Brendan Rodgers has apologised to Leicester City supporters for his team’s “embarrassing” 4-1 FA Cup defeat by Nottingham Forest that he said proved “why a lot of these players are not top players”.
On a day when a fan from the Leicester end was arrested for running on to the pitch to attempt to attack Forest players celebrating after Joe Worrall’s goal made it 3-0, the visitors’ manager set up a confrontation with his ailing squad by accusing them of a lack of hunger.
The FA Cup holders, enduring a trying season in the Premier League, were humiliated at the home of their local Championship rivals who secured a fifth‑round tie at home against Huddersfield Town.
Philip Zinckernagel, Brennan Johnson and Djed Spence also scored, with Kelechi Iheanacho pulling one back, in the teams’ first meeting for eight years. “The lads were brilliant,” Steve Cooper, the Forest manager, said.
Leicester released a statement banning the pitch invader from their games for life. The FA confirmed it will investigate the incident in which Ryan Yates, Johnson and Davis pushed back against the offender who threw two punches. “The club is appalled by such behaviour and offers its apologies to Nottingham Forest and its players whose safety was compromised,” a Leicester spokesman said.
Rodgers, who substituted his captain Youri Tielemans for the day for “performance” reasons, lambasted his players after the game. “It was an awful performance and I have to apologise to the supporters,” he said.
“To come here, [for] the first game between the two sides for a long time, [with] a great atmosphere … in derby games you need authority and you need physicality. It was sadly missing from our performance.
“I said it before about having changes in the squad. It’s a lack of hunger. That’s why a lot of these players are not top players. Because they can’t sustain it. That’s where my admiration of the really top players who can keep that hunger and desire – no matter how much they achieve.
“I always judge it on the physicality of the team: the pressing, the aggression. When you stop getting it, you can’t quite get there, your time could be up.There are a lot of these players, between now and the end of the season, who need to prove that they are still worthy of being here.”
