Brendan Rodgers admitted to surprise over Leicester City’s costly lack of aggression in their Boxing Day defeat to Newcastle United. The City boss was disappointed by his side’s attitude and commitment on what was the club’s first Premier League home match for nearly two months, saying they did not play like they wanted to win. That lax start was their downfall, as they found themselves 2-0 behind inside seven minutes, and three down after half an hour. Before the World Cup, City’s aggression out of possession had helped turn around their form, but that was lacking at the King Power Stadium in the first half. And with Newcastle high on confidence, the visitors did not falter during City’s attempted comeback in the second period, Rodgers’ side barely able to lay a glove on them.
Brendan Rodgers said: “I’ve had 300 games as a Premier League manager and one of the things I’ve learned during that period is that there is clearly quality in the Premier League, but the one thing you need to have is the right attitude and commitment, especially at the start of games. For some reason ours wasn’t there. Once you give a team like Newcastle, who play with confidence and have good players, a leg-up, then it can be very difficult for you. It’s all about mentality. What we’ve seen over the past few months, you cannot win games unless you defend properly and defend with a strong mentality. We didn’t do that. In terms of mental aggression, physicality, we didn’t start like we wanted to go and win the game. That means getting in contact with people, getting tight with people. Sadly, we were off it. Then you throw in mistakes, it doesn’t help. It’s always going to take any team a period to get to the levels they might have been at [after the World Cup break], but it doesn’t take away that aggression in the game, because that’s about mentality. That was a surprise to me today.”
The result was City’s heaviest home loss for 13 months and means they stay in the bottom half. They are four points above the relegation zone.
