Leicester City did not pass the ball properly until Papy Mendy took the pitch, manager Brendan Rodgers said in a damning indictment of his side’s limp display in their Carabao Cup exit. Rodgers felt he only saw what he wanted when Mendy came on. The Senegalese midfielder was introduced as an 84th-minute substitute.
Brendan Rodgers said: “The best team went through. We knew we had to start better than we did a few weeks ago and the players weathered that storm. We created some half chances in the first half but didn’t take them. Patson had a great chance and didn’t shoot. The first goal was soft. We’ve got the ball and we gave it away cheaply. We have to push, so we changed the structure. Then the second we concede from a throw-in, which was disappointing. They had more quality. In midfield, we needed too many touches. We lost too many balls too easily. We were careless in our passing, we were not passing it well enough. Our first proper passes of the game came when Papy Mendy came on. He took it and passed it like a midfield player should. Apart from that, we didn’t pass it quickly, they did. They passed it with more quality.”
Defeat means City have now lost four from four matches against Premier League-level opposition since they returned from the World Cup, scoring just one goal. They’re next in action against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, with the sides going into East Midlands derby level on points.
