HOPING FOR A REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
CITY BOSS HOPING FOR STRONG FINISH AFTER A SLOW START TO THE SEASON
BRENDAN Rodgers is already pinning his hopes on the second half of the season after another underwhelming performance at Crystal Palace, writes Jordan Blackwell.
City gave up a 2-0 lead to draw at Selhurst Park, and have now picked up just eight points from their opening seven league fixtures. That’s in stark contrast to the previous two campaigns, where they earned 14 and 15 points respectively to be among the early pace-setters. In both of those seasons, City’s quick starts tailed off, the club just missing out on a Champions League place on both occasions.
After watching his side’s start to this term, he’s hoping the opposite is true this time. “When you’re 2-0 up, you’ll be disappointed,” Rodgers said after Michael Olise and Jeff Schlupp cancelled out Kelechi Iheanacho and Jamie Vardy’s first-half goals.
“But we didn’t deserve much more than what we got. We showed grit and determination, but we’re still searching for stability in defending.
“It’s always a dangerous scoreline, 2-0. In most of my time here, I would have felt really comfortable with that position, because of how we defend with the ball, and normally we’re very solid.
“But I never felt overly comfortable today. When it gets to two each, the momentum can really go against you, but the players kept fighting and I was encouraged by that aspect. They gave it everything, we’re just not playing to our level. It might be different, this season, to the last two, where we’ve started on fire and then dropped off. Hopefully this can be the season where we finish the second part of the season really strong.”
But while the struggles in the defence continued, City have not one but two strikers in form, with Iheanacho making the most of his first league start of the season, and Vardy scoring his sixth so far.
Assessing Iheanacho’s performance, Rodgers said: “It was certainly better than when he was here last time, when he missed a penalty. His energy at the top end of the field, with Jamie, posed a threat. Both scored which was great. They worked very hard. It’s just a shame we couldn’t defend our box better.”