidence after a couple of really good wins, and of course, they’re good on the set-pieces. Kels (Iheanacho) has a great chance, it’s a great piece of skill, he runs halfway up the pitch and he’s unlucky not to score. At 3-0 you can maybe find a bit more comfort. At 2-0, I’ve always said it is an endurance scoreline. You still have to be focused. We helped them because we gave the ball away. I’m not going to use tiredness as an excuse, you’ve got to be more precise and cleaner with your passing. By the same token, when it’s not as precise as you need it to be, to have that resilience and mentality to defend a team who are very good at set-pieces how we did, I have to take my hat off to the players because they stuck in there and did great. It’s a fantastic three points, but I’ll always demand more from the performance. After the back of a tough game in midweek, it was a really good win for us.”
