Rodgers Hints At Ndidi’s Absence As Reason For Southampton Loss

The Nigeria midfield enforcer is out injured as the Foxes suffer their first defeat of 2020, and that left their manager disappointed.

Leicester City gaffer Brendan Rodgers blamed his players’ numerous errors and the absence of a midfield shield as the reasons for his team’s second loss at the King Power Stadium of the 2019/20 season.

Rodgers men started brightly against a Saints side they flogged 9-0 earlier in the campaign, but things didn’t end well this time around.

Dennis Praet’s first goal for Leicester put the Foxes ahead on 14 minutes, but a deflected effort from Stuart Armstrong, before the break, and Danny Ings’ late strike sealed the points for the visitors.

Ndidi missed the Southampton game, having suffered a knee injury in training. The 22-year-old had a successful surgical operation on Thursday and is expected to be out of action for a minimum of three weeks.

In his absence, the Leicester City midfield could not withstand the waves of Southampton attacks, with the defence caving in and conceding twice. The home side could have shipped in more goals on a disappointing day but for the brilliance of their No.1 goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel who pulled off a string of excellent saves.

Rodgers could not hide his displeasure afterwards at how his wards could not manage the midfield duel properly in the absence of their Nigerian import.

“We didn’t press the game strong enough, or well enough, and then when we had the ball, we made too many mistakes when we had the ball,” Rodgers was quoted on the Leicester City official website. 

“So, it looked like up until the end, it was going to be a draw, which we would have taken because we didn’t play well.

“However, they played through our midfield too easily and then they get in and get the goal, so a disappointing result for us.”