Brendan Rodgers: Leicester City have to ‘fight’ due to lack of summer transfer window spending

Brendan Rodgers suggested that a lack of transfer spending was at the root of Leicester’s struggles after a draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Kasper Schmeichel left Leicester in the summer to join Nice, and Wesley Fofana was sold to Chelsea for around £80 million. Wout Faes was the only player of note brought in during the summer transfer window, and at the time Rodgers suggested that the Foxes were being circumspect due to the club’s finances.

Speaking to BT Sport after the match, Rodgers praised the effort from his players.

He said: “I thought the performance was good. We limited a very good Crystal Palace team, with a lot of individual players of real quality, to one chance.

“Apart from that we pressed the game well, in particular in the second half when the pressure on the ball was much better. We got into good areas but failed to make the final pass to get us that goal.

“At this moment we have got to see effort and fight of the players, which was there. The talent is there but we are [near] the bottom of the table, so confidence can be affected.

“It was a good performance, the desire to win the game was there, but it was a clean sheet against a good team.”

He also paid tribute to the support from the club’s fans: “The crowd gave us good backing, they really pushed the team. We were maybe not at the top of our game, but there were a lot of good moments in it.”

However, Rodgers did not deny he would be under pressure close to the foot of the table, and suggested that failing to act in the market to a greater extent would be a handicap.

“The modern game, if you are not winning, it opens you up to criticism and I accept that,” he added.

“The players are fighting and running and giving everything. I always felt after the summer market we would have to fight our way through the season but the players are doing that and hopefully we will get better results as the season goes on.”