Leicester City coach Brendan Rodgers has offered to take full responsibility following his sides’ 1 – 1 draw at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace.
The Foxes were without key players as the Scottish manager resorted to making seven changes to the team which drew 2 – 2 with Manchester United on Boxing Day.
It was Harvey Barnes effort in the 83rd-minute that salvaged a point for the visitors after he cancelled out Wilfried Zaha’s opener in the the second half.
The result meant Leicester City had allowed points slip in the race to catch up with leaders Liverpool, who have a date with Newcastle United on Wednesday.
Defending his team’s performance after the game, Rodgers gave his reason for fielding a different squad.
“James Maddison wasn’t fit so he couldn’t travel and Vardy is managing an issue so to start him was always going to be really difficult, but we tried to get him into the game for half an hour,” Rodgers explained.
“If we felt we could play all the same players all the time and the team that played at the weekend, we would have done, but I have to trust the players.
“The performance today should have been enough to get the result and win. It didn’t and we accept that. If there’s any blame, it is certainly on me because I picked the team.
Nigeria international Kelechi Iheanacho had missed a chance to put the Foxes in an early lead in the first-half after he had his penalty saved by Vicente Guaita.
Reacting to the missed spot-kick, Rodgers told Amazon Prime: I said at half time, it was one you have to let go of. He practised yesterday and hit five out of five, so he was confident, but it is just one of those things.”
