Soccer Football - Premier League - West Ham United v Leicester City - London Stadium, London, Britain - April 11, 2021 Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers Pool via REUTERS/Justin Setterfield
LONDON - Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers described the behaviour of Ayoze Perez, James Maddison and Hamza Choudhury as disappointing after all three were left out of the 3-2 defeat by West Ham United in the Premier League on Sunday.
While not confirming the reasons they were not involved, Rodgers responded to reports that the trio had breached COVID-19 protocols in the build-up to the game.
"It was a decision I made, an internal situation last weekend. It is not the standard we expect," he said.
"They are all good guys, good lads, but we have a standard on and off the pitch that we have to adhere to. The boys will rejoin the group after this game.
"It's something we have dealt with. It's disappointing behaviour, it's a mistake. It's not what we are about.
"If you fall below that there is a consequence and there has to be or they won't learn. There's no animosity, they are good lads. We have drawn a line under it."
A club spokesman confirmed it was a COVID-19 breach.
"The club has made its expectations around adherence to COVID-19 protocols abundantly clear to all its personnel. It is extremely disappointing, therefore, to learn of a breach," they were quoted as saying by the BBC.
"We wholly expect our people to behave in a way that reflects the national effort and the sacrifices made by our communities to control the spread of the virus."
It was a bad day for Leicester whose defeat left them in third place but only one point above fourth-placed West Ham and two points above fifth-placed Chelsea.
Leicester fell 3-0 behind shortly after halftime before two goals by Kelechi Iheanacho almost salvaged something.
They have now lost two successive games and Rodgers knows his team are in danger of allowing a top-four finish to elude them for the second season in succession.
"The second half was more what I expect but we were very passive in the first half. We lacked aggression. We gave away poor goals, the goals are awful, all three and we had a mountain to climb," Rodgers said of the defeat.
"We lacked a bit of courage to get on the ball, we were slow and were not moving so well. Second half our counter pressing was much better but we handed it to West Ham on a plate."
