Under-fire Leicester City boss, Brendan Rodgers, has explained his decision to start Nigeria international Wilfred Ndidi from the bench against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Ndidi, a mainstay in the Foxes’ midfield, was brought in with just a minute to the end of the game for Youri Tielemans, as Leicester suffered a 2-1 defeat against the Blues.
Rodgers opted for Boubacar Soumare in the defensive midfield position ahead of the Nigerian.
The substitute role was strange to followers of the Super Eagles star, as he had been a main-stay in Rodgers’ side, who suffered their third defeat of the 2022/23 English Premier League season to sit bottom of the table with just one point.
Explaining his decision to start Ndidi from the bench, Rodgers, in an interview with BBC, said, “We wanted to come through the pitch quicker. Soumare has been great in training and he’s committed now to staying at the club, which is great.
“He (Soumare) allows us to play through the thirds quickly and that was the reason for him coming in instead,” Rodgers said.
It’s been a poor start to the season for the 2015/16 English champions as they are currently with a win in their four games played so far. Leicester have a point having lost three games and conceded 10 goals.
Kelechi Iheanacho was a 55th-minute substitution for Soumare in the game.
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