Rodgers: Don’t add insult to injury
BRENDAN RODGERS went into the busiest month of the season praying his injury woes would be over. He should have known better. A packed fixture schedule during December has forced the Foxes’ chief to double down and shuffle the pack even more carefully.
The campaign began badly with a broken leg for outstanding young centre-half Wesley Fofana in preseason. Rodgers was already working around a lengthy lay-off of right-back James Justin and with foot and hamstring injuries nagging away at stalwart Jonny Evans, the defensive solidity upon which his success at the King Power Stadium has been based has been seriously eroded.
A shut-out against Newcastle United was their first in 17 matches across all competitions. But just a week later – ravaged by Covid cases and an assortment of ongoing bumps and bruises –
Rodgers found himself without one recognised centre-half.
He said: “The good thing is, we’re still in a position where we can challenge, and we do that knowing we will make an improvement through the season.
“The key for us is not to give away what we would consider ‘simple’ goals. That’s a collective effort – not just down to defenders.
“Of course, we want players like Wesley and James Justin back among us. But we can’t expect them to hit the ground running due to the extent of their injuries.”
For now Rodgers is happy that lay-offs to Youri Tielemans and Harvey Barnes, among others, have cleared up.
Rodgers added: “Asking players to go for the whole 90 minutes is hard. There are some periods where you have to see the game through.
“We did that well against Legia Warsaw when we were 3-1 up and against Watford, but games come thick and fast in the Prem.”